HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALANA!!!

    Today would have been our sweet Alana's 3rd birthday.  She just missed it by three months.  I must say, that I am blessed to have had her for the 2 1/2 years that we did.  It seems that she lived a life time in those few short years.

   I want today to be a day of remembering all the wonderful memories about Alana.  There were so many good memories.  As I am typing this post, I can hear her little giggles in my mind and I can see her sweet, sweet smile.  I can picture her doing her little scootching on her bottom across the floor.  I can also hear her call my name and say, "Mama, pot, pot, pot."  That was her way of telling me she had to go potty.

   For the last several days one particular memory keeps replaying in my mind.  Whenever that medical supply company to drop off Aubree and Alana's medical supplies, Alana would get very excited.  I would plop down the two or three boxes of medical supplies and Alana would empty out all the contents of the boxes onto the floor.  She would then proceed to put everything back into the boxes.  It made her quite happy to play with the medical supplies.  She would play like this for hours.  I think I replay this memory in my mind over and over because she was so very content playing with the boxes and supplies and I can still picture her content little face in my mind.

   My husband and I have yet to get the foundation that we are going to be starting up and running.  I was hoping to have it going by her birthday.  But, despite the delay I will be bringing a bubble toy to Connecticut Children's Medical Center for a sick child there in Alana's memory.  Bubbles made her happy and we would love to make another child just as happy.

   Thank you all for your continued prayers for our family.  We love you all.

   God is good.

Forever Memories and Gifts of Love

   The memorial service on Friday was quite special.  It was a bittersweet event as a friend of mine mentioned.  In one sense it was hard to go back the hospital where we lost our daughter but on the other hand all those involved in Alana's care became part of our lives.  Many are like family to us.

   Many members of the transplant team either stopped by to us or were able to stay for the service.  It meant a lot to my husband and myself to see the team.  I could see in their hearts how much Alana had touched each one of them.  Each of them told us how much they miss Alana and what a special little girl she was.

   We were able to see many of the nurses who took care of Alana.  Evelyn spoke at the memorial service and told about how much Alana meant to her.  She was one of Alana's favorite nurses.  Alana would always do her little dances when Evy took care of her.  This nurse has become a good friend to our family.  The social worker from the transplant team also spoke.  She too was touched by Alana's life.

   We were able to show that staff Alana's video that we had shown at her funeral back home.  All were very touched by the video of her life.  Many had not seen what she was like before she became very sick.  I'm glad that it brought joy and laughter to their hearts.

   My mother, my oldest sons godparents and four of my children(plus a girlfriend) were able to travel to NY for the memorial service.  My mother was touched by how much love the nurses and doctor's had for Alana and our family.  I was glad she was able to be at the service.

   When the service was over one of the ladies from the child life department handed me a beautiful flowered box.  I had forgotten about the contents in the box.  Inside the box were the molds we had made of Alana's hand and foot the day she went home to be with Jesus.  I cannot express to you the feelings that welled up inside of me.  The hand and foot molds showed every little crease and crinkle of her skin.  It looks almost perfect.  I just wish I could tell you in words how much that gift means to my husband and myself.

    Thank you Child Life Department at Mt. Sinai for this special and most amazing gift.

   Here is a look of the program for Alana's memorial service.  The child life department did all the planning of the service.  They all did such a wonderful job.  Thank you all again.  Dana, Dawn, Angie and many others, you made March 19, 2010 a special day forever in our hearts.

God is good.

   

Memorial Service

   We will be heading to NY tomorrow morning around 7:30 for Alana's memorial service.  My husband, four of our children, my son's girlfriend, my mother and my oldest son's god-parents will be attending the service.  I pray all goes well.

   The Childlife department at Sinai has done such a wonderful job getting all the details of the service together. They have all worked together with my husband and myself  to get this memorial on its feet.  Even through this, I have seen the love that this hospital had for our daughter.  Alana was so loved.  As her mama that makes me so proud.

   Please pray that we have a safe trip to NY and that all that is done will be to God's honor and glory.  I will let you all know how it went over the weekend.  Thank you all for your prayers.

   Please continue to pray for little Eithene, she is really struggling.  Keep her family in your prayers also.

   GOD IS GOOD


 

Alana's Foundation

   Sorry that I did not post right back.  Had a little computer trouble.  As I had mentioned before, we did go to NH to hear our daughter Ashlee compete for vocal solo.  Praise God, she won first place for states and regionals.  We have never heard her sound so beautiful.  Before Ash walked up to perform she whispered to both my husband and myself, "I'm going to sing this for Lala."  That was her nickname for her sister, Alana.  Of course we both started to cry.  I pleaded with the Lord to please let Ashlee get herself together so that she could sing.  God is good.  In a few weeks she will be traveling to SC to perform for nationals.  We are all quite excited.

   As for my volleyball, we also won on the night of my daughters competition.  We are now into the semi-finals.  We were the sixth place team out of 16 teams in the league and beat the third place team last Thursday.  What a great game it was.  I know this Thursdays match will be just as exciting.

   A couple of posts ago, I had mentioned that my husband and I want to start a foundation in Alana's name.  We were trying to think of a name for the foundation and how we were going to pursue this matter.  Well, we have a name, it is called, "Alana's Bubbles for Joy Foundation."  Our daughter absolutely loved bubbles.  For her birthday last March 26, we had gotten her a bubble maker.  It was in the form of two little bears that blew bubbles from its mouths.  Boy, did she love that toy.  What we are hoping to do is to raise either enough money to purchase bubbles and bubble toys or get donations of bubbles and bubble toys to donate them on her birthday each year to hospitalized children.  We would like to start with Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Mt Sinai Children's hospital in NY.  A friend of my husband is going to help out in getting this project up and running.  Please pray for us as we begin this project.  It means so much to me and my husband and we know it will be a blessing to many children.

   I wanted to also mention that we are getting started to foster children again.  All of our paperwork is in.  Our support worker will be at our house tomorrow to talk with us and go over our paperwork.  There are so many children out there with medical needs that need someone to care for them.  That is where my heart is.

   Many people ask me and my husband, "Are you sure you are ready?" or "Don't you think you need more time?"  I do understand their concern.  But, you know,  the grief of my daughter's death will always be there.  I can't sit around and wait for the grief to go away, because it won't.  We will miss her till we are someday reunited with her in heaven.  What I can do, is to continue on.  To continue on with God's grace, with his "Amazing Grace".  We want to honor our daughter by having and giving joy to others.

   As I get more information about the Foundation I will post about it.  Thank you all for your continued prayers.

A Trip!!

My husband, the two little ones and myself will be headed to NH tomorrow to see our oldest daughter compete for states and regionals.  She will be singing two vocal solo pieces, one sacred the other an opera piece.  Also, she will be singing in the choir and in a large vocal ensemble.  Ash is pretty nervous but I have faith that she will do well.  She loves to sing and her voice is like an angel.

This past Sunday morning Ashlee sang at my church.  She sang her sacred piece that she will be singing for competition.  It was beautiful.  The song blessed many peoples hearts.  Vocal Performance is what she will be majoring in when she goes to college in the fall.

Today my seven year old son started physical therapy.  He has been having trouble with pain behind his knees and leg stiffness.  He has never been able to run like your average 7 year old.  That too is causing some issues.  Upon evaluation the therapist did find quite a bit of stiffness from his hips to his ankles.  We are praying that with the proper exercise and therapy sessions all will improve.  Despite the discomfort, he always has a smile on his face.

I will let you know how my daughters competition turned out.  Please keep Ash and Antonio in your prayers.  Please continue to pray for little Eithene Rose, and Noah.  They both continue to struggle with many health issues.

God is in Control, Always!!

   This  has been a very  interesting week, but a wonderful one.  My husbands pastor's wife took me out to lunch this past Monday.  Yes, my husband goes to one church and I go to another.  It works!  Well, anyways what a wonderful time we had together.  What a blessing it was!!  Before we left our luncheon she handed me a gift bag which contained four very special gifts that just touched my heart so deeply.  One of the gifts was a Steven Curtis Chapman CD.  Back in 2008 he lost his adopted daughter to an accident.  The songs on the CD have truly touched me.  He sings about God being in control and trusting in Him, even through loosing a child.  What a beautiful testimony he has.  On the same note I met the parents of the young man that sang with my boys at Alana's funeral last night.  They have been wanting to talk with us for awhile, but was waiting for the Lord's timing.  Last night was God's timing.  They both let us know that they have been praying for us and that they understood our pain.  Many years ago this family has lost their two precious little girls in a house fire.  All of this was not be accident this week.  God has brought us together to encourage each other and to share how good God is.  What a blessing!!

   Well, my daughter is gearing up to compete next Thursday in NH for her vocal solos, choir and small vocal ensemble.  We are so looking forward to hearing her sing.  She will be singing at Truth Baptist Church tomorrow(my church) morning.  This is her sacred piece that she will be singing.  She also has an opera piece that is in Italian that she will be singing when she competes next week.  Please pray that she stays healthy.

   Alana's birthday is coming up on the 26th of this month.  I would like to start some type of charity in her name.  God has impressed on my heart to give a birthday gift on her birthday to a child who is sick. I would like to do this every year on her birthday.  Right now I am trying to figure out how to do this and what I can name the charity.  I think about it all the time but just don't know how to go about it.  If any has a suggestion or has a name for the charity please share it with me.  Maybe the name can simply be "Alana's Gift", I'm just not sure.

I'd like to leave these verses with you and to continue to let you know that, God is good.

I am still confident of this: I will see the

goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart  and

wait for the Lord.

Psalms 27:13-14

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed

is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalms 34:8