For the Love of Ivey

So my laptop crashed -- along with the rest of my brain -- Have you ever noticed that right when you think you've got it figured out, BAM, reality hits you right in the gut knocking the wind out of you.  So for the last couple of weeks that where I've been - breathing into a brown paper bag.  Here is where we are.  At the beginning of November Ivey will go in for surgery.  If you have checked in over the past few months you will understand why - back in February Ivey spent a stint in the hospital.  During that time she was referred to a neurosurgeon.  And since then he has been monitoring the prematurely closed sutures of her skull.  Two weeks ago he performed a lumbar puncture to monitor the amount of pressure possibly being applied to the brain due to the suture closure.  He had expected a low opening pressure; however, it was very high.  This high pressure signifies that Ivey's little brain has grown, which was unexpected, and i...

Maybe every song is not meant to be the proverbial love song - sometimes maybe they can be a little more - maybe it is about us, a boy and a girl, and maybe it's about them, our boys and girl --- or maybe it's about us and what the four of us would go through for our one little girl.  It is amazing.  And each and every smile and tear - we would do over and over again - and again.  Never changing one thing...because that's what got our family, the five of us, Here.

Have you ever wanted to be anywhere but here? Just be there? That place where things are easier – that place where decisions come fast – that place where answers aren't found at the end of riddles – that place where I have yet to be.   And honestly I am tired of the clichés' about things not always being easy and diamonds in the rough or not being given more than I can handle. Some days I am just not there. Instead I am here.   Here in a beautiful home with beautiful children and a beautiful husband. Yes I know all the great things I have been given.   I don't want to be there again next week. Another procedure. Another issue to 'deal' with. Another reason for her to hurt. Another reason to be a part-time mom to the boys. I want to be here instead.   I don't want to hear another person say 'I don't know how you do it." I don't want to hear another person say, "Well, I guess you are used to this by now." I don't want t...

It truly does take a village to raise a child. Congratulations to everyone at McHenry. And we all must thank Ms. Penny Pryor for recongnizing that all the children should play on the playground - so she set out to write the proposal to Pepsi to make a difference in some very special children's lives. Thank you to everyone in our community who voted and helped to spread the word and make this a possibility for McHenry....by taking it all the way to the top! I can't wait to post pictures of Ivey playing on the new playground. RN-T.com - McHenry wins 25 000 grant for playground thanks to community support

This is it!  The last day to vote for Ivey's school, McHenry Primary, in its request to win a $25,000 grant from Pepsi for a handicapped accessible playground.  Click here to watch Ivey and a few of her classmates playing on the current non-accessible playground: Currently McHenry is in the number one position for the grant.  Thanks to all of you who have voted for McHenry.  You are making a difference in the lives of many special needs children and for future children that will play on the new playground.  Your vote really does make a difference!  www.refresheverything.com/mchenryprimary Then text in your vote to Pepsi by entering in the numbers 73774 and then text 101235

Click here to read:  RN-T.com - Darlington student McHenry playground can benefit everyone We truly live in an amazing community. www.refresheverything.com/mchenryprimary text '101235' to Pepsi at 73774 Everyday through August 31st.

This marks my fourth attempt at this post. For some reason I just can't culminate the words to precisely depict a brief moment in time and give you another glimpse at one small miracle in Ivey's life. Unfortunately- that's all you get – a flash. And here on the inside that is all it really feels like too – a flash – a brief moment of time that went by too fast. Tomorrow marks a big day for someone who has become a very special part of our family . She'll take to the road and travel many miles for the next year to pursue her future. It's funny how so many small moments, brief encounters; choices we make that end up as mile markers in our lives – they shape us – make us more than we were. And without fail, most of those markers end in change. Two years ago we were asked by our local parent-to-parent organization to volunteer, with other families, to join with a class of students at a local college and allow those students to go into our children's school a...