A few thoughts :-)

Last week, I had the opportunity to put some philosophical thoughts to paper when I wrote something for the paws4people graduation ceremony. I thought I would share an amended version of some of those thoughts here. As you know, the past 4 years have been a wild ride for us filled with 99% blessing and 1% stress. Some of the most important blessings have been:

1) Getting the privilege to be parents to our amazing little angel Amanda and her wonderful big sis Katie. Katie is such an amazing big sister to Amanda and Amanda just adores Katie. Amanda is such a truly wonderful, fun, tough, silly, loving and resilient kid who is tough as nails and sweet as sugar. Her innocent, pure, and radiant spirit shines through in all circumstances. We are so grateful to have 2 such wonderful children in our lives.

2) Gaining a much deeper understanding of the terms “unconditional love.” Both of our girls have taught us to understand in a deeper way the meaning of unconditional love. It is indescribable how much you can love a child and how much they can love you back. We have also grown closer as a family over the past several years. Unconditional love has also been demonstrated to us by all our family and friends who have supported us through thick and thin and by the inmates and personnel from paws4people who work day and night to improve the lives of kids like Amanda. My parents are a prime example of unconditional love, as they basically gave up their retirement to help us out with Amanda. Most recently, they packed up all of their belongings in Florida early to drive up to Morgantown and now Baltimore to be with us. They have basically been living with us in a hotel for the last two weeks. They deserve a medal for all they have done to help support our family and keep us functional. Thank you all for everything!

3) Getting to meet the many wonderful people that God has sent our way. Many of you have made an indelible mark on our lives. Everyone at the paws4people organization has become like family to us. Thank you so much Terry, Kyria, Heidi, Candace, Karen, Ashley, Ms Matel, all the inmates, etc for all you have done for Amanda, ELLIE, and our family. Thank you all for seeing Amanda for who she is and for seeing the ability and promise in her. Thank you for investing your time and energies to make Amanda’s life better. Thank you also to the many people who have supported Amanda, ELLIE, and our family over the past several years. You are all amazing and we sincerely appreciate all of your efforts and generosity.

4) Learning to enjoy every moment of every day and not to sweat the small stuff. Every second we get on this earth is a gift from our heavenly Father and we are truly grateful for every moment. We are grateful for the all of the wonderful experiences of the past and present and we eagerly look forward to those of the future.

5) Learning more about the meaning of life and our purpose here. Amanda has shown us that we are meant to serve other people and to help make their lives better, much like many of you have been doing for our family over the past several years. Often it is in serving others that you find yourself. Every member of our family is a better person for knowing Amanda and learning the lessons she has already taught us and will continue to teach us in the future.

While we are in our 1% stress mode at the moment, we are still tremendously blessed by so many things. We know there are many people around the country praying for our sweet, beautiful little girl. We feel added strength from all of those prayers. We are approaching the days ahead with the “peace that surpasses all understanding” and the comfort of knowing that God has a perfect plan for Amanda and our family. We have received some good news in the past few days and we are confident that Amanda will come through the procedures well and will continue to bless our family and the lives of others for years to come.

God Bless,
Susan