Thursday, August 21, 2008

A DAY TO REFLECT!

Today has been a bitter sweet day. I wanted so badly for the "Berlin heart" to do for Christian what it did for Kaidence and I am so heart broken that it could not. I attended Christians funeral services today and they were beautiful. The family did a wonderful job of capturing who their son was and what he meant to so many. I continue to pray for his family and hope to spend some time with them soon. On the front of his program it read "Some people dream of angels, but I have held one in my arms."
I do hope that we can all take the time today to embrace those that we love and be kinder to those around us.

On a happy note, little Grace is getting her new heart today and we wish her family all of the luck we can. Today is the day of their new beginning. Good Luck Baby Grace, we are so happy for you!

WE have finished up all of the filming for the Children's Miracle Network and are very anxious to see the story they do on Kaidence. They have spent so much time and thought capturing our feeling and emotions of Kaidence's Journey. Kaidence is getting to be such a busy little girl. Her bottom is still her mode of transportation but I think she may be thinking about trying to crawl. She has become strong enough to get herself from the laying position to sitting, WAY TO GO!!! Her feeds and eating are improving and she doesn't throw up as much. She is starting to get more of her voice back although it is still pretty soft and she will sometimes just sit and jabber. The boys are getting ready to start school and hopefully this year we can all be together for the holidays. Thank You all for your support and love and for being part of our families "Journey of Faith, Hope and Trust."
I had another heart mommy give this to me and I think it is a great way to sum up our new lives as "heart mommy's". Our trials have not been what we expected and our lives are forver changed but It just reinforces that good can come from everything and that life and trials are all about your attitude, your perspective, your faith and your hopes!!!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND-By Emily Pearl Kingsley
"When you are going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans...The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?" you say, "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm suppose to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there has been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you bring to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips and Holland even has Rembrandt's. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." The pain of that will never, ever go away because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special , lovely things about Holland."

I hope that we can discover life's beauty and blessings as we take our own personal tours of Holland!
With Hope, Faith and Love,
Shauntelle

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A BROKEN HEART!

My heart is broken as I write to tell you that our little buddy Christian passed away on Saturday evening. Christian was Kaidence's "Berlin Heart buddy" as he was waiting for a heart transplant and Casie and Scott have become my friends as well. Casie, Scott and family, we are thinking of you. Christian is so lucky to have a mommy and daddy like you. I know that he loves you as dearly as you love him. Please pray for this sweet family as they live life day to day without their sweet little boy.