One year ago.

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.” ~ Unknown

A year ago today I learned we were expecting our little guy Chance.  After all I had been through the year prior and the many years prior to the kids being born, I admit it certainly felt like a miracle to discover I was pregnant with him last year. One year later, nearly five months old…and he’s blessed our lives in many ways we had never imagined.

A year ago I recall feeling so sick, fatigued, and incredibly nervous that I might miscarry him. I prayed every day that he’d make it here safely. A year ago today I had no idea that he already had spina bifida. I really didn’t even know what it was a year ago. A year later…it doesn’t matter that he has spina bifida…he still holds a very special place in our hearts and we feel so blessed to have him here.

We wanted to extend a big thanks to everyone who took time out of their day yesterday to attend Chance’s 1st fundraiser for the Walk-n-Roll event for spina bifida. It was nice seeing so many family, friends, co-workers & students show their support. Chance’s team is still the leading team and has raised about $1,100 total in about two weeks since starting his team. That’s over 20% of all donations received thus far. His team is the first to reach raising over one thousand dollars….now we’ll just have to see how much more of an impact he’ll make in helping the chapter reach their goal. So once again, thanks for your support! If you’d like to still show your support you may visit my page to help support Chance’s team in the walk-n-roll.

I’ve been helping out with some of the planning and fundraising efforts for the walk-n-roll event. Some of you may have seen a silly iphone photo of my mindmap of some of the ideas going through my mind in the last week or so. I finally sat still long enough to photograph it with my nikon and thought I’d share it.

I won’t lie, there are definitely many days that have passed that I have been a bit overwhelmed knowing my baby boy has spina bifida. Between knowing how much he’s been through and the uncertainties of all the things that “could” happen…it is tough not to worry. However, I look at the impact he’s left on so many and it is uplifting knowing that I have been blessed by such a sweet little boy who seems to be making a profound impact on the spina bifida community and helping raise awareness about spina bifida. Yes, a year ago…I didn’t know how many challenges we’d face…but I also didn’t know how many rewards we’d be brought…and really, I’m still not so sure we’ve seen the full effects of what an amazing blessing this little guy is. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned this last year is to stop questioning “why” and just trust that things happen for a reason, even if we don’t fully understand their purpose…it’s pretty evident that sometimes the purpose unfolds before our very eyes.