AMAZING!

When reflecting back on the past four months all I can say is that God Answers Prayers. If there was a single work that describes my life it would be amazing; abosolutely unbeleivable amazing. Everything about my life and the people in my life are remarkable. And it reminds me that everywhere we turn and everywhere we look, we are surrounded by God's amazing grace. We live in an amazing world. It's amazing what we can accomplish using our amazing powers. However, our lives can fall well short of amazing. You must overcome your obstacles and believe you can and you can do absolutely amazing things. My life is an amazing gift thanks to my wonderful family, friends and my amazing daughter!!!

Graci is an amazing and precious little girl. Thomas and I thank God everyday for giving her to us. He created her and he made no mistakes. She has been an angel sent from above to fill our hearts with unending love. The past four months have been rough and rocky for Graci but at the end there has been happy tears! We had some trouble after returning from 3rd stage surgery with the healing process. Graci's skin graft got infected several times. We had difficulty with cleaning it. Graci didn't want us to touch it, clean it, look at it or even talk about it. I don't ever think about how hard this must be for her. I know that this is a gift for Graci and she has always been so confident and courageous. She certainly has been a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous...full of beauty, loving, caring and truly amazing. However, I know it's hard on her and even harder on me. After her last surgery, we felt like we didn't get specific instructions for caring for the ear after surgey; we kind of let it go. We knew it upset her if we remind her we needed to clean it or keep her hair up. I could tell she was getting frustrated with the whole process. Scabs were forming, puss was oozing and the ear was very irritated and this went on for three months. It just wasn't healing and it was never ending. Every day we would wake up looking at the ear and every night go to bed worrying about the ear. I have always wanted this journey to be of nothing but happy memories for her and what I wanted most was that she would soar confidently in her own sky. The "New Ear" was not so new any more and it was getting old to her. She rarely talked about it or showed it to anyone. However, we knew that we had to get it healed before leaving for 4th stage. After visiting a Duke Surgeon (recommended by Dr. Brent) three times we finally got it healed. Anyway, all is well with the ear and with answered prayers it looks fabulous. "An Ear for Graci"......truly amazing!

Our family was involved in another amazing fundraiser this year that we were so honored to be apart of. The Jeff Hawley Memorial Golf Tournament is an annual event that honors the late Jeff Hawley. Jeff battled with cancer and then lost his life in a motorcycle accidnet. Everyone remembers him as a wondeful father, friend and husband. I didn't know Jeff personally but have gotten to know his family. They are incredible people and I am sure Jeff was just as wonderful as they are. Each year the funds are used for a college fund for his daughter Elizabeth (who just loves and adores Graci) and another individual who they honor to help. This year they honored Graci. They were so excited to help Graci with her dreams of having "two ears" and we were so thankful to be apart of it. I thank God for that amazing day. We had over 100 golfers and volunteers dressed in pink and green for Graci. God and Jeff were both there that day making everything around us amazing. It was an amazing day with amazing people! Thank you Linda, Wendi, Jamie and Sweet Elizabeth, may God watch over you and protect you always.

I have always told Graci to beleive in herself and she will accomplish anything. Our goal this year was passing first grade. She had missed so much school with surgery, doctors appointments and was behind when she entered into the school year. I've always wanted her to achieve her goals and aspirations and to believe it with her heart and soul. There were times she lost the spark somewhere along the way, but we got it back. She worked so hard all year long. We believed in her, her teachers believed her and Graci believed in herself. I will neve forget the day she came home with a white piece of paper; Graci had passed first grade. I was so excited and she was too. It just proves how amazing she is!

Graci Girl...........you are amazing; totally completey 100% amazing. You have amazing abilities that can take you anywhere you dream of going. You have everything you will every need to live an extraordinary amazing life. Don't be afraid of being amazing.