Wednesday, June 6, 2007 10:40 PM, CDT

Hi all,
I know I know it’s been a few weeks since I posted. It’s been a busy few weeks but not in a bad way. I have so much to catch you up on. I’m going to go ahead and start with the Friday before Memorial Day. Although I’m late with this posting, I’ll try to post a few more times during this week. You’ll all be sick of hearing from me by Friday!! J And you get a two parter tonight!!! Happy reading!
Part I
Katie had an Author’s Tea at school the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. What’s an Author’s Tea? Each of the kindergarteners wrote a little poem and read it out loud and then as a group they sang a beautiful song: Love in Any Language, which the group sings and also performs the song in sign language. I was crying like you can not imagine. There is something so special about listening to a group of small children sing.
On Saturday we went to the Cape with my sister. We stayed at her in-law’s house in Centerville and went to Craigville Beach for the day. I absolutely LOVE the beach. As far as I’m concerned, a great day at the beach can always help you feel better. Well the beach and a trip for ice cream at Four Seas! Thank you to Jean and Dave Berry who let us stay at their house—it’s beautiful. How lucky you are to have such a nice house so close to the beach!
On our way home on Sunday we stopped in (more like barged in) at our friends’ house: Kathy and Bob Twitchell (everyone calls him Twitch). This family is so very special to us. We first met the Twitchells because Kathy has her own daycare and took care of Steven when I was still working. They soon became near and dear to our hearts. Kathy and Twitch are two of the nicest people in the world. They’re genuinely warm, friendly and loving and they happen to be two of my favorite people in the world. J They’ve got four of the coolest kids too: Kate, Bobby, Michael and Colleen. Steven and Katie loved you guys like you were part of their family!! Katie still showed you how much she loves you…Steven was too busy playing with their dogs Sam and Abby (do you think the kid needs a dog of his own??).
Kathy had Steven overnight the morning Katie was born. She was so excited and couldn’t wait to hear from Greg to find out how everything went. Greg’s phone call to Kathy was just one of several difficult calls he made that day. We talked about that phone call and how it affected them all.
However, I’ll never forget the letter Kathy wrote to me the day that Katie was born. Katie’s future was so unknown in her early days. The doctors weren’t sure if she would ever walk, have urine or bowel continence and truth be told, they weren’t sure if she would ever be able to sit up. For those of you who didn’t see her when she was an infant let me tell you that Katie was literally folded in half. When she lied on her back, her little legs were at a 90 degree angle. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Katie at all, let me take a minute and tell you about her: She has a rare condition called Caudal Regression Syndrome.
Basically, Katie’s vertebrae stopped forming so her spinal cord stopped growing. Her spinal cord stops at her belly button so any function below her belly button is a plus. The neurologists explained that they could see where the spinal cord ends but what they couldn’t do was predict what she would be able to do or feel because they can’t see the nerves that flow out of the spinal cord or how they work. It was a waiting game and Katie’s whole future was so much of a mystery.
This brings me back to the letter that Kathy wrote to me the day she was born. Kathy poured her heart out to me and told me that she would be willing to give up every single child she had in daycare so she could dedicate all her time to taking care of Katie. I will never in my life ever forget Kathy’s offer or the sentiment of that letter that truly came from her enormous heart.