Our Dream Continues

We are wrapping up another incredible day. It's so important to us to journal through this so we can remember the wonderful thoughts and emotions we have going through our heads.

We leave tomorrow about mid-day for home. It will be so hard to leave Grace but we are so excited for her homecoming on Friday. That's right 08-08-08 is the big day that Grace will join our family forever. Will be pretty easy to remember that date, for many reasons! Oh, and I guess there is some athletic event going on over in China starting that day too, so it's a special day for quite a few.
:-) (Just kidding - we are big Olympic followers!!!)

We don't have pics to share tonight - photo software is on our computer at home!

I'll start with yesterday. We got a little later start than we would have liked, but not by too much. Grace was sleeping when we arrived, so our later departure from home turned out okay! To say Carson was excited doesn't even capture it. He announced about 5-10 minutes out from St. Cloud that he already missed Grace. It was so incredibly sweet.

We let Grace sleep for a bit and then went upstairs. We watched her sleep for a bit and then she woke up. She instantly recognized us - even through her adorable grogginess. Carson was taken with her instantly. He started playing a little game with her nose that he 'beeps' her nose and touches it with his finger.

We played a bit and then went to see Grace's primary doctor. He is incredible. The kind of doctor that was destined to be called to work with children. He gave Carson a book about being a big brother. We had a wonderful visit with him. We all celebrated when we learned Grace is at the 80th percentile for height and the 58th percentile for weight. This is a girl that struggled to put weight on as she inched (or even centimetered?!?) her way up a growth chart. It's so familiar. If growth charts had negative numbers, that's where Carson would have been. We celebrated his growth so much, and still do and now will do so with Grace too!

We got back to Ron & Jane's - Grace's foster parents - and had a wonderful lunch and visit. It was so special to see Carson and Grace play and interact.

We left for a bit to check in to the hotel and rest up a bit. Trav and Carson went swimming and I organized a few things and had a couple of phone calls. We got back to Ron & Jane's for an amazing celebration of love. The night was full of so many special moments. We got to meet many members of the hockey family that Ron & Jane are a part of - Ron is one of the hockey coaches at a high school here in St. Cloud. There were other special friends there as well, including two special social workers that started the journey with Grace in early 2007. It was so amazing to meet the people that have supported Grace, as well as Ron & Jane, throughout this journey. These are Grace's prayer warriors. They have rallied and prayed for her for so long and in so many different ways. They have loved our daughter like their own. There was food, fun, laughter and tears. We are so thankful for all who came and shared in such a special and meaningful evening.

We slept well and felt a bit lazy this morning! We got going and over to see dear Grace. She was having a morning snooze and so we went through some of her things with Jane. It was a precious time - learning and hearing about her early days of life. We had another delicious lunch. Grace's Early Intervention teacher came over in the early afternoon and raved about Grace's progress. We had a good visit as well.

We strollered to a neighborhood park and had a great time with both of our kids. It was a beautiful afternoon and we all had a wonderful time.

Carson and Grace played some more. Soon it was time for another nap. Daddy and Carson put her down for her nap. We visited a bit more and paged through pictures of Grace. She was so little and we saw a familiar look in her pre-heart surgery pictures. Just like Carson, she was adorable. At the same time, you could tell that something wasn't quite right. It's in their eyes.

We finished opening gifts from Tuesday night and took pictures of everything as well.

We stopped and picked up some food and got back to the hotel. Ron, Jane, their daughter and her family (Rebecca, Dave and sons Sam and Will) and Miss Grace all came over. We had a fun evening - ate, had birthday cake (Grace was 17 months old today and celebrates one year post heart surgery tomorrow) and enjoyed time in the pool. Grace enjoyed the pool. At first she sat on my lap, splashing occasionally in the water of the kiddie pool. After a bit, she wanted in on the action and she toddled all over the kiddie pool. She had a great time. Carson, Sam and Will had a fun time too. It was another wonderful and special evening.

As we close out tonight, we are in awe of this wondrous journey. As we watched Carson and Grace play tonight we reflect that it all feels so surreal. It looks like they have always been siblings. Here are two 'only' children weaving their way into each others hearts like this is how it was always meant to be. They don't realize it yet, but they have so many connections in worlds that we can only be observers of. As much as we want to be a part of it, we'll never understand what it's like to be where each of them are at. We wish we could have taken their places during their surgeries and take their hearing loss away...but we can't. And with that, they wouldn't be who they are with their amazing miracle stories.

In our early days of Carson's medical journey we questioned 'why'. Pretty typical, I would imagine. Through all of the pain and tears, we knew there was a purpose. We knew God had a plan. We just had to be patient, which wasn't easy at times. December 27, 2001 stands out as a day that will forever be the day that 'why' was etched into our thoughts (you'll have to read Carson's Caringbridge journal if you don't know the story). Well, three days later, God and Carson revealed the plan to the rest of us, when Carson received his gift of life. Patience. And proof that God answers prayers. Perhaps not how we always want them to be answered or on our time frame, but they are answered!

As we've reflected over the years, we know that we are the lucky ones for God choosing us to be Carson's parents. We have met so many people throughout this journey - many of them are now our very close friends. We know his story has brought many to their knees in prayer. We know he has moved people to consider organ donation, when they may not have otherwise. We now know there was another purpose. Our journey with Carson prepared us to be parents to Grace.

Thank you for your notes and love - we'll update tomorrow from home!