Merry Christmas 2009!

What a busy, but wonderful year our family has had! We are so blessed this holiday season and grateful beyond words to a loving God, who has sustained us and supported us throughout!
Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!
Our sweet Chrissy is about to celebrate her NINTH birthday this coming Saturday! WOW! Has it already been nine years since we adopted this sweet little angel?! What a joy she has been to our family! For a little baby who was only supposed to live weeks or "at most" a year, she sure has proved the medical profession wrong on many accounts!!
She wasn't supposed to see or hear, be able to eat, be able to sit up, be able to talk, be able to move or know who or where she was and the list goes on and on......
BOY CAN SHE DO MANY OF THOSE THINGS!! Sure, some of those activites have to be adapted to her level, but she CAN do them!! And so much more!
- She sits with the help of a back brace, and her wheelchair, and other adaptive devices
- She sees with the help of glasses and vision teachers who are helpful and supportive
- She hears like a CHAMP! And she doesn't need any help with this one - this kid can hear a pin drop in the next room! Her favorite sound is the sound of velcro being pulled apart - just cracks her up every time! Oh, and the sound of a sneeze also sends her into gales of laughter!!
- She "talks" by cooing, laughing, hollering her pleasure and her displeasure (LOL), and making all kinds of adorable sounds! We were afraid we would lose that sweet voice when she was trached in March, but she has already learned to "talk" around her trach and to use her passey valve to talk up a storm!
- She attends school and is in 3rd grade. Her teacher loves her and is much loved by Chrissy! She especially loves any activities that involve music!! She gets lots of one on one attention as she is currently homebound for school to keep all those winter germs away from her!
- She loves to play with her toys that have been adapted with switches to make it easier for her to activate them. Dolls are her current favorite, as with any little girl! She also loves anything princess or Disney!! How she smiles and laughs when we dress her up or give her her princess mirror to play with...
- Chrissy is tube fed, but she enjoys her meals just like the rest of us. How do we know this? Because she smacks her lips in pleasure while being fed and sighs her contentment! There are many ways she communicates with us! She also likes the occasional lollipop or sweet treat that we can give her now that she is off the Ketogenic Diet!
- Chrissy knows her name and knows all those in her family and her nurses. She lights up like a Christmas tree every time you say her name. She LOVES attention!! LOL She has a certain look and reaction for every one she knows and it is obvious that she loves her family as much as we love her!

I read a story today on AOL about a little boy in Colorado who just turned one year old. It was one of those "miracle" stories. It was a wonderful story, but it sure saddened me to read some of the comments made by people at the end of it. Comments about how he should be dead and how he is nothing but a vegetable and a drain on society, etc etc
Why are people so heartless and cold, not to mention ignorant? People should reserve comments on things they obviously know nothing about!!!
Chrissy's life is meaningful to all those around her! She has touched so many people in her life by her sweet spirit and her joyful nature. She is sooooooooo intelligent in so many ways - and she doesn't need a brain to be that way! She only needs the spirit her Heavenly Father gave her, and a little help from those who love her to live a very full life and be a happy child! She has been everywhere with her family from Disney World, to Alaska, to California and even to Hawaii!! And she has enjoyed every minute of it - her smiles attest to that fact! She is a complete little person and deserves to live her life just like the rest of us "normal" people. What is normal anyway??
Personally, I think she is above the classification of "normal" - she is EXTRAORDINARY!!! What an inspiration she is!! I am so proud to be her mommy!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ANGEL!!! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!