The Heart of Our Journey...

We started out by reading Psalm 139. Are you even kidding me? That’s the verse I have based so much of our CHD journey on. I don’t know why I haven’t read further down before. I’ve always stopped at “I praise you for you I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful.” and haven’t gone further. I took a lil screen shot of the rest of the verse. Look at it below.





We are doing a study at our church called “Wonder Life”. It’s all about how God takes messes and turns them into something beautiful for HIS glory.

When I was doing my lesson for our study there was a page that asked there was a question that asked what I would pay to chance part of my story. That’s a loaded question when it comes to your child. Would I pay every penny I earned for all eternity for him to be healthy? Yeah I would. But I TRUST now, finally really, truly, completely TRUST JESUS that this story is His and that Pierson is also His, not actually ours and that even if he is never completely healed, even if we deal daily with side-effects of a stroke, even if he has more heart surgery in his future, even if we continue to struggle with secondary pulmonary issues it is for HIS glory. It was written by the same hands that made the mountains and the seas. So because of that, even though it’s not the story I would have chosen from the shelf I can be ok with it. It’s ok for me to be ok with that. I have peace in this trust in Him. That’s weird isn’t it? That’s not of this world. It’s Divine and it’s His. Just like Pierson’s story.  


Enjoy this music video by Lauren Daigle. We sang this pre-sermon and tears streamed down my face. I should have known then the Holy Spirit was getting me ready for something big. Happy CHD Awareness friends! May we all be able to trust Him more this week. 

It's no secret that I'm kind of a health and fitness freak. Certified RunNerd, right here.
Because of this I follow a lot of health and fitness blogs and instagrams accounts and pin funny and helpful things.
Recently I've noticed a trend in these blogs. A certian saying that is often hashtagged.
"Fit moms make fit kids" or another version "Healthy moms make healthy babies"
And I cringe.
Here's why.
That's simply not true. It's also very hurtful to those of us who in spite of our health and fitness, our taking good care of ourselves leading up to and during pregnancy were not blessed to give birth to healthy kids. I did every thing right and was very healthy during my pregnancy but my baby was still born with a defective heart. I have friends who are even healthier than me and their children have been born with too many or too chromosomes. Or cleft pallets. Or Down Syndrome. Or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Or who deliver premature babies. Or who develop cancer very early in childhood. Or who have miscarriages or still births. Or suffer from infertility.
Heart breaking.
When you become a mom to a baby who is born "not healthy" you are suddenly shouldered with a lot of guilt.
"If my baby wasn't born healthy, it's obviously something that I did wrong."
When Pierson's cardiologist was telling us that Pierson had a congenital heart defect he made it a point to look right in my eyes and say "You didn't do anything to cause this. You did nothing wrong."
It takes a while, a lot of specialist, a lot of grace, and a lot of other parents who have been there and sometimes professional counseling to finally have healing and peace over this guilt, as misplaced as it may be - To know that you didn't hurt your baby - It's not your fault that your child has suffered and will possibly suffer their entire lifetime.
But that phrase, that hash tag, that idea that "fit moms make fit kids" or "healthy moms make healthy kids" that somehow caring for yourself or good health = guaranteed baby health makes you feel like a failure - like maybe you didn't do a good enough job and maybe in fact, this is your fault.
So maybe, we, as a health and fitness community, as moms, stop using that saying.
There's no point in saying it. If it's hurtful, if it's scientifically not proven true -- maybe we just end it.
I realise that this is a catchy marketing phrase and it's fun to hash tag -- but it also picks at a scab and hurts for a lot of women, moms or moms to be out there. I doubt anyone sat around and maniacally laughed and thought "This will hurt, let's use it" -- but that's why I wanted to make it public. If it hurts my heart, surely there are others hurting from the same thing.
So that's why I wanted to speak up. Maybe it can stop hurting others starting now. Maybe this is one piece of artillery we can take out of the mommy wars. It can only help, right?

There are so many blogs I plan on posting this week for Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week and I had a hard time choosing which one to post first. Some are deep, some are silly, and this particular one is informative. I thought since this week exists to promote awareness of what Congenital Heart Disease is, I would talk about Pierson's particular heart defect, Coarctation of the Aorta. I get asked the following questions alot so here answers.

What's wrong with Pierson's heart? Pierson was born with a congenital heart defect called Coarctation of the Aorta.

What is Coarctation of the Aorta? Coarctation of the Aorta is a congenital heart defect where the aorta has a narrowing usually immediatly at the heart as the aorta begins to arch. The narrowing can range from mild to severe. Pierson's was severe. The picture below is actually a picture of a section of aorta that has the coarctation. Not just any picture, mind you, this is actually Pierson's coarctation. The tiny hole in the middle is all the room oxygenated blood had to get through to get to the rest of his body. How he made it 3 years without intervention or death is a miracle.

Bottom Left is the actual Coarctation of the Aorta. The other pieces are portions of Pierson's Aorta that never fully developed and were weakened from the pressure the coarctation of put on the aorta. Yes, those would have burst very soon if he had not been diagnosed and received heart surgery when he did.

What are some of the symptoms of Coarctation of the Aorta?  There are several.
1. Elevated blood pressure in the arms and lower than average or lower than average blood pressure in the legs. Multi-extremity blood pressure checks would catch this every time.
2. Cold or blueish-tinted feet. The coarctation is blocking proper blood flow and hardly any oxygenated blood is reaching the bottom of their little bodies.
3. Decreased pulses in feet and groin. Again, the blood flow to the lower extremties isn't sufficient so there are either no pulses or they are very faint. After surgery you can literally see your child's pulse in their feet becaus their little bodies are so happy to be fixed.
4. Falling asleep during feedings. I wish I had know this one! Eating is exhausting for these kiddos so they fall asleep eating more times than not.
5. Not being able to keep up physically with their peers. They may get fatigued more easily than their peers or look like they are gasping for air.
6. Complaining of headaches upon exertion
7. Sweating! Oh the sweat!
8. A heart murmur -- NEVER let those go unchecked.
9. Pale skin -- this hasn't changed a whole lot with Pierson's coarctation repair -- he's just very caucasian.
10. Shortness of breath - especially when they're playing.
Note: It's common thinking that all babies and children born with heart defects are blue. That's not true!

Is Coarctation of the Aorta life threatening? Yes. Coarctation of the Aorta is considered a critical congenital heart defect. It usually requires surgical intervention within the first year of life. God was super gracious to us and protected Pierson untreated for three years. How he survived is a miracle.

How is Coarctation of the Aorta treated?  For children who have severe to moderate coarctation of the aorta heart surgery is usually required. The type of surgery most commonly performed (and what Pierson had) is called end to end anastomosis. That means that the aorta is cut above and below the coarctation at the most healthy points and then sewn back together. In some cases patches or grafts may need to be used to put the aorta back together. In children with moderate to mild coarctation of the aorta many times a balloon angioplasty can be used to widen the coarctation. A small ballon is run up through the aorta to the coarctation and inflated leaving the aorta widened. Many children require blood pressure medicine after the coarctation is repaired. Most can usually have their blood pressure medicine weined and eventually be able to go through life without it.
Surgery is a repair, not a fix or a cure. There will always be at least a little scar tissue present and in rare cases the coarctation can reform. A CHD is never "fixed" but the outcomes for children who are born with CHDs and have the repair is very good! I know one 31 year old who was born with Coarctation of the Aorta who played college soccer, got his masters and is married with 3 beautiful children. There is hope and a future.

How common is Coarctation of the Aorta? 1 in 150 children are born with Coarctation of the Aorta. 1 in 100 children are born with a congenital heart defect. It often accompanies other heart defects but sometimes like in Pierson's case can be stand alone. It can often cause further congenital heart disease like left hypertrophic ventricle or cardiomyopathy. Pierson had both.

What causes Coarctation of the Aorta? Gosh I wish I knew. Around 8 weeks gestation something mis-fires causing the aorta to not completely form. I took awesome care of myself, took prenatal vitamins for months before coming pregnant, got plenty or rest, didn't smoke or drink... but still my child has congenital heart disease. Pierson's caridoligst assures us there is nothing I could have done or not done to prevent this. There are a few working theories that left sided heart defects like coarctation of the aorta have some sort of genetic factor. That's one of the reasons we need to raise awareness. If there is something that can be done to prevent this we need to find out and do it! No child should have to go through this!

What kind of futures do children born with Coarctation of the Aorta have? Give this kid some shades, his future is bright! The life expectancy for these kids used to be 40 but according to P's cardiologist, they are doing much better than that now and he expects him to grow old. They may need more surgery in the future, they may need some angioplasties but there isn't much that this will hold them back from. Yes there are some things that they may face like learning to live with blood pressure spikes when they get too hot but that is such small stuff in the big picture. Every child is different so I can't speak for everyone, but Pierson has zero restrictions. His cardiologist told us the best thing we can do for him is keep him active so that's what we do!
                                                                         

Families of children with congenital heart defects can be downright inspirational. We are blessed to be surrounded by other families who have been touched by CHD who shine brightly. Recently the kindness of two of these families has inspired our family to do something fun for CHD Awareness Week which runs from February 7  -  14 this year.

We have some precious friends of ours, the Solomons, who we met through the CHD support group at the hospital where Pierson is treated who lost their daughter Elise on Christmas of last year. This past Christmas they participated in the Advent Conspiracy where each day leading up until Christmas they did something nice that would bless others to celebrate the Christmas season. Truly inspirational considering that the countdown to Christmas was not just a countdown to presents and lights but also leading up to the one year anniversary of when they lost Elise to CHD.

My heart is struggling yall. This is going to be a raw blog post full of complete honesty.
Summer is almost over and with it, the year-round Pre-K we enrolled Pierson in. You know what that means? Kindergarten. *Que the tears forming in my eyes and computer screen becoming blurry*. My emotions are all over the place with this. One minute I'm way too jazzed about making cinnamon rolls with 3 different flavors of icing to take up to the PTA breakfast, and the next I'm thinking that maybe we could convince his Pre-K to let him be on some kind of continuous Pre-K program until he's like, 25 maybe?!? Alas, everyone we've talked to has assured us he's more than ready for kindergarten.
Wednesday after I took Pierson to school I watched him playing on the playground as I left and I just lost it. This was one of the last times he was going to play on that playground. He had a new playground to play on now, a bigger playground, at a bigger school -- a new chapter in his book.
THEN, oh then I really lost it. My heart is broken guys.
It hit me that he gets to have a new chapter of his life. We were so very close to not getting to see this day and I am so grateful that we get to send him off to kindergarten. We got to buy backpacks, lunchboxes, way too many back to school clothes (he's like a human doll for me!) a spiral notebook with a panda bear on it, two pairs of new shoes - both with blue on them, he won't wear shoes if they're not blue or if they don't have blue or red on them. I don't take these things for granted. I can't. I don't complain about the hundreds of dollars that I've spent on this. I realise how different this season could be for us if we had just suddenly lost him and I rejoice that we get to do this. Rejoicing is what I really need to be doing. You can rejoice and cry at the same time, right?!?
I pray for his teacher. I pray for his administrators. I pray for the other educators and staff who will get to work with him. I am thankful for them. I pray they "get" him. He's come such a long way. I know he's going to a great school minutes down the road, but why does it feel like I'm sending him off to China with strangers or something?
I feel like I want to stand at the door of his kindergarten classroom and yell at the other kids "You be nice to this guy, he's really special!" but I realize all I can do is make sure he understands to be kind to everyone, listens to and obeys his teacher and makes choices that honor God and our family and that reflect the man of God he is growing to be. A man of character.
In all this I realise something though: My greatest fear hasn't been realized, and my prayers - as well as the prayers of so many others to preserve, sustain and restore his life have been answered with a gracious "Yes". He's alive. Even though that dang stroke still makes so many things harder for him, he's thriving.
I feel like even though I'm grieving this change of seasons in our life that I won't be able to do that for very long. Fall is major around our house. T-ball starts in a week. Oh, and can we take a second here to talk about that?
Guess what Pierson's t-ball team is named? The BRAVES. I laughed out loud when we found out. Braves. How appropriate. I didn't even have to say anything to Pierson when we told him the team name, he said it all. "They must have known I'm brave so they put me on that team." Yep buddy, pretty much. Isn't it funny how the Lord uses even small things like that to reassure your heart? And here's the other part that is a gift. Our coach sent an email asking about some history on the boys, including health history. I tried to keep it brief, but fact filled and I go an email back from one of the assistant coaches. Want to know what her history is? Oh, you know, just 12 years of experience working with cardiac and neuro rehab patients. Yeah, so she's seen a few strokes in her day and knows exactly what to look for as far as fatigue or distress in our heart kiddo. I wanted to jump through gmail and hug her. Jehovah jireh - God provides!
Fall for us also means Mean Green football, school (of course), lots of running and training for various races, parties, fundraisers, holiday prep, State Fair or Texas, tons of family birthdays, family get-aways, and.... back to the cardiologist for P. We have no reason to believe that Pierson will have anything other than a fantastic appointment and we are praying for a perfect appointment and a smiling cardiologist who comes in and says "Looks great!" Those are the two words every heart parent desires to hear.
So here we stand, at the border of old and new, ready (or not) to start a new season. Please pray for our transition and that everything goes smoothly. Pray that we can be a blessing to others and show the love of the Lord to them as we cross the threshold in to a new stage of life.
We have so much to be thankful for.

The other day Pierson and I were in the pool. As most 4 (almost 5!) year old boys are, he is all in to exploring the water. While standing on the pool step he slapped the top of the water with his hand and made waves. "Mommy!! Look at that!" He did it again, more waves, more ripples. "That's cool!"
"It is cool!" I said. "That's called a ripple effect. Your one action moves the water right where you hand is, then that water moves more water and so on and it makes ripples that go all the way across the pool, even though you only touched the water here."
"When do they end?" He asked hitting the water again and studying each ripple.
"There's no way to tell really. Here they go to pool wall but who knows how far they could go if that wall wasn't there to stop them."
Keep this story in mind as you read the rest of this blog.

This time two weeks ago Pierson was proudly wearing his first ever medal around his neck after completing his first ever race -- a RunDisney Kids Race. This was something he was looking forward to for weeks. We had practiced our races and running, talked about what it would be like to run the race, strategy and even which shoe to attach his Team Beads of Courage beads to. The morning of the race he woke up wide-eyed and ready. He had a hardy breakfast and was ready to go! When we got to the kids races it began to rain. The information we got said the race would go on rain or shine so we didn't let it bother us a bit as we got wetter and wetter. Jeff and our friends went to the stands to get ready to watch and Pierson and I went to the starting line for the 4-6 year old division and inspected the course.

Jeff took this picture while we were waiting for P's race to begin. One of my favorites EVER!

We chatted with some other kids and parents as we waited for the race to begin. There were a lot of 6 year olds in our heat and a few other 4 year olds. Before we knew it, the race started... and before I knew it Pierson was off. Ahead of me! I had to run to catch up with him. My goal was to take pictures standing in front of him for the race but that proved harder than I had expected. It was like a switch went off in his head he just ran! The last obstacle was finding a toy barried in a sandpit then it was on to the last 100 yards of the race on the track. After he got on the track he took a deep giant breath as he was running. I got scared that he was fatiguing or having a hard time breathing. As he exhaled he took off even faster!

Running hard almost at the finish line

Crossing the finish line

P and his medal! He was a little excited, can you tell?

He ran over the finish line with a big smile on his face and his medal was placed around his neck. SUCCESS!!!
And there we had it -- another miracle. Our little boy who we almost lost nearly 2 years ago, who on paper is still a hemiplegic, a congenital heart defect/ heart surgery/ stroke survivor had finished a race and done it well. He kept up with the 6 year olds guys. 6 year olds! Most of which were probably perfectly healthy! Of course you would think that about Pierson too unless you pulled up his shirt. You just never know....
After we got back to the hotel we took the beads off of his shoe and put them back in the baggie. We talked about who might get the bead he ran with and where on his strand he was going to put his "race bead". We asked him if he liked it and if he wanted to do it again. "YEAH!"
As far as I know he may be one of, if not the first Beads of Courage member to carry a Team bead. He loves that we get to help other kids and we talk about who might get his bead! What's really cool is that whoever gets that bead will have a matching corresponding bead to his so they'll be sporting the same bead!
After a day of fun in the parks it was time for the grown-up race. My best friend since childhood and I originally decided to this race to show 30 who was boss since we both turn 30 this year. When I discovered Team Beads of Courage I called her to ask if she would like to carry a bead too. Without hesitation she said yes and within a few days had her bead.
Our race was fantastic! We went in to it not knowing what to expect. Neither of us had ever done an obstacle course race before. It. Was. AWESOME!

Waiting in for our wave to begin.

Beads on board! Ready to race!

Kendra would tell you she's not a runner (which I would argue) but she is in fierce physical shape (nothing on that girl wiggles) and showed all the obstacles who was boss. After we cleared mile one we chatted as we ran talking about how this was so far a breeze. Kendra had actually injured herself earlier in the week but she wasn't letting that stop her.  Then we took a second to think about how lucky we are to have whole, bodies and how we were getting to do a race at the most magical place on earth and how blessed we were to be here at Disney World and to get to run -- healthy. I looked down at my beads and smiled then we ran on. My "keep" bead is going to a friend of ours who is about to have another open heart surgery. I thought about how this race was 3 miles and this is his 3rd surgery at 3 years old. Before we knew it we were at the finish line for the 5k portion of the race. Oh but the finish line doesn't mean you're done at the Expedition Everest Challenge... oh no, that's not what that means at all. The 5k finish line means you are now moving on the the second part of the race, the scavenger hunt and an additional 2 mile run.

Yes, the last clue was that hard. This is the sea of people who had been running stopped to solve the last clue

Kendra hard at work trying to solve the last clue.

You guys. I am so glad I was with Kendra. That girl can take clues and find answers in mere seconds. Actually I think we established a long time ago that she is smarter than I am.
The last clue however was a stumper. As we ran in to the last section of the race after we received the 4th and final clue we couldn't figure the dang thing out. Neither could the 60+ other people who stopped running and took a seat on the ground trying to figure the dang thing out. Our cards were supposed to make a symbol that was on our race bib and that was the final answer. It totally DID NOT! I'm almost certain that someone in the RunDisney office was laughing as they orchestrated the hardest last clue in the history of the world. We finally got it and ran on to the finish line, laughing. Kendra grabbed my hand and said "Ready?" We threw our arms in the air and jumped over the finish line. The pictures do a decent job of capturing how much fun this race was. I would do it again in a heartbeat! After we got our medals I looked down at my beads, thinking about the kids who would get them and what a cool journey they had been on. I am so thankful that we got to do this to celebrate our birthdays, friendship and celebrate kids who have overcome obstacles far worse than the ones on our race course.
We went to the after-race party and had a blast. Pierson was a trooper! He got to ride the Expedition Everest roller coaster. It was a BEAST! Loved it! We danced with Disney characters and enjoyed Animal Kingdom park at a super low attendance. I went to bed that night with a super full heart!

Our official finisher picture and medals

Crossing the finish line, mid-air

The next morning we got a text from Kendra "78 out of 504 women's teams. Not too shabby!" I find it hilarious that we finished in the top 100 when all we went in there to do was "Have fun and make memories" --- both of which were achieved of course.
I posted some pictures of Pierson running from the professional photographers on the course last week on Facebook and have had several inquiries on how to become a Team Beads of Courage bead carrier. Can I tell you how happy that makes me? Our brave boy is going to help other kids get special beads because he wanted to race and carry beads.
We even have some heart friends that will carry some this weekend because their little boy saw the beads of Pierson's shoe. He wants to run a race now too!
Ripple Effect.
Now let's take this back a few steps...
Jean Baruch is a pediatric oncology nurse who dreamed of a way for kids who were facing serious illness to have a way to record, tell and share their brave journeys. Because of her Beads of Courage was born and spread to children's hospitals all over the world, including Pierson's.
There's a family who lost their daughter to congenital heart disease a few years ago who decided to honor their daughter's memory by establishing a foundation that funds the Beads of Courage program at Pierson's hospital...
Because of this Pierson is blessed to have Beads of Courage to document his journey with congenital heart disease. Because of this....
We found out about Team Beads of Courage because Pierson and his child life specialist received a bead carried by an American summer Olympian...
Because an Olympian carried a bead and Pierson loved his bead so much I decided to carry beads in my races...
Pierson wanted to carry a bead and start racing too...
Because Pierson carried a bead for other kids, others have seen what a cool thing it is to carry beads for others and do the same....
Those people will tell their stories of why they have a bead attached to their shoe and others will want to do the same...
More kids facing terminal and serious illness will get a Team Bead with a special story because more people know about it...
Who knows where that ripple will end, or if it ever will.
May all those ripples glorify the Lord.
This week has been hard for our heart community.  Our sweet heart friend David passed away Wednesday. This makes the second heart friend in 5 months that we have lost. My heart is broken. In David's memory his parents have asked that donations be made (more information on this link) to help build an Infant Resuscitation Lab where medical professionals from all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area can come to learn new cutting edge techniques on how to resuscitate a child or baby who is in cardiac arrest.
Bittersweet Ripple Effect.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of babies and children will saved because of David and how his parents have chosen to honor him forever. If you would like to contribute to this lab I would encourage you to visit this link and do so. You can also read more about precious David.
I think it's important to remember that our actions and choices have ripple effects.
Let's go make some positive ripples!

Some of you may have come to this blog for our big reveal from our Facebook pages. Some of you may have just stumbled upon it. Regardless of how you got here, we have an announcement.
We are headed to a dream location very soon to celebrate a huge milestone for Pierson.
He will be running in his very first race! He will also be carrying his first Team Beads of Courage bead. Pierson is a cardiac Beads of Courage Member. I'm not sure of how many Beads of Courage members ever get to be bead carriers due to the complexities of the illnesses these kids face but he is one of them!
I started running last summer with a dear, blessing to my heart, friend of mine as a way to honor kids who suffer from congenital heart disease, deal with stress and maintain my own health. My legs are strong, my heart unbroken. I should run for those kids who would love nothing more to run but can't because their hearts are broken and bodies riddled with disease.
I ran my first race for a CHD child in November, then one in December. The little girl I ran for in December passed away a few weeks later on Christmas day. After her funeral it dawned on me that I should really become a Team Beads of Courage Member. I figured I had this perfectly healthy body, why couldn't I use it to help others? Pierson is a Beads of Courage cardiac member and his beads tell an incredible story. Some are treatment beads and some mark milestones or special events. Pierson and his child life specialist Margarita received very special Team Beads of Courage beads carried in the 2012 Summer Olympics this year. Pierson and I talked about what I was doing and how I was carrying a bead like the Olympic athlete that carried his bead and he liked it and began asking to go on runs with me, so I started taking him on some short runs.

We have recently had a much more clear picture of what all Pierson's body has been through and the toll that congenital heart disease has taken. According to his medical charts his right brain stroke has left him with left side hemiplegia, or paralysis. He has made so much progress through intense therapy that it's hard to tell anymore when someone first meets him, but he still has a really hard time with gross motor skills and his fine motor skills are very far behind. He is stronger than ever physically and his heart is looking as good as a mended heart can be right now. Our main struggle is still recovering from his stroke. We recently got our first "He may never..." statement from a medical professional. It was like swallowing a horse pill dry.

The beads Pierson and I will carry for children who are Beads of Courage members facing chronic and life threatening illnes.

All that to say, Pierson running has become a great benefit to him in recovering. It keeps his heart strong and it helps him recover from the stroke. Pierson's cardiologist encourages us to keep him active. We recently saw a girl in her 20's who has hypoplastic left heart sydrome complete a 15k. Unbelievable! The race that Pierson is participating in is... wait for it... an obstacle course race. Yep, our half paralysed heart-kiddo is doing an obstacle course race.
We have no doubt he can do it and do it well. Honestly, these aren't the biggest obstacles he's had to overcome in his life. So take that congenital heart disease and stroke! P's showing you who's boss for a change and helping other kids at the same time!
My best friend from childhood and I will also carry beads and run in the adult version of the same race later that day. She is precious to my heart and she and her husband have been so supportive of Pierson's fight and an encouragement to our family. I can't think of anyone else I would rather enter this insane race with than this girl. I'm putting my competitive "must win" nature away for this race and focusing on making memories and taking these beads on an adventure that these kids can picture in their heads -- an adventure without ever leaving their hospital beds. We expect that we will burn more calories than some of the other racers because laughing burns calories and we just can't help ourselves when we're together.
Please join us in praying over this adventure. Pray for health and safety for us.  Pray for endurance for us. Pray for healing and for the Lord to sustain the kids like Pierson who will receive these beads. Pray that we honor the Lord in our races. I will update the blog with complete pictures and details of the race when we get back from our race. We are still weeks out but I feel like it will be here before we know it!
I wanted to leave you with a little video clip. It's from the Disney movie "Meet the Robinsons". Basically the whole movie is about not letting your past slow you down, but instead building on it and letting it make you stronger so you can do great things. I don't know if it's the main character's spikey blonde hair that remind me of P or just thinking about how our brave-hearted little boy hasn't let anything slow him down and continually is moving forward or what but the end of this movie always gets me. And I love the quote from the great Walt Disney at the end. What a way to celebrate keeping moving forward than running forward. So proud of our little guy. So so so thankful that we are able to keep moving forward with him and honored to help other kids at the same time.

“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -- Walt Disney