The Chicken Dance.

We have eggs coming out of our ears! It's awesome though, if I'm hungry, I'll just go fry up an egg, slap it on some bread, add cheese, and there you go! A high protein, wholesome snack. 

Here is Sam, trying to sneak up on a chicken to pet it. She gets mad when they run off.

Now it's a game.

Still trying. . . .

This is the most awesome thing in the world for a kid! Riding on the tractor!!! I remember doing that with my grandma and grandpa when i was little. This is a Daddy's Girl!!

We worked on our garden yesterday, i will post pics when everything starts coming up.

We planted corn, green beans, tomatoes, okra, yellow squash, lettuce, spinach, radishes, pickling cucumbers, zucchini. I think that's it. . . .

Can't wait for that either!!! It's making my mouth water.

On a different note, James has been playing t-ball. At first he really whined about it and acted like the bat was really heavy and fell on the ground like he was just sooooo tired, and just couldn't do it. He is doing great at it now! Thank goodness! He had his first game last weekend. He was so excited, he hit the ball into the outfield!

The following is a collection of James' favorite t-ball poses.

Acting like he's paying attention. . .

Chicken Scratch. . . .

Ready to run. . .

Ballerina. . .

Crouching Tiger or the pee pee dance, not sure on that one. . . .

Chillin' with hands in pockets. . .

Twist and shout or pretending to be Mario,

that's a tough one. . .

This is the whole team running across the field to catch 1 ball and throw it to 1st base!

This is James' cheerleader!

Thanks for reading!

Just Plain Good People.

So we have been blessed with some fundraiser opportunities from some just plain good people wanting to help us get Samantha stem cell treatments and therapy to hopefully help her gain strength and be able to walk on her own.  These are people who didn't really know us, or didn't know us at all, they just felt it in their heart to do something for Samantha! First we had a BBQ back on March 10, 2012. I don't have any pictures, unfortunately :( But it was a great turnout and raised $9,000! Wow! Samantha was in several newspapers in our surrounding area. We had a great response from readers , some mailed donations and some took on their own fundraisers to help out Sam. Personal Trainer Frank is holding his own fundraiser at his gym Outtabox Personal Training, you can read about it here . 

Also, she is called "The Cake Lady " by locals who go into a local BP gas station. Wanda read Sam's story in the Denver Weekly also and decided to do what she does best and bake cakes to raise money for Samantha! I received a card in the mail explaining what her plan was. Her original goal was $400, but she kept having interest in her cakes and her final donation was $3050! She raised that in just 5 weeks! So she invited us to BP and had a small celebration on April 20th, and presented us with the check. She had made Samantha the last cake , the 108th! She also wrote a poem for Samantha and had gifts for Sam. The audience included customers, kids from the school across the street, men who stocked the products at the gas station who came in often. She had a big sign up for Sammy and just made a big to-do of everything. It was genuinely a great and overwhelming experience.

Wanda is an amazing person, who had no idea who we were and took it upon herself to help. Believe it or not there really are still some good samaritans around.

The following day, we had a S.P.E.A.K. for Sammy Poker Run.  It was great with loud motorcycles & people who played poker while going to different stops and at the final stop the winner was declared. There was a live auction, raffle, and 50/50 drawing. All of this was organized by Marsha, a woman who really just lives a short distance from me, but we didn't really know each other but only of one another.  However , we grew closer in planning this event for Sammy. It's a good thing she knew what she was doing, because, i knew nothing about poker or how to organize an event like this. I must add there really was a baby in a bar just like Sweet Home Alabama, but it was for a good cause! :)   We started out at East Lincoln Fire Department for registration and ended at Twin Oaks.

This is Nana, one of our volunteers for the poker run. We had
many more who volunteered for this event.

Clint riding Sammy around

The final stop was where we had the silent auction and drawings.

Sammy drew all of the raffle ticket winners and the 50/50 drawing winner.

The auctioneer J.W. and Marsha modeling the Jack Daniels race car hood
waiting for the highest bidder!

We raised close to 5 grand at the poker run event!

Last but not least , we had a Yardale Fundraiser on April 28, which i don't have pics for either, but we had a great turnout for it also! Thanks to everyone who managed all of these fundraisers and took them on. Also, thanks to all of the volunteers!  It means a whole lot to us and we can't wait until we get to get Samantha her treatments. We have gained many new friends and supporters as we begin our journey. We have a few more fundraisers lined up for this summer that i will announce when we get all of the details together.

Thanks for reading.

Beginning of Spring.

It's been almost 2 months since i have posted ! We have been enjoying this weather! It has felt so good and the time changed so it gets darker later now, not until about 830. We didn't really have a Winter this year. Our flowers and trees are coming out beautifully!

This was the other day, it was a little cool, in the 60's, but Sam was enjoying it. Check out the heel to toe steps she is taking. Being a spina bifida mom, we pay attention to things like that, that most people wouldn't even notice :)




This was Wednesday, it was really nice that evening!







James and Sammy , mind you these pics were fairly hard to get because they were all giggles and laughs. . .




My favorite. . . some brotherly love . . . .


This right here is my little buddy, those hugs and those deep blueish gray eyes are always welcome
and never ever get old. I love him!


I think I'm going to get back into some photography this year, excited about that. Hopefully I'll get back into keeping this blog up more.

As far as our journey on stem cells , I spoke with Dr. Perez at Regenerative Medicine Institute in Mexico, he was the nicest person i have talked to during this whole thing. He was down to earth, joked, and said He gives all of his patients their own bullet proof donkey and AKA 47 as soon as they cross the border, LOL! Definitely quite the comedian and aware of many of the concerns of Americans coming into Mexico! A great part of this facility is we can use Samantha's own cord blood for her treatments whereas China does not allow that, you have to use donated Chinese cord blood.

So , i guess, in the meantime, we are still raising funds and exploring options for stem cell treatments before we make our final decision and of course Samantha will have to be approved by the facility physicians.

Our BBQ was very successful and our next fundraiser is April 21 our Charity Poker Run , the facebook event link is  here . there is gonna be a bunch of prizes , silent auction, food, music, and more. .

Pink and Camouflage.

Who says pink and camouflage don't go together! Samantha seems to think it coordinates. . . Why? Don't you?  


A little bit of country fun this evening, what about you?


Gardening already? Oh yeah, it's definitely time for some cool weather crops. . . Potatoes anyone? Maybe some onions?


While Samantha and Daddy ride on the tractor and break ground, James is mastering his 4-wheelin' skills


sayin' eat my dust. . . .


While James is practicing up, I'm taking pics of everyone and enjoying the scenery. . .




Can you guess what animal this is?   One of the most beautiful for sure. . .

I love our home. I love teaching my kids. I love my life :)

Hey, who says Pink and Camouflage don't match, he he!

Cheese sandwich.

Ok, so this post is just a quick little excerpt from our life this week. Didn't have much time to write this week :(
So yesterday we come home from preschool. I usually don't have much of a plan as to what to eat for lunch, so I ask Samantha what she wants for lunch. She replies "Cheese sandwich!" Big brother James is at school so we pretty much do what Samantha wants with no interruptions for about 2 hours within reason. I toss some bread and cheese in the toaster oven and call it a meal with a side of applesauce and water to drink. 


That's all well and good and she seems so sweet eating her cheese sandwich. Ummm, no! She's my mischeivious sweet little girl. If you look over her right shoulder, you'll see her artwork. A little crayon, paint, pencil, crayon pencils, yeah, just whatever she feels like writing with at the time!

Wow, that's my little mischevious cheese sandwich eating, mural drawing little rascal! If you ever need any artwork done in your home give her a call, she will be more than happy to do that for you!

As far as donations for China, we are at $375 on our donation page and almost $700 in her savings!! We have recieved some generous donations this week from a few people!!! Thank you Suzane Fonte, Mrs. Brandham, Lana Kunkler, my mom Sue Nahler, and Alan, Susie, and Gabriel Mark!!! Thank you all. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.   We still have a long way to go and are grateful for every penny, so if you have an extra dollar please donate for our cause!

Thank you for reading!!

Until You Walk in My Shoes. . . .

In my lifetime I have felt like i have had to gain approval for many things. I'm sure everyone feels like that sometimes. I have to meet the approval of my kids, husband, community, and so forth. . . According to my 5 year old son, nothing i do is ever right, and has to be approved by him and only him! If we don't have Honeycombs , I am in trouble or if the tea is not sweet enough, he says "this is not like dads tea!" I respond sarcastically, "Why because it doesn't have 5 cups of sugar in it!" He is a pretty easy going kid otherwise, he just complains about everything. He will complain, I will give a response and then he goes about his business and forgets about it. Of course whatever James says or does , little sister Samantha is not too far behind in agreeing with him and learning his ways.

While I can deal with the childish disapproval of my kids, they are my kids of course, they are 3 and 5, and I love them. We will have a whole lot of other disagreements and disapprovals in the future throughout our journey of parenthood vs. childhood into tweenhood, teenhood, collegehood, and adult hood, God willing. I also sometimes feel the disapproval from physicians, relatives, general public, and even other parents. I guess we all can't agree on everything or we wouldn't have anything to talk about or learn.

Examples:
Took Sam (15 months at the time)to store with me. Woman who has seen us before:" Why don't you put her down and just let her walk, you arent doing anything but hurting her keeping her in the buggy or holding her. "
Me: "Well , she has spina bifida, i don't think you understand, she CAN'T walk by herself, we are practicing that with her braces and walker."
I don't know about you all , but at 15 months old, i didn't let Sam walk in stores, she was barely walking with her walker.

Example:
Old Cooky Lady at store: " She doesn't need those braces, just get her a good pair of high tops and that should do the trick!
Me: Laugh and looked at her kind of weird i think :) I just didn't feel like explaining it indepth at the time.

As a mother of a child with a special needs child, i am educated about her needs and know about what she can and cannot do. That being said I am always open to learning something new about her or something that may help her. I do have hope that she will walk, I do have hope that she can do a lot of things, and not let anything stop her. I feel like her doctors put all of these spina bifida kids in a box and say, "they" probably won't beable to do this or that. I was one of those parents who was told that Samantha would Not beable to walk, if she did it would be one of those 1 in a million miracles,  and she has been walking for almost 2 years not and she is 3! Why do they do that, i don't understand. I am aware that i should have realistic expectations, but they make me feel like their is nothing i can do to help her and that she is going to be the way she is. Well that may be so, but what if. . .

While we have had a lot of support from our community - Thank you friends, family and community for everything you do and are continuing to do for us! We love you!
I do not feel we will have the same support from our physicians on our choice to obtain stem cell treatment for Samantha. I know this issue is controversial and many physicians are against it or just don't know much about it. We will get some eye rolling and so forth from some, and hear lectures.
 While everyone has their views and opinions, mine is,  it is not something that proves any hurt or pain, and if anything it could help her and she is young , it is best to do it while she is young and growing. their have been only mild side effects at the time of infusion. I have researched it extensively and with the help of many other parents, grandparents, of course documents and websites, and living proof that stem cells have helped many! How can we not do this!

We talked about this in church last night, and i will go back to this often when i feel like someone is judging me in any manner.
Galatians 1:10
English Standard Version (©2001)
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

I cannot dwell on these disapprovals, I have to move forward and do what i feel is right, right for me, my kids, my family!  I do not feel that this opportunity would be handed to us without God's approval! I do not feel the knowlege and living proof would be here without God's approval!

Until you have walked in my shoes. . . .