PRESENTING....Miss Faith Ann....

Saturday, was the much anticipated Hejaz Shrine Circus....
Faith was the only child who was presented at the afternoon show, which was kind of cool. She was treated like a VIP. Our escort, Mr. Rogers, saw to it that the children had cotton candy, souvenirs, front row seats and other wonderful surprises! Faith and I both got a special treat...riding on an elephant and she also got to ride a little pony! She was thrilled! I was, on the other hand, was a little afraid when we boarded the elephant! A big feat for a person with SEVERE acrophobia! When I got to the top of the loading platform, I got very dizzy, thankfully someone else was carrying Faith!
But we both made it on the elephant, alive, and once we were on it was quite exciting!
Faith was wheeled up by the whelchair team, and presented to the public as her story of how Shriner's had helped her was told...She was more interested in the people pushing her than the cheering crowd before her!
They gave her a spinner toy, sparkly bracelets, spending money and a VIP pass!

We took Faith's cousin, Parker and one of her girl scout friends.....None of the children had ever been to the circus before. So it was a first, exciting experience for them all!
There was a juggler, bears, acrobats (Faith's favorite), tightrope walker, clowns and an exiting pair of motorcyclists who rode inside of the SPHERE OF DOOM!
After three hours....it was time to end....
All of the kids had a blast! I slipped $6 into the pocket of one of our girls, so she could ride the ponies. She had so much fun, she couldn't stop smiling!

(I think, she thought that she had won the lottery!)

We snagged a few more photos with our host and then it was time to go....

Thank you, Shriner's, for all you do and for your compassion and kindness to our family, our Girl Scouts and for all the children who benefit from the circus at the hospital.

Circus is on.....

Well we got our hands on tickets for Faith's entire girl scout troop to attend the Circus! I am so pumped about this day! Faith is going to be up on stage for people to hear her story and all the challenges she has faced and overcome and she is going to have the support of these wonderful group of girls! At last count, I think we are looking at about 20 people coming to see her and support her! I am thrilled! I have been working on my story for them to read and I hope it turns out right. The gentleman from Shriner's told me that we have to be there early to prepare but they are going to have horse and pony rides and inflatables and games for the children to play! It is so exciting, and it's our first outing for our troop! Our troop leader told me today that one of the girls came to her last week and said "I know what we can do with some of our cookie money, we can go to the circus and be there for Faith!"

What do you say to that?

WHY, FREE TICKETS, OF COURSE!

My heart weeps with joy when I think of each one of these girls. Literally, it's true! After so much sorrow in our lives, it has been some of the best medicine for Faith....and for me! All these people want to come and support our daughter, because they love her and are good people! I can't wait for Thursdays, every week, and I am just a mom! I look forward to seeing each of the children and seeing them play with her.

It was very interesting, today, when I talked to our leader on the phone. I was telling her about how much this troop had meant to us and she told me something that was a reminder to me about how people can be. She admitted to me that when she first saw Faith at the recruitment seminar, last fall, that she was afraid and scared of Faith being in girl scouts. She had no idea that Faith would end up in her troop, she didn't even know us. Or she thought she didn't. When actually, she had been praying for us over the last 6 years! She goes to Carl's sister's church and Faith has been on their prayer list since birth but she had never met us, officially. So she didn't know it was "the" Faith! She was afraid of her and didn't understand her. Then BAM.....Faith ends up in her troop and turns out she "knew" her all along! Kind of weird how that works out, right? So, once again, Faith is opening people's eyes to special needs children. Like so many of the children in the school and girl scouts who have come to love her and defend her! So this is what she is supposed to do, I believe! SHOW THEM..........