Team Sophie!

Yesterday my family received an extra dose of blessing. We were thrilled to be a part of the charity walk to benefit Helen Devos Children's Hospital however what was extra special to me was that we had 37 people come out to support us with Team Sophie. I have to admit, being new at planning and organizing an event that part was tricky for me and a little bit stressful. But I was so touched that so many of you were willing to take time out of your day to support us.

 Too many wonderful moments to capture them all! I was thrilled and touched, I didn't get a chance to spend a ton of time with everyone but I am so touched that all of you were there.  While I was leading up to the big day I made a video, chronicling Sophie's journey up to this point. It was a wonderful way for me to reflect on all of God's blessings and how alive the promises in his word are and I tried to include as many as I could that have touched me over the last few years.  I am sure this video will undergo a few more edits over the years.  I don't always get a chance to do the things a mom should normally do for her kids, I haven't scrapbooked a single moment of Sophie's life yet! But I do blog and I made this video.  She is a part of my testimony now and my prayer is that all of you who pray and care for her and lift us up both near and far will be a part of her story as well that she will cherish this for years to come.  This video really is a tribute to all of you.  Thanks for all you do for Craig and I and the girls!

Meeting new friends!

Wow! What a blessing today! We went to Lansing after church (had a little bit of construction detour which almost made our GPS lady start cursing at us and after all that ended up at a bookstore that had the same address as our destination except it was in E. Lansing instead of Lansing! God could not be deterred and we were blessed to be sent to the right place FINALLY!) anyways what was in Lansing you ask?  A photography show in an art gallery called "Flesh Tones" and it featured people with different skin conditions to raise awareness and understanding about people who might look "different" to you and of course teach you to appreciate them for more than just their unique condition.  Why it was SO awesome, we got to meet 4-5 people who also had a Giant Congenital Nevus like Sophie! And three of the girls were all the same size.  And as an added praise I have been working with my Gracie on her reaction to people who look different.  You never know what might come flying out of that girls mouth! And she was great, there was a woman who had no hair and had a wig and she was talking with Grace and showing her her wig and I was so proud of how kind and mature my 5 year old took in the whole situation.  Here are a couple of pictures of our new friends!!!

Sophie and Megan (she is the daughter of the Nevus support groups director and founder, she was one of the featured subjects in the photos!)

Sophie and her new little friend Addyson

My girls with Megan and Stephanie, two wonderful adult ladies who have a giant congenital nevus! It is SUCH a comfort to me to talk to adults about this who know first hand about struggles, feelings AND blessings too!  Thanks you so much ladies! You were a gift from God!

Such a nice event, I was so pleased to be there and meet some people that I could talk to who knew a little bit of what I might be feeling. 

We are now less then 2 weeks til the big walk! We are SO blessed and touched by the number of people that wanted to participate.   We have close to 40 people! I am touched.  If you are reading this and thinking you would still like to participate, it is not too late.  Give me a call and I will fill you in on the details! Tomorrow we see Dr. Mann and I hope to know our next surgery date (or at least a ballpark) but I was too excited about today to wait to post! I feel very blessed with how God has been taking care of our family lately!!
Amanda