Nicholas James (1:17): December 2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Ohanas

For our trip to Florida friends of Stephen's got us a gift card and reservations to Ohana's. Ohana's is an all you can eat Hawaiian restaurant on the Disney World resort that takes months to get a reservation. We were floored by this sweet gift!

Our reservations were for 8:00 pm on the night we got to Florida. We were so afraid we wouldn't make it. We got to Give Kids the World, checked in, looked around and drove to Disney.

Meg and I were suffering from jet lag and exhaustion and got goofy.

Okay so the goofiness was starting to spread.

Notice Megan's eyes starting to close.

Brandon gave up.

And of course, Steve is still going.

So my children find the totem pole fanny and think that is hilarious. Figures! We are at Disney and this is what grabs their attention.

Ohana's was AWESOME! It was located next to Magic Kingdom so we ended the night seeing the fireworks across the lagoon. Very cool and a great start to our Make A Wish trip!

iFly...indoor skydiving

We were privileged on our trip to Florida to be able to go to iFly which is an indoor skydiving place. I really didn't think the kids would do it but they were thrilled. I do believe this was the highlight of our week. Highly recommend it!

By the way, the kids were ADORABLE! Their little cheeks were flapping in the wind so they looked like chipmunks! Cute!!!

SD.

The Broken Gift

In August of 2008, I felt led to begin writing a book about our journey with Nicholas. The purpose of the book was to be twofold: First, I felt a strong sense to intimately share with others our journey of faith. It was my desire that people who were facing tremendous “life storms” as I call them, to see that God is faithful in all circumstances. Secondly, and much more selfishly, I wanted to present Lisa with the ultimate gift, a book about her son.

I began praying that God would open the doors if that were to be His will. I shared this with only one person, Chris Lewis, and asked him to be in prayer with me. Before I gave God the chance to answer me, I had already begun writing. Five months later, I had written six full chapters. During the process, I would occasionally email Chris a copy for his input. Unfortunately, he was a bit too encouraging, and the process continued.

Chapters six and seven began to slow me down. I was beginning to feel that my writing had become more about me than anything else. Additionally, I was becoming concerned that the book was taking on the form of a journal. I knew from research that journal style books were not welcome in the tough world of book publishing.

Chris had a friend in publishing who agreed to read my manuscript and give me advice. His advice stopped me cold in my tracks. It was just as I had suspected, the manuscript was too much of a journal. Strangely though, I was relieved. I had become increasingly frustrated during my writing sessions and now I could just stop. No more writing.

A short time later, I decided that I would share with Lisa the fruits of my secret, double life as an author. I printed the manuscript off in its entirety and gave it to her to read. I had dreamed of presenting her with a paperback book with a picture of her son on it, but this would have to do.

Fast forward to today. The original intent of the book has not changed. I want people to see Jesus when they see our family. I want people to know there is hope. I want people to understand that God is bigger than our circumstances and brings us through them for a reason.

With that in mind, I decided that Nicholas’ blogsite is a great way to still get my “journal” out there, into the hands of people who may be touched by our story. Each week I will add a new chapter.

To read The Broken Gift, click on the chapters below.

Chapter 1 Code Blue
Chapter 2 Back to the Beginning
Chapter 3 New Relationships
Chapter 4 The Arrival
Chapter 5 Life Goes On
Chapter 6 Surgery