The Birdies for Bryson golf tournament is about to be underway! This event was in trouble and was almost about to be cancelled due to lack of interest and not enough players, but once again, God has come through with answered prayers! My friend Lisa, who is pretty much heading this whole thing up, and I went out yesterday for 6 hrs and hustled up players and big sponsors and looks like the tournament is gonna be saved and will end up being a huge success! God has truly shown me so much favor during all of this and I am so grateful!
Ok, now for the more exciting news part....
As you know, I have been in contact with several other moms who have taken their children to China and Mexico for stem cell treatments and they are all having such wonderful results. Well, one of the other moms and myself have something pretty cool in the works right now! We started a Facebook page that has all kinds of helpful and useful information for anyone who has spina bifida or parents of children with spina bifida and is seeking treatments or therapies or just whatever. Well, we decided to take it one step further because there are so many of us out there trying to raise funds for these treatments and we are in the process of putting an actual Spina Bifida Foundation together! Yay! We want to help anyone who needs funds for treatments, equipment, therapy, etc., but can't afford it! Yep, I'm gonna be the co-founder of an actual non-profit organization! I am so excited and God is working in us and through us and in so many ways and we are going to give back so everyone has a chance to get to do the things we are doing for our kids.
We all work so hard on these fundraisers and in order for big corporations to donate large amounts, we need a 501(c)(3), which is basically what you need to become a non-profit organization, so we decided to go for it so we won't keep missing out on the large donors, and why not help others in the process!
I want to thank God for answered prayers, for the fantastic moms He put in my life, for all the friends and family that have so generously donated and helped put on fundraisers, and for His guidance throughout this journey! We've got a long way to go, but with God for us, who can be against us? I am witnessing on a daily basis what it means to "ask and you shall receive" and I lift it all up to God for His grace and favor and I give Him all the glory!
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!!!!!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Feeling Kina Down :(
As you all have probably noticed, I can't get on here as much as I would like because I just don't have enough time, but I try to let everyone know what's going on in Bryson's life as quickly as I can find a minute to do so. I try to send out emails and post stuff on Facebook fairly often concerning donations and events because they reach a mass amount of people very quickly.
It has come to my attention that this offends some people. I have been told that some people don't want to be lumped into the mass email or Facebook category and would prefer a personal phone call asking for a donation or for help. I would never intentionally offend or upset anyone and the only reason I send out emails, etc., is because of the time limits I have these days. I think people who don't have special-needs children realize how much time it takes to care for them. All my time is dedicated to Bryson because he literally can't do things for himself. I am his only means of anything. He is constantly sick with UTI's and having to go to the doctor and he always has some sort of issue to be taken care of medically. He is in 2 types of therapy that take up two days a week of our time and I have to work at the store and try to run that business full-time as well. I am also a wife who has responsibilities. I pretty much do everything in my household except take the trash to the curb and the lawn work, which pretty much hasn't had to be done for like the last 3 mos now because of the drought! I do have a cleaning lady come in twice a month to help with the cleaning and Monty does the laundry on Sundays and takes the trash to the curb. Most importantly, he earns the living so I can be home full-time with Bryson! Everything else is my job! I am the one who gives Bryson his meds 3 times a day, I am the one who does his catheter every 3 hrs, I am the one who changes all his diapers, I am the one who puts him in and out of his wheel stander and takes him out to play and entertains him all day, I am the one who takes him to therapy and all his doctors' appointments, I am the one who prepares his meals and feeds him, I am the one who takes him to work with me every day, I am the one who does all the grocery shopping, I am the one who does all the cooking, serving and cleaning up of all the meals, I am the one who collects all the garbage on a daily basis and puts it in the cans, I am the one who puts all the dishes in the dishwasher and puts them away, I am the one who takes Bryson outside to play in the sandbox or to jump on the trampoline, I am the one who gives him all his baths, I am the one who does all the research and finds new ways to help Bryson and is getting the trip to China planned! I could go on, but I think you get the picture! So, I am very sorry to those of you who think including you in a mass email or asking for things on Facebook is offensive, but I don't have time to call each and every person to personally ask for a donation. Plus the fact that it's very hard for me to ask for things like this anyway! It's kind of degrading to have to call each and every person and beg for money for my son!
When I made the public announcement on Facebook, my friends actually started calling me or texting or emailing me to see what they could do, so that's another reason why I chose to keep that line of communication going. It took so much for me to swallow my pride and make that announcement because not many people knew about Bryson having spina bifida and like I said, I really don't like having to beg people for help or for money! So many people have stepped up and have helped by making donations and I appreciate it more than you will ever imagine. The barrel race was so much work and it turned out so great and the golf tournament coming up is going to be great too and I so appreciate all the hard work that was involved. The cuts for the cure that was done in Oklahoma and the upcoming Zumbathon and other things Channing's friends are doing is phenomenal and I thank them from the bottom of my heart! None of those people have ever talked to me personally on the phone and they did all that! Then I have people saying that they haven't donated to Bryson yet because they feel I should have contacted them personally and they feel hurt that I have included them in the emails instead of contacting them. Believe me, hearing this hurts me more as much as it hurt them because those of you who know me, know that I would never do anything intentionally to disrespect or hurt anyone's feeling ever!
I am doing the best that I can, with the time I am allowed, and I just want everyone to keep in mind that I am a mother who is trying to do whatever it takes to get her son the help he needs so he can have a better quality of life. I would walk though fire, take a bullet, or go to the other side of the world for this little boy! I sincerely apologize for not contacting each and every person directly, but please try to understand it from my perspective and be a little tolerant of my mistakes, because I'm human and I am far from perfect!
Thanks for listening to me today. I just thought I needed to say some things. I feel better now!
It has come to my attention that this offends some people. I have been told that some people don't want to be lumped into the mass email or Facebook category and would prefer a personal phone call asking for a donation or for help. I would never intentionally offend or upset anyone and the only reason I send out emails, etc., is because of the time limits I have these days. I think people who don't have special-needs children realize how much time it takes to care for them. All my time is dedicated to Bryson because he literally can't do things for himself. I am his only means of anything. He is constantly sick with UTI's and having to go to the doctor and he always has some sort of issue to be taken care of medically. He is in 2 types of therapy that take up two days a week of our time and I have to work at the store and try to run that business full-time as well. I am also a wife who has responsibilities. I pretty much do everything in my household except take the trash to the curb and the lawn work, which pretty much hasn't had to be done for like the last 3 mos now because of the drought! I do have a cleaning lady come in twice a month to help with the cleaning and Monty does the laundry on Sundays and takes the trash to the curb. Most importantly, he earns the living so I can be home full-time with Bryson! Everything else is my job! I am the one who gives Bryson his meds 3 times a day, I am the one who does his catheter every 3 hrs, I am the one who changes all his diapers, I am the one who puts him in and out of his wheel stander and takes him out to play and entertains him all day, I am the one who takes him to therapy and all his doctors' appointments, I am the one who prepares his meals and feeds him, I am the one who takes him to work with me every day, I am the one who does all the grocery shopping, I am the one who does all the cooking, serving and cleaning up of all the meals, I am the one who collects all the garbage on a daily basis and puts it in the cans, I am the one who puts all the dishes in the dishwasher and puts them away, I am the one who takes Bryson outside to play in the sandbox or to jump on the trampoline, I am the one who gives him all his baths, I am the one who does all the research and finds new ways to help Bryson and is getting the trip to China planned! I could go on, but I think you get the picture! So, I am very sorry to those of you who think including you in a mass email or asking for things on Facebook is offensive, but I don't have time to call each and every person to personally ask for a donation. Plus the fact that it's very hard for me to ask for things like this anyway! It's kind of degrading to have to call each and every person and beg for money for my son!
When I made the public announcement on Facebook, my friends actually started calling me or texting or emailing me to see what they could do, so that's another reason why I chose to keep that line of communication going. It took so much for me to swallow my pride and make that announcement because not many people knew about Bryson having spina bifida and like I said, I really don't like having to beg people for help or for money! So many people have stepped up and have helped by making donations and I appreciate it more than you will ever imagine. The barrel race was so much work and it turned out so great and the golf tournament coming up is going to be great too and I so appreciate all the hard work that was involved. The cuts for the cure that was done in Oklahoma and the upcoming Zumbathon and other things Channing's friends are doing is phenomenal and I thank them from the bottom of my heart! None of those people have ever talked to me personally on the phone and they did all that! Then I have people saying that they haven't donated to Bryson yet because they feel I should have contacted them personally and they feel hurt that I have included them in the emails instead of contacting them. Believe me, hearing this hurts me more as much as it hurt them because those of you who know me, know that I would never do anything intentionally to disrespect or hurt anyone's feeling ever!
I am doing the best that I can, with the time I am allowed, and I just want everyone to keep in mind that I am a mother who is trying to do whatever it takes to get her son the help he needs so he can have a better quality of life. I would walk though fire, take a bullet, or go to the other side of the world for this little boy! I sincerely apologize for not contacting each and every person directly, but please try to understand it from my perspective and be a little tolerant of my mistakes, because I'm human and I am far from perfect!
Thanks for listening to me today. I just thought I needed to say some things. I feel better now!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Barrels for Bryson! A Complete Success!
WOW! That's all I can say about the Barrels for Bryson benefit! What a spectacular event, that surpassed our wildest expectations! God blessed us with an amazing turnout for this event and an amazing amount of money was made for Bryson. There were 485 entries in this barrel race and Bryson made around $15,000! It was fun and chaotic all at the same time. My mom and niece and Josey did a bang-up job producing this fundraiser. I've never seen people work so hard in my life to make something like this happen. I am truly grateful for everything that went into making this thing such a huge success. The race started at 8am and didn't finish until after 2am the next day! Can you say exhausted! Bryson and I got home at 9:45pm, but my everyone else was there until it ended. They all needed to sleep for a week after this event! Bryson did so good and had such a great time playing with all the kids. He was really sick with another UTI, but it didn't stop him. We rebuked Satan in the name of Jesus and nothing was stealing our joy that day. On our way home, I looked up in the sky and there was a beautiful full moon shining. Bryson said, "look mommy, it's the man in the moon!" I said, "yes, baby, that's God and he is shining His light down on us brightly tonight!" Bryson said, "yeah, He sure is!" "Bye, bye man in the moon. We going home now!" What a perfect night! I want to thank our Father, God, for this wonderful blessing and I lift it up to him and give Him all the glory for it!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Good Times with Family!
We have had an awesome weekend with family! Had some great fellowship, great food and great laughs!
Monty's b-day was on Sept. 2nd and Bryson's big sister, Channing and her husband Cayle, came to spend the whole weekend to celebrate daddy's b-day! We love it when they come visit!
There was lots of laughter and lots of eating going on and the best time was had by all! Sissy Channing and I played our hearts out with Bryson! We all went to Greenville to the little strip mall to find Cayle a backpack and to get Bryson an outfit for the Barrels for Bryson Benefit and there was a place that was doing eyebrow threading. I wanted to get it done before we left and as I was almost finished, Bryson says to his Sissy, "Yay, mommy flossed her eyeballs!" We cracked up! This kid is such a comedian!
We had Chinese food for lunch and the kids were shocked that Bryson eats hot & sour soup and potstickers! That baby loves Chinese food! We were all so full and just down right miserable when we got done eating! Every bite was worth the bloating! Yen Jing rocks! Seriously, the best Chinese food I've ever eaten! Sissy Channing and Cayle left for Tulsa on Sunday and we always hate to see them leave. Bryson was asking where his Sissy was the minute they walked out the door.
Since today is the Labor Day holiday, we all went to the Tyler Zoo as a family outing and had a blast! This was Bryson's first trip to the zoo. He loooooved it! His favorite animal, he said, was the Lion! A Black Bear got a little too close to the glass and he did not like that at all! He said "Get me outa here! That Polar Bear is gonna get me!" Hilarious! The weather was just fantastic and we all had such a wonderful day. We ate lunch on the way home at Posados for some Mexican food and Bryson ate like a champ! He was talking and squealing about his trip to the zoo the whole time we were in the restaurant! As soon as we got home, we all piled up in the bed together and took a little nappy poo! We were all too pooped to participate!
One of the best holiday weekends we've had in a long time!!!!!!!
Monty's b-day was on Sept. 2nd and Bryson's big sister, Channing and her husband Cayle, came to spend the whole weekend to celebrate daddy's b-day! We love it when they come visit!
There was lots of laughter and lots of eating going on and the best time was had by all! Sissy Channing and I played our hearts out with Bryson! We all went to Greenville to the little strip mall to find Cayle a backpack and to get Bryson an outfit for the Barrels for Bryson Benefit and there was a place that was doing eyebrow threading. I wanted to get it done before we left and as I was almost finished, Bryson says to his Sissy, "Yay, mommy flossed her eyeballs!" We cracked up! This kid is such a comedian!
We had Chinese food for lunch and the kids were shocked that Bryson eats hot & sour soup and potstickers! That baby loves Chinese food! We were all so full and just down right miserable when we got done eating! Every bite was worth the bloating! Yen Jing rocks! Seriously, the best Chinese food I've ever eaten! Sissy Channing and Cayle left for Tulsa on Sunday and we always hate to see them leave. Bryson was asking where his Sissy was the minute they walked out the door.
Since today is the Labor Day holiday, we all went to the Tyler Zoo as a family outing and had a blast! This was Bryson's first trip to the zoo. He loooooved it! His favorite animal, he said, was the Lion! A Black Bear got a little too close to the glass and he did not like that at all! He said "Get me outa here! That Polar Bear is gonna get me!" Hilarious! The weather was just fantastic and we all had such a wonderful day. We ate lunch on the way home at Posados for some Mexican food and Bryson ate like a champ! He was talking and squealing about his trip to the zoo the whole time we were in the restaurant! As soon as we got home, we all piled up in the bed together and took a little nappy poo! We were all too pooped to participate!
One of the best holiday weekends we've had in a long time!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)