Chance's New AmTryke

I don't think there are words to describe how warm and fuzzy my heart felt watching Chance ride his new AmTryke today. Fedex came at 4pm to deliver the huge box and by 5pm, after Rob and I put it all together, we were outside giving it a whirl. It was starting to get dark, but we just HAD to get one first try on the new bike. It's AWESOME!

Just about 2 months ago I contacted Ambucs and submitted some paperwork to get Chance added to their National Wishlist. This is an organization that helps to get special needs children a set of wheels of their own. Therapeudic bikes are very expensive. Chance's picture was added to their list and I told a few family members and friends about it. Within two weeks, our wish was granted. The day after Christmas I got an email from Ambucs letting us know that Chance received enough donations to completely pay for his bike (which is about $800).

So I'm very very grateful, overwhelmed, blessed.... more than words can say. I don't know yet who the donors are, but I'm supposed to get a letter with all that information in the next couple of weeks for those who did not donate anonymously. We intend to send a personal note with a picture of Chance on his new bike to each donor, but until then, I wanted to share this video with everyone, just so you can see the sheer joy on his face. He absolutely loves it! Now I just need to work on getting him to wear the helmet! hee hee

Too cold to Go Outside? Naaaaah!

I think this was the LONGEST most ETERNAL Christmas break I've ever experienced. I couldn't wait to send Cannon and Chance back to school yesterday! But alas, I digress. The 2 week Christmas break had us all looking for ways to keep the kids busy. Rob finally said, I don't care how cold it is, we're driving jeeps tomorrow. So sure enough, we got up, it was FREEZING, but I bundled up the boys and they hit the pavement in their jeeps. Luke front next door came out later and joined us so it was lots of fun! You can tell how cold it was by the frozen snot on Colin's face! ha ha ha! AND, here's a miracle for you... Chance wore a hat and didn't take it off. I couldn't convince him to keep the gloves on, so I eventually put a pair of tube socks on under his coat to keep his fingers warm, but the hat was a BIG surprise, so he had to have been pretty darn cold!

Christmas 2007

This year's Christmas was different in so many ways, good and bad. The good was that we had Rob's parents here with us Christmas morning and we got to celebrate it in our new home. The bad was that my parents weren't here Christmas morning, but they were visiting with my brother and came to see us a few days later.

The boys put out cookies and milk for Santa and some celery for the reindeer. We also spread special reindeer stuff in our yard to make sure they could find our new house. (basically it was oatmeal to lure the reindeer and glitter so the moon would light up our front yard and they could find their way!) So the boys spread that all over the grass in the front yard.

Chance was the first one awake and he decided to slice right into one of Grandma's presents. Then he came running back upstairs to wake us up. He was nodding and smiling! It was hilarious. I said "Did Santa come?" and he just started jumping and hooting. A few minutes later, Cannon and Colin came in and we went downstairs. But mean ol mommy wouldn't let them open any presents until Grandma and Granddad came down too. So they had to sit there and look at those presents for nearly a half an hour! ha ha ha... true torture I tell you. I wanted them to be able to share the fun of Christmas with Grandma and Granddad. So I'm glad we waited.

Santa brought all sorts of cool Spiderman stuff. Colin just enjoyed opening presents, he didn't really care what was in it, except for the Lucky Duck game. That was a HUGE hit. He walks around the house now going "Quack Quack??!!" Like, "where is my duck game?" It's too cute. And Chance got lots and lots of clothes to wear to school. His biggest present came today (1/4/08), his new AmTryke.

It's amazing how quickly Christmas morning goes by and how much preparation goes into it!



















We did celebrate the birth of Jesus by attending candlelight services at church. As usual, it was beautiful. We kept Chance with us for service and sent the two younger ones to their classrooms. Chance did GREAT in church. The week before Cannon sang in the church Christmas musical and did excellent. Check out the adorable video!