"Our Miracle Boy" .................................. ALEX ROSS

HARD TO BELIEVE TOMORROW MARKS 2 YEARS IN RECOVERY!

2012-01-05T23:46:00.001-05:00

WOW....doesn't seem as if two years has gone by... still feels like it just happened yesterday! I still get emotional this time of year but very thankful I still have him here and full of hope that things will continue to improve with his recovery. As I look back on the website in the archive of blogs it is amazing to me to see just how far he really has come in 2 years. 2 years... wow... even typing this it's hard to believe that 2 years has passed by. It has flown by and then again.. no it hasn't lol. From 3 hours to live to 2 years....THANK YOU GOD! This year has really been a GREAT year in recovery as Alex has really come leaps and bounds with things that he can now do that he was having trouble doing the previous year. He still has a very long way to go cognitively speaking... not sure that he will ever get that part back just as he was but again... I still have a lot of HOPE and BELIEF in the man upstairs that he will do this in his OWN TIME... not mine!
Reflecting back... here we go... a year in review:

January.... HE GOT THE TRACH OUT, how could I forget that happened this past year, lol! That's a HUGE DEAL!

February... HE WENT IN THE WATER AT THE BEACH, yes in February, lol. He was so excited to get that Trach out and be able to go under water...30 below zero water... but he was determined to get in it! We also had his Celebration at Macedonia Baptist where we got to meet a lot of our prayer warriors! A big thank you again to Macedonia Baptist, THE ICE MAN, Diamond D Ranch, Fran's and Debbie's Doghouse for making it a big success... LOVE YA'LL!

March....ALEX WENT TO HIS SENIOR PROM!! He also SWAM for the first time! WE WENT TO HAWAII.... compliments of DREAMS COME TRUE...thank you thank you thank you... OMG... I wanna go back and stay lol! Words cannot tell you what that trip did for our family. It was refreshing and we got to step away from reality for 7 days, much needed to reboot and regroup and not have to think about what our lives are really like on a day to day basis. Alex turned 18 while in Hawaii and got to surf! AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!

April... had a little set back and we thought he had fractured his left ankle, had to wear a boot for a bit, but he worked thru it.

May... Finished his senior year school work!

June....GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL... AND WALKED ACROSS THE STAGE LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS!! Thank you God and Miss Zember :0) To celebrate that, we took a trip to Alaska, thanks to Sherry and Pete.... INCREDIBLE!! What an amazing adventure that was!

July... Had our first baclofen pump trial and failed. They couldn't get into his spine but we didn't give up! Alex finished and graduated his day treatment program.. THAT WAS A BIG DEAL!

August....ALEX TAKES HIMSELF TO BATHROOM and uses cane to walk around house!! BIG DAY FOR ME, lol! Finally some independence for this young man... amazed how God will just show up and throw me a bone to get me thru to the next month, lol. Just when I think I will give up and think this is how it's going to be forever... He will show me what he is capable of and pull me right back! IN HIS TIME... not mine!

September...HE GOT A TRIKE!! Alex wore a cast on his left arm for most of the month... not so much fun, lol. He decided he wanted to do chores ( that lasted the month of september, lol) He became Brooks' biggest fan on the football field at Baldwin and LOVED going to his games and cheering him on. Would show off occasionally with a special Alex dance or walking on track for crowd... He's a hotmess FO SHOW!

October..... his left arm really started showing signs of improvement. Was able to start bending his arm from elbow out. Never could do this before. I really feel like that left arm will come around .... I think God is saving that for his grand finale'!!

November... Alex had neuropsych evaluation where I was told that basically what he is today is what he will be for the rest of his life. I DID NOT LIKE THAT ANSWER, lol.... after being in a state of depression for 3 days, God decided to throw me another bone, ALEX TOOK A SHOWER BY HIMSELF!!! Alex was able to get up from the floor by himself no cane, no help... AMAZING leaps and bounds progression between October and November in physical and occupational therapy!!

December ...Baclofen pump trial was a HUGE SUCCESS!! Walks into therapy with NO CANE! He isn't allowed to use his cane at therapy and has been doing GREAT!

3 hours to live.... to TODAY... Thank you God for the many miracles you continue to bless us with on a daily basis. ALEX MICHAEL ROSS is definitely a MIRACLE!!

Sitting here, looking back... reflecting upon the past year... tears of joy and sadness falling. Bittersweet memories of what I miss and yes there are still those days that I MISS HIM... the old Alex! I catch him watching his video's online.... he smiles as he watches.. to me, so sad. He is flat, no emotion, turns to me and says... "we had a lot of food in our pantry back then". REALLY, LOL... that's what you get out of that, ha ha! He thinks it's funny when he watches but I don't think he quite knows how to express what he may or may not be feeling... sad to me. I have my moments... right now might be one of them. Even though I know I am truly thankful to have him alive and home and in the awesome condition he is in... I'm not dismissing all that, but I do still grieve the loss of MY old Alex Michael Ross and what he could have been. Maybe I'm just having one of those "pity parties" by myself lol. I have those days... they are getting fewer and fewer... I may never fully get over the void that is there, I can only hope that with time it gets easier and few and far between. I try to stay as positive as possible for Alex... he has only seen me cry about his condition once this year, on our ride home from the neuropsych evaluation in which I couldn't contain my emotions after hearing the doctors take on Alex. God has shown up on more than one occasion and continues to bless our family in more ways than one. One of my goals this year is to do more of Paying it Forward and blessing others as we have been blessed. It's our turn to give back in more ways than one! To start on Alex's documentary and book! FREE MOM TIME is what I need to accomplish that... may take a little longer than I originally anticipated, lol. I talked about getting Alex enrolled in atleast one college class but that is being placed on hold once again until we get this baclofen pump surgery out of the way and see what kind of set backs we have if any. Once he has that in place, I have to see what our therapy schedule will be as it may be a bit more intense than what we have now and I don't want him to miss out on school if we start. I should be hearing from the neurosurgeons soon to discuss the date of the surgery. I am very hopeful that we will see dramatic progress in that left arm and hand and it is my goal to see that Alex is walking without his cane by the end of next year! We still face obstacles on a daily basis... and yes we still deal with the whole HANDICAP BATHROOM issues, lol. Just dealt with it today at Walmart on Beach boulevard! Of course he is calling this lady out in the handicap stall and says... " I don't see any wheelchair wheels under there"... "ohhhhhhhhh my Goooood" he says! My little brain injured boy, lol... shhhhhhhhhhh "let it go" I say. CRAZY KID! There are days when Alex has an off day and we can't quite put a finger on why... neither can he. Hoping to get him another eye test to see if he has improved... also think he needs a hearing test because he blares the TV and I'm not sure if it's because he can't hear or he can't block out the noises around him to be able to focus on just the TV. He is able to sit thru an entire movie without going to the restroom (THANK YOU JESUS)... his attention spans seem to be getting longer and longer for different things... just depends on time, place and if it's somewhere he wants to be or somewhere I need him to be, lol. I just need to get across to his friends that even though he seems ok on the outside... he really isn't the same on the inside and he has NO THOUGHT PROCESS. He cannot think and act like he used to. Again.. if he thinks it, he says it and he does it without any rationalization. Does not see the end result or think about it. Now that I think about it... he didn't really do that before lol. Alex was always my daredevil... acting then suffering consequences later. Now... he is just flat. Sometimes it's a blessing. Sometimes not so much, lol. 2 years... WOW.... hard to believe that I haven't gone to a job outside of my home in two years...BUT I DO WORK 24-7 don't get me wrong, lol. Today I am very thankful to have ALEX very much alive NO MATTER the challenges we face or obstacles that get in our way. I welcome the obstacles knowing that it only makes me a stronger person and shows others that with Christ ... ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. I will continue to let my light shine, looking back fewer and further between, focusing on the positives as ALWAYS and embracing the new journey path that has been set before us. I'm learning forgiveness and letting go of hurt....something we all probably need to do sooner than later. Life isn't easy... no one said it would be. You never know when your phone call may come and I hope it never does. A parents worst nightmare... can happen when you least expect it. God is using us as an example... a tool if you will...and I hope that we continue to inspire all around us!! Alex Michael Ross... you are a true miracle of God... I love you with every beat of my heart and I am so very proud of you and all you have accomplished thus far. There is NO LIMIT to how far you can go.... God has a plan for you and I know in HIS TIME, YOU WILL DEFINITELY DO GREAT THINGS FOR HIM. Keep reaching for the stars and keep that beautiful smile on your face.... YOU GOT THIS!!

A huge thank you to all of my friends, family, prayer warriors and followers if you are still out there. I couldn't do this without your love and support. God knows when I need a lift and he sends angels my way with a little pep talk here and there or a girls day out :0) I know life goes on for all of you and you probably think that now we are home and it's been 2 years we are fine. And we are for the most part but we are far from normal. What is normal anymore, lol. Stress still plays a huge part in our every day life but we adjust on a day to day basis. Still baby steps but moving forward.. none the less! If you ever have an off day... just think about Alex and put a smile on your face. Even on my worst days of days I have to regroup and know that there is someone out there that has it worse than me... ALWAYS! On my worst day of days... you know what... LIFE IS GOOD!!! AMEN!

Thank you God for one more day with my Handsome boy!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

BACLOFEN PUMP TRIAL WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!

2011-12-22T10:20:00.000-05:00

We arrived at Wolfson's Children's Hospital at 9:30am got Alex all checked in and they videoed him prior to the procedure so that they could measure his ranges of movement once the baclofen was injected into his spine. They measured him at 2 hours after the procedure and again at 4 hours. The results were AMAZING and a tremendous improvement in flexibility! An amazing thing to see right before my eyes that Alex could go from having so much tone in his left wrist and left foot to looking like a rubberband man! She could take his toes and bend them forward and backward like crazy! She could bend that left wrist forward and backward without the tone fighting gravity... amazing amazing results and a PERFECT candidate for the baclofen pump! There was one side effect that was on the downside and that was when he went to walk, his left ankle was SO LOOSE and relaxed that his ankle rolled like nobody's business and it was hard for him to get that foot straight onto the ground for mobility. This I am told can be controlled with his brace and hard work at physical therapy once the pump is installed. Physical therapy will help regain strength in that ankle as it is weak now and tends to roll when he walks barefooted. The medicine had such a great effect on him that it made it too relaxed. Docs think that they will place the catheter further up the spine to focus more on the left arm but whole left side will still get relief with the medication. You are all probably thinking the same thing I am.... THIS IS WONDERUL and can't wait to see him scheduled for surgery. WELL..... Mr. Alex is not so caught up in the whirlwind as we are and insisting he is NOT having another surgery. Soooo, this is where I need my prayer warriors again.... Please pray for Alex's peace of mind that this surgery is just like putting a band aid on compared to the 10 surgeries he has already had! Of course there are always risks with any surgery but nothing so severe that it isn't worth a shot to see if we can get that left arm responding once the tone is gone. I asked him one morning as I was helping him cover himself in bed.... "Doesn't it piss you off that your left arm doesn't work?" "Doesn't it bother you?".... my simple minded, one emotion, precious 4 year old in an 18 year old body looks at me flatly and says... "Not really", as he shrugs his shoulders. "I guess I'm just used to it now". He jokes from time to time and speaks to his left hand and will say things like " DO WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO" and spank it a couple of times lol. But I truly feel like he is content. He is ok with life and how he lives it day to day. he has no worries, life is Grand and he is happy to be alive. Why can't we all live life that way? Things were so much simpler when we were children ages 4-6. Our major worries were if we were going to be able to eat at McDonalds and get some of those delicious french fries in our happy meal. There are times when he gets anxious and I KNOW that something is bothering him, but he really doesn't know. He can't comprehend it... He can't quite put his finger on it... express it. I have just gotten used to the tell tell signs of his discomfort and things that make him anxious. I pray that his heart is lightened with the possibility of the baclofen pump surgery. I think that this could be the beginning of new life in that left side. He is still progressing, making movements we haven't seen yet. Squeezing and picking up things... learning how to relax that left arm so that the tone subsides. Our 2 year mark is coming up... WOW! Looking back how much we have endured and conquered.... still sooooo much to accomplish and look forward to. You know what... LIFE IS GRAND! We are blessed beyond measures. I made a statement on FB the other day.... "You never know how strong you are until being STRONG is your only choice"! AMEN! When any of you get down or think that life is horrible or not turning out how you wanted it to. Stop and think of Alex.... think about how he looks at life and all that he has been thru. LIFE IS GRAND! Stop looking at what you don't have and be thankful for what you DO HAVE. If you are reading this ... YOU HAVE ACCESS TO INTERNET, lol... that in itself is something to be thankful for, lol! Health, Shelter, Family and Love.... sooooo many many things to be thankful for. Christmas is around the corner, find some quiet time to thank Jesus.... HE is the reason for the season. Holidays can be depressing for some and if you are in that mix.... I pray that you find peace and comfort in whatever ails you and that you are able to spend time with loved ones be it family or friends that can lift your spirits. Count your blessings.... and then count them again....I'll say it as I've said it many many times. No matter how bad you think you have it... someone ALWAYS has it worse than you! As bad as I think I have it some days.... even at my worst when I think I CAN'T possibly take another day like this.... I see someone come into Brooks Rehab who has it 100 times worse than me or Alex! Blessings all around us... all we have to do is open our eyes to the truth and focus on the positives! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday with safe travels. Blessings to you all.... from our house to yours... LIFE IS GRAND...... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

BACLOFEN PUMP TRIAL IS A GOOOOOO FOR FRIDAY!!

2011-12-14T17:50:00.000-05:00

Friday is D DAY...DA DAY... THE DAY!! Prayers needed starting now in hopes that this will work this time! If you remember they couldn't get in his spine last time so we had to have xrays... they were inconclusive and doctors couldn't see anything wrong and no reason that they couldn't get in. SOOOO, let's pray that all is aligned with God's plan and this trial works so that he can get the baclofen pump! He still has alot of tone that he fights daily that I think inhibits his progress some NOT THAT HE HASN'T COME LEAPS AND BOUNDS THUS FAR... but... there are still kinks that need to be worked out and I truly believe that this pump can do the TRICK on ALL of it!

Today was an awesome day at Physical Therapy as Alex showed me another miracle today... ONE THAT I DID NOT THINK WOULD EVER COME! See Below!

NO HARNESS... WALKING ON THE TREADMILL... NOT HOLDING ON TO ANYYYTHING!!! PRAISE JESUS!! Alex still has a long way to go but we are working on getting all that squared away, physically and MENTALLY in the new year to come! I'm going to hold off on college for the spring term, I just don't think he is ready for this challenge JUST yet and we are still focusing on the THERAPY part right now which is enough in itself for me let alone him, lol!

I had the sweetest email today from Rebecca Crockett.... THANK YOU SO MUCH! Today was ONE of THOSE kind of days, tears falling, heart wrenching, mentally exhausted... how much more can I take of this DAYS and that email could not have come at a better time! I've said it before and I'll say it again... God always knows when to send me angels and today my friend YOU WERE IT!

Lots to be thankful for.... headed to church right now to give him thanks in person... just wanted to update real quick before time slips away from me!

LOVE YA'LL... THANKS FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

ALEX MAKES LEAPS AND BOUNDS IN PT AND OT... MIRACLE BOY FO SHOW!

2011-11-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

Alex has been moving along leaps and bounds over the past month and half with new things developing in both Physical therapy and Occupational therapy. Today he did 5 reps in lowering himself to the floor and getting up from floor ALL BY HIMSELF! This is something he has NEVER been able to do, let alone by himself... REPEATEDLY! As you watch the next series of videos you will see how much easier it gets for him once he has gained confidence in himself and the procedure. SO PROUD OF YOU ALEX MICHAEL!

The therapist wanted to work on this so that in case he ever falls, he will be able to get himself up from the floor should this ever happen. Until now.. he would have been stuck on the floor... all this is new for us and I just cant believe how far he has come in the past month... I think even the therapists at Brooks are amazed at how much he has improved!

This is really his second try... I didn't video the first.

3rd GO

4th GO

FINAL GO.... WAY TO GO ALEX!

This video below is from last week and shows his occupational therapist stimulating his triceps to get that elbow to bend.... THIS IS ALSO VERY NEW as we have never seen movement, nor has he EVER been able to get his elbow to bend!!! He did it today WITHOUT the triceps being stimulated... he was able to do on command by himself no help... I MISSED it as I had gone to Walgreens to get his meds but you can bet I will get it tomorrow so that I can share with you. Still this video shows how hard he trys once she lets go.

I have received several emails today all of which have made me smile.... THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for your continued love, support and prayers... MEANS THE WORLD TO ME! I am going to leave you with some significant bible verses that were shared with me and just what I needed to hear! Thank you Katy and Lori.... I appreciate you taking time out of your busy days to lift me up!! LOVE ALL YA'LL!!

Matthew 19:26

²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Psalm 27: 13-14 “I will remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

God sent me a message thru Alex today!

2011-11-07T21:45:00.002-05:00

Friday was a very hard day for both Alex and I with a 4 hour morning spent with the psychiatrist. He completed a very intense neuropsych evaluation. We had a reality check that we certainly were not prepared to hear. Alex is post 22 months Traumatic Brain Injury and has reached his PEAK of mental recovery. I was told that basically what Alex is today is what he will be for the rest of his life. I cried all day Friday..... this was my second worst nightmare. We all have such high hopes for our children... to grow up, become successful, find the girl of "our" dreams lol and have beautiful grandchildren. This for Alex... may not ever happen and I think this is what saddens me the most. Not that I will have to take care of him for the rest of my life.... I've accepted that. Not that he missed out on his childhood.... we have come to terms with that....we cannot get the past back. It's the fact that he may not have a future.... one that I had hoped for anyways. I was really really angry Friday. Reality was a hard pill to swallow. I am sad that my boy not only lost his childhood, he will miss out on a normal adulthood life. Filled with finding the love of his life and falling in love, having a job, having children.... everything has been taken away because of someone else's decision. He has been legally termed "mentally incompetent" and doctor wants me to get guardianship to manage his medical and personal affairs. Here are some of the excerpts from the report:
" Alex is NOT the same person he was prior to this traumatic brain injury, and to expect otherwise is to perform a great disservice to Alex. Do not expect him to remember and follow through on requests. He can be expected to become agitated and impulsive when he is thwarted from what he wants to do (even if what he wants to do is not in his best interest). he remains manipulative, but his manipulations are only designed to satisfy his immediate gratification. Alex is considered unable to maintain productive employment at any level both now and in the future, and he is considered permanently and totally disabled. He has an organic mental disorder related to his traumatic brain injury that precludes him from employment. Alex continues to experience trimodal neglect along with his visual field cut, and these phenomena along with his limited insight, awareness and judgment will present continued limitations to his ability to self-monitor and to protect himself from self-harm from this point in his life forward. In other words, Alex is not safe to be left alone for any extended period of time. He demonstrates the IMPAIRED ability to appreciate a situation and its likely consequences and he demonstrates the IMPAIRED ability to manipulate information rationally."

You can imagine after hearing all this I was a basket case as I was certainly not prepared to hear all that! I was expecting to hear how GREAT AND AMAZING he was doing since his last visit!! And I did get that... but I also got REALITY. Again... not what I was expecting to hear. I left that office in tears and cried the whole way home. My handsome boy sitting next to me in the front seat, puts his hand on my leg... looks at me and FLATLY says... "it's sad huh"... "mom don't cry". He is steadily turning the music up, trying to get me to fist pump with him... trying to divert my attention... I LOVE THAT KID. I have cried off and on all weekend.... LSU beating Bama helped a little, lol... but I have just been down in the dumps Sunday and today. Chad has been awesome... trying to bring out every positive.... showing me Alex's graduation day picture with all of us in it... LOOK HOW FAR WE HAVE COME... who says give up now? We will make the best of whatever we are given...that's what we told God that night... YES WE DID! Well let me tell you how God works in our lives and what he did for me today!! I stayed in bed today.... went to bed with and woke up with a major headache. Not sure if it's all the stress I have been under since Friday or from crying so much, lol. It was about 1pm today I guess... I heard Alex get up off the sofa, walk to the bathroom with his cane... this is normal now... he gets around with his cane in the house... yes I have to hide things in the pantry lol!! So next thing I know, he tapped on my door, opens it, I notice he has on different pair of underwear... then I realize wait... his hair is wet... WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST??? I said " did you change your own underwear?"...and "why is your hair wet?"... he said... "I GAVE MY SELF A SHOWER!!" I jumped out of bed... I was soooo impressed and proud and just.... BEAMING with pride... OMG... " YOU GAVE YOURSELF A SHOWER????".... He was soooooo proud of himself you have no idea! he said... "You better be facebooking about what I just did!!"... "YOU BETTER TELL EVERYONE MOM". It CHANGED my whole demeanor! I said... "let's go to Baskin and Robbins and get some ice cream... you deserve a treat!... I'll jump in the shower and get you dressed when I get out". I went and got his cloths put them on the sofa... jumped in the shower and when I got out... HE HAD DRESSED HIMSELF FROM HEAD TO TOE, SOCKS SHOES AND ALL!!!! What you may not be understanding is that.... he has NEVER done any of this by himself! TODAY WAS A HUGE DAY! A MAJOR MILESTONE in one day! Like months of preparing and all of a sudden out of nowhere..... GOD SENT ME A MESSAGE!!! This was it... he sent me a message thru Alex and said DO NOT GIVE UP ON ME... I AM NOT FINISHED WITH HIM YET!
Tears streaming down my face.... God comes thru once again! FAITH! Step out on FAITH... Give it to God and he will not let you down! The devil came in and kicked me down......... and God said... GET UP GIRL... WE GOT THIS! Words cannot describe what I am feeling today. A mixture of emotions... happy, sad, anxious, DETERMINED! I'm not going to take what the doctor said and lay down... once again I am going to give it to God because the doctors that gave him 3 hours to live were wrong. THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMEONE OF HIGHER POWER IN CHARGE OF ALEX'S DESTINATION.... and we are NOT THERE YET!!! Today I am hopeful that Alex may still have a chance at a normal adulthood life. I am hopeful that he gets the chance to have a chance at love and marriage with or without children. I am going to start praying for his wife.... she is out there somewhere. Someone with the patience of a saint, a loving and giving heart.... someone special just for Alex. I am going to pray that he finds a job specially to fit his needs and desires to feel productive and function to be the best that he can be. I am going to pray that he is able to take online college courses and complete them successfully and if it takes 8 years to graduate... so what... he will do it in his own time. I am going to pray that we will be financially ok as long as I have to stay home and care for Alex because the devil has a way of trying to taint that. I am very thankful for a loving, caring, giving husband who has stood by my side when he could of easily walked away with all this responsibility and stress that was placed on him especially with a child that is not his but he considers his own. I am thankful for Brooks who is my right hand man and best friend to his brother... I know it isn't easy for him and all the stress that comes along with having to be the main friend in Alex's life. I am thankful that Nicholas was able to stay in school and not have to come home to help me so that he can graduate next year. I am thankful for my close friends who keep me going day to day and help out with whatever it is that I need. I am thankful that Alex's dad continues to help support him even though he is past 18 years of age. I am thankful for the emails and fb posts I get from my little prayer warriors still praying and watching over us..... KNOW THEY HELP!
I'm not going to give up on Alex just yet. He proved to me today that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE....that kid has so much determination and drive that I truly feel in my heart he will SUCCEED and DO GREAT THINGS. God sent me a message thru Alex today.... NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! Me, Alex and JC.... WE REALLY DO GOT THIS!!!

Once again... Dear God... thank you for another day with my HANDSOME BOY!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

Thank You :0)

2011-10-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

This morning started out as it ended last night.... I was still in my moment of weakness stage, tears still falling especially once receiving emails from a few devoted followers of the blog and close friends sending me words of encouragement and letting me know they are still out there.... sending prayers and hugs.... THANK YOU!!

It wasn't until Alex and I were headed to therapy that all sadness faded in an instant when Alex looks over at me in the car and says.... "Mom.... why don't they have a pill that I can take for patience?" At THAT VERY MOMENT.... once again that 4 year old genuine innocence brought laughter and joy back into my heart. Thank you God for the precious gift of gab! Truth is... Alex truly wishes there was a pill for that. He knows how he is but he also knows that no matter how hard he tries... he can't fix it! Like I said... Alex makes me laugh every day but today of all days... I really and truly needed that to bring me back to the strong side and find the positives in our situation.

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

Missing Him Today...

2011-10-26T01:05:00.000-04:00

I guess I'm having one of those melt down moments and need to write. You see Alex just woke up,got out of bed, walked to my door with his cane to make sure I was taking him with me when I took Brooks to school....Bless his heart, he thought it was the MORNING already!!! Love my lil brain injured Alex Ross and the innocence he sometimes genuinely portrays..... I was taken back in time for just a moment.... missing those days more often than not lately :0( OVERWHELMED... SAD... HAPPY... all at the same time. Still taking it one day at a time but knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel... one day. You see Chad is on vacation this week and Alex knew that it was a possibility that I may leave him here in the morning while I take Brooks to school and he was so bent on going that he woke up thinking it was morning and made his way to the living room to MAKE SURE I DIDN'T LEAVE HIM. Half asleep, I walked out to living room to see what he was doing and he said "I'm up, I'm ready to go with you to take Brooks to school". It was at that very moment I was taken back in time... missing him... the old Alex... looking at him his demeanor was that of a 4 year old Alex, half asleep wanting to sleep in my bed when he was younger. Crazy how in a split second I can go from being in control and in check .... to uncontrollable crying and wanting my Alex back. I guess a part of me is still grieving for the Alex I lost and hopefully in time .... this too shall pass. He makes me laugh every day, he makes me crazy every day, he absolutely drives me nuts with his OCD anal behavior with time and impatience. If he thinks it, he says it and not just once.... 15 times and corrects me on how to do everything and when to do it. When he wants a shower he wants it then, not in one minute, not in 5 minutes and will sit there naked on the toilet until I get in there to do it.... Life is still crazy over here and we are still learning every day how to cope, manage, handle, teach.... get by. YES... ALEX IS ALIVE... THANK YOU GOD FOR GIVING US THAT.... Thank you for those impossible moments in which I think I can't possibly survive with a sane mind....Thank you for the times you control my mouth as I want to scream I can't do this anymore.... Thank you for the patience you have instilled in me, only YOU know where it comes from! It has gotten easier to handle of course since we first came home, but there are still soooo many new challenges we face each day that I constantly need to call upon Him and scripture to carry me thru. I have been burying myself in Brooks' football games and editing the 700 pics I take each game to carry me into another place.... any place but here that might bring back memories of things that I can't get back. I don't know how much Alex will progress mentally... or how far his therapy may take him... I can only hope for what I believe is possible with God. He is in control.... He is in the driver seat and we are his passengers on this jouney of our new path in which he has paved for us. Sorry to be a debbie downer tonight.... I don't mean to be....however, my blogging is very therapeutic and maybe subconsciously I have been putting it off in fear that these feelings would surface again? I don't know that I will EVER be able to get over the loss of my old Alex....I certainly hope so. Alex however is doing great. He still does not show emotion, not sure that will ever happen or if it's even possible with his frontal lobe gone. I am forever grateful that his personality and wit are still in tact.... that as we all know... HE NEVER LOST! My heart aches for him, more often than not..... as his life consists of facebook, movies and videos. He doesn't have any visitors these days.... all of his friends have their own busy lives with no spare time for Alex, so friends are few and far between these days. Brooks is his lifeline outside our home and........ understandably so, he has his own life with his friends that doesn't always include Alex. Brooks deserves that.... this certainly wasn't his fault and these are the best years of his life. So that takes it back to ME. I have to be HIS everything.... 24-7. Mom, friend, care taker, teacher, therapist....MAID, lol.... ME... I'M IT. I gladly accept this challenge as my conversation with God that fateful night on January 6, 2010 was that no matter how he came back to me, I would accept him even if he was paralyzed from the neck down... I would handle the situation as long as I could have Alex back alive. So I am... doing it... handling what was given to me, some days harder than others... today was one of those days. Mentally he has a LONG way to go.... I can't stress this enough because to most he looks great and I think people get the sense that Alex is back to normal. There is no normalcy in our lives.....today is just ONE OF THOSE DAYS... one of those days that I wish I could turn back time and go back... even for if just one day, to see my old Alex, to remember what it was like to be normal, to be able to go to work, to sleep thru the night, to come and go as I please.....to see Alex run up a tree and do a back flip or make up a funny dance.... missing you today Alex Michael Ross..... but very thankful I have the opportunity at a second chance at life with you, no matter how impossible some days seem..... in my heart deep down... I know that ME, YOU and JC... we got this!!! Philippians 4:13 ( my saving Grace)

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

WORK IN PROGRESS!

2011-10-20T22:47:00.000-04:00

Hi friends and family.... sorry it's been awhile since I have been online updating you with Alex's progress... I have been a busy bee with taking pics for Brooks high school football team and editing them in my spare time.... which is next to non existent, lol. An update on baby Caleb real quick... thank you all so much for your prayers and support you will be happy to know that he is now out of ICU and is now a patient at Brooks inpatient Rehab facility and is expected to be released next Wednesday I believe. So thank you prayer warriors and THANK YOU GOD for yet another miracle as he was NOT expected to recover as well as he has!!
Alex has been a busy bee at therapy and his left arm has really started to show signs of improvement in the past three weeks doing tasks that I thought I was NEVER going to see! I am posting some videos below so you can see how hard he has been working :0)

He could not do this a MONTH a go!

You can see how hard he is working when his hand shakes. Something we all take for granted being able to bend our arm from the elbow out..... she stimulates the muscles with a vibrator and it WORKS!

If you remember in the past Alex had to have an air cast on his arm to be able to lift it at all. Now he can lift and straighten all by himself.... I get so excited just watching this again because God truly does continue to perform miracles on this kid... FOR REAL! Notice the finger and thumb movement..... CLAP CLAP!

The therapists have noticed that when Alex brings his left arm up over his head, his left leg comes in, like rotates inward of which they have been working extremely hard in trying to get him to walk with his knee rotated in instead of out. Sooooo they had this bright idea that if he walks with his arm over his head maybe his knee would rotate in.... it actually worked some.. funny how the brain connects things in our body, lol! He won't be walking around like this but I had to video our trial run of it, ha ha!

HE IS DOING AWESOME... SO PROUD!

Practicing stepping up and down

MY LITTLE PINNOCHIO.... HAHAHAHAHA!!

The object is to walk straight in a line... Alex always puts his own spin on therapy lol!

Alex continues to improve in all areas, however still has a very long way to go mentally. He still has some kinks we have to get worked out and he goes for another neuropsych evaluation next week. THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING lol. He has come a VERY LONG WAY, yet we still have a VERY LONG WAY to go. WORK IN PROGRESS.... as long as we are still moving forward.... there's light at the end of the tunnel for sure! After seeing the physical improvements over the past 6 months... I get very excited and can't wait to see where he is in another year.... AMAZING.. AMAZING... AMMMMAAAAZING!! God in ALL HIS GLORY.... right before my very eyes.... He never ceases to amaze me!! THANK YOU GOD for another day with my handsome boy!
Hoping I still have some followers out there and that you are in awe just as I am of how far Alex has come just in the past 6 months. I dream of the day the WHEELCHAIR is COMPLETELY gone.... in God's time.... not mine :0)

CAT SCAN UPDATE:

He had the cat scan and the doctor does NOT see any reason that we can't try for the baclofen pump trial again. There was no visible evidence of scar tissue preventing them from getting in the spine so we are going to try again in the beginning of November I think. Waiting on call from doctors office to schedule so I'll keep you posted on that procedure as well. Please Start praying now and hopefully the surgery schedule will open up and we can get him in soon :0)

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP........Till NEXT Time......

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

ALEX GETS HIS TRIKE.....WHAT A HUGE HUGE BLESSING!!

2011-09-27T11:27:00.000-04:00

What an amazing and very emotional day last Thursday when Alex's new RIDE came in and we picked it up! Tears flowed from my eyes as I watched Alex in all his EXCITEMENT as he tried out his new vehicle. He couldn't say thank you enough .... I think this is the most excited and VERBAL about being thankful ever... a different emotion developing if you will. He is still VERY IMPULSIVE and cannot rationally process information.... still on the READY FIRE AIM streak instead of processing information as we do Ready AIM Fire. When they presented Alex with the bike his face lit up like the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center in NY! As I quote Alex.... "WOO HOOOOO.... this is the start of a NEW ALEX!..... I'm going to be so skinny and I'm going to enter into bike races! I want to ride in the ultra 55!!" Ok so maybe not the Ultra 55 lol.... but I am so excited about his motivation and get up and go ATTITUDE!!! The start of a NEW ALEX!! He has ridden on his bike everyday except for one since he got it.

The walking is going great..... still no use out of that left arm and he is still going thru the serial casting in hopes to get that left arm to naturally hang at his side instead of retracting. THIS HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE as you can only imagine. Showers are hard enough without adding an extra obstacle in the way! He has been a real trooper with minimal complaints and it's really only when the cast is digging into his arm at the end where it's a little jagged. He gets the current one removed tomorrow and they will probably put another one on, lol. Not sure how long this process takes and you can imagine I am OVER IT ALREADY hahahaha.... HOWEVER.... I will try anything and everything to further his progress.

Our family is in the midst of a storm and I ask that you lift us all up in prayer. As if what we have all been thru isn't enough..... IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING. However.... you know that I have great faith in God and know that he is in control and we will WEATHER THIS STORM!!

PSALM 37:7 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.

This Borrowed from one of my angels today ..... People will hate you, rate you, shake you, and break you. But how strong you stand is what makes you.

Baby Caleb Johnson still remains in ICU , please continue to lift him and his family up in your prayers. Rushing to get Alex ready for his therapy today... gotta run... HAVE A GREAT DAY!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST - CALEB JOHNSON

2011-09-19T22:08:00.001-04:00

Alex is doing great... we have been going thru a series of casting that left arm.... THAT HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE but I will try anything to get that arm to hang straight atleast until we can get that Baclofen pump trial going. His walking continues to improve... smoother and faster... I have videos to share and will try to get them posted tomorrow having issues right now. Always something!!

PRAYERS NEEDED
I have a very special prayer request tonight my friends.... please pray for Caleb Johnson, 18 months old who is in Wolfson's Hospital and has been since Thursday suffering from a traumatic brain injury and swelling to his brain. Today we are asking that you pray for his breathing.... I was asked to concentrate prayer on that for today. Lisa and Craig are his parents, mother and father to 5 children.... PLEASE LIFT THEM ALL UP IN PRAYER. Lisa has not left his side.... you all know I can soooo relate and feel their pain and emotional roller coaster that they are on while watching those monitors like a hawk.

I visited the hospital today and prayed over baby Caleb asking God to heal him from his head to his toes... praying that God performs another miracle on this beautiful baby as I know he is quite capable of doing this very thing. I ask that all my prayer warriors pass this family on to others to pray for them and baby Caleb so that another of God's miracles can be witnessed by all. I have encouraged her to blog as an outlet and she was trying to get set up on caring bridge so I will keep you all posted if she gets a site going.

Thank you my sweet friends and angels.... WE ALL KNOW THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER!!! AMEN!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!LISA

LOT'S OF NEW THINGS GOING ON :0)

2011-09-12T13:19:00.000-04:00

Hellooooooo my friends!! A lot has been going on since my last blog! Alex was awarded a NEW BIKE by the Bike Ability Foundation from Lisa Federico! If you or anyone you know are looking for a great cause to donate money to.... please contact her at elisabeth.federico@bmcjax.com Her organization helps children like Alex and grants them a bike! There are families that donate money to her foundation and every couple of months she is able to award a child with disabilities a bike so that they can experience something that we all take for granted..... BEING ABLE TO RIDE A BIKE. We are so excited because now we can all bike ride and Alex can get some outside excursions and exercise while enjoying himself! :0) We went for measurements last week, the bike should be in within the next 6 weeks and YOU KNOW WE WILL BE PIMPING THIS THING OUT, LOL!

Last Tuesday he got a cast on his left arm! No he didn't break anything, lol...His occupational therapists think that it will help in getting that left arm to hang straight instead of retracting like it does. He still has no REAL functionality out of his left arm and hand but he continues with therapy in hopes that one day that arm and hand will wake up and remember how to function! The cast has been a nightmare... imagine that! His sleep has been very limited because all of the tone and spasticity that was in his arm is now all gone to his fingers at the end of his cast and his fingers tend to curl uncontrollably and very tightly around the bottom of the cast causing MUCH DISCOMFORT and irritability to say the least! IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING!! However.... the cast will be coming off tomorrow and hopefully they will come up with a new way to cast or keep the elbow straight because I'm over this method of therapy after just one week, lol. No fun for either of us at this point! It goes all the way up UNDER his arm by his arm pit and hangs all the way to his fingers... HEAVY, bulky and just plain uncomfortable. It has hindered his independence here at home with getting up and going to the bathroom by himself, etc.... so I'm worried that even though it may help in the recovery with his arm... it may regress him with all the other obstacles he has overcome and learned to do by himself!

As you can see below he has really gotten the hang of walking with his cane and with God's continued daily miracles.....before we all know it he will be running around again!! I think he may have been showing off just a little because I was filming, ha ha!

The video below Alex is working that left leg and building strength. The days after he does this he is soooo sore... which means he is really getting a great workout!!

Below he is working on learning to step sideways and cross over.... something we all take for granted that Alex still hasn't even come close to mastering. His hips are still very tight from being in hospital and wheelchair for so long but with time and hopefully a baclofen pump it will all work itself out!

Here Christy is working with his walking and hip movement and flow. Doing much better... he certainly has come a long way but still has a very long way to goooooo!

My sweet Alex came up with the idea that he wanted to do chores around the house to earn some money. ABSOLUTELY, lol! I thought I would share this with you.... great to see him gaining a LITTLE independence around here and motivation to moving along with getting back to some sense of normalcy in his life. He vaccuums the living room and dining area, puts away silverware from dishwasher and cleans his toilet and mine!! CLAP CLAP... HA!!

He has definitely improved so much within the last month and a half and I'm so proud of how he continues to impress me with his positive attitude and go get em spunk! We have a cat scan on October 7th to see what is going on with his spine and figure out if he will be a candidate for the baclofen pump trial.

We have been busy bees with therapy and Brooks football. I have to stop and brag on Brooks a little bit as he has certainly been proving himself on that field and I couldn't be prouder! I was able to get on the field last week against Wolfson and capture some great shots, so I'll share them below :0) Alex LOVES going to the games and as you can see from the photo's below.... has certainly got that spirit!!! ENJOY..... and I'll keep you posted on the cast and the pump!

AND MY ALL TIME FAVORITE!! I think he just might be the cheerleaders favorite CHEER leader! :0)

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

PHYSICALLY: MAJOR PROGRESS / MENTALLY: ONE STEP BACK

2011-08-23T23:03:00.002-04:00

Hi friends.... I'm back online to share today!! So much progress from Alex this past month, I have to pinch myself to believe that it's even REAL! Since my last writing he has gotten a little bit of confidence that has carried him a LONG way! Just yesterday he popped right up off of the sofa...which has been a task in itself because of his whole BALANCE issue. However... when Alex gets in his mind to do something..... You best believe he is gonna do it!! He says.. "mom".. I look over and there he is standing, grabs his cane and off he goes to the bathroom... BY HIMSELF... yes he now takes HIMSELF to the bathroom... a YEAR AND A HALF LATER......THANK YOU JESUS!! I never thought this day would come, lol! I have had to make some new minor adjustments to help this along. I found this toilet rail thing that hooks onto the toilet under the lid that has HANDLES that he can hold onto in order to lower himself to the toilet. Since my last blog, I had to purchase a new toilet and with the help of Chad's dad... he and I put it in ourselves! Things you and I don't think about... the height of the toilet....WHAT... there are different size toilets?? WHO KNEW, lol! I went to Home Depot and purchased the tallest toilet I could find.. 16.5 ... our old toilet was 14.5. Not much of a difference but just enough to give him enough confidence to pull it off!

Since being able to pull this off he REALLY thinks he is INVINCIBLE!! Crazy how a little bit of a boost can put him in the REAL SUPERMAN MODE!! Yesterday I left the living room to grab some clothes to wash out of my room and before I know it.... I hear the vacuum cleaner going. WHAT THE HECK? Sure enough I come in the living room.... Alex has walked over to the wall gotten the Shark Vac and is in the living room doing his thing!! AND PROUD LIKE A PEACOCK OF HIMSELF, LOL! So today he makes out a list of chores that he thinks he is able to do so that he can get allowance, hahahaha! I agree to $25 a week for unloading the silverware from the dishwasher and putting away every day, vacuuming the living/dining room and cleaning his toilet and mine. After creating his list he pops up off the sofa and says he is going to clean my toilet. What the heck? Nothing like jumping right on task... of course I have to stop what I am doing because there is no way in convincing him to wait till later on or scheduling it on another day. This is one NEW characteristic with our new Alex that I pray we overcome because like I said... once he has it in his mind... it's next to impossible to convince him otherwise. So we get up and head to my toilet, lol.... I get him set up with the Clorox cleaner thing and he goes to town. Here are a couple of pics of his new venture, lol.

I can't tell you how PROUD I am and how in AWE I am to finally be at this point. Don't get me wrong... he still has a VERY VERY long way to go and his left arm is still not fully functional but I feel like we have just climbed Mount Everest together, lol! WHAT AN AMAZING thing to see... God's Miracle working hard in ALL HIS GLORY.... AMEN!!

Now .... like with anything else where there is an upswing.... there is also a downward spiral of course! On the mental side of the coin.... there have been a couple of setbacks with his sleep. Not sure what has sparked it or why but he has been having bad dreams again, and waking up often.... last night 4 times...... although I have my suspicions!!! Last week he was scared to sleep in his room, begging us to please let him sleep in the living room, which is right outside my door. This morning his final wake up was at 5:30am where he wanted to get up and go to the living room and watch TV. Those that know him....THIS IS NOT NORMAL FOR ALEX. This I hope shall pass and that he does not encounter this for the rest of his life. I hate that he still has nightmares... I hate that he is still scared to be left alone.... for these things I pray the most that my baby finds peace and comfort around him that he can one day trust that he can be by himself without anything bad happening to him. Post traumatic stress syndrome can last a lifetime but I pray that as time goes by he is able to get past his insecurities and lead a normal life or as close to normal as can be. Alex has a lot to overcome... A brain injury alone on top of the PTSD is going to take awhile. This is where my faith in God comes in full swing because I truly believe that WITH HIM ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. I also know that He does things on his own time... not mine. He isn't finished with Alex Michael yet, he is using him as a vessel to bring people closer to HIM. John 11:4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it."

The videos below are from therapy today. Since he has been walking so good with his cane around the house we were curious how he would do on the treadmill. It's been awhile since he has been on the treadmill.... still an amazing site for me to see... THANK YOU GOD!

Another thing we take for granted......... being able to walk backwards.... certainly not an easy task for Alex and he still has a good way to go before he achieves this task without hesitation since he still has difficulty with that left side neglect.

I still don't have any answers on the x-ray ordeal so I need to make some phone calls this week! We do have GREAT NEWS .... Alex has been approved to receive an adaptive bike from a non profit organization and we go for the fitting on Friday at Wolfson's Childrens Hospital! I envision it to look something like this:

I can't wait to ride our bikes in the neighborhood!! I truly feel like this is a HUGE blessing and can only strengthen Alex physically as well as give him another boost of confidence in returning to normal..... whatever normal can be for Alex.

Alex continues to improve and there will be a day when we are on the upside both Physically and Mentally.... all together moving forward in both directions. For now we will take one day at a time, each new obstacle head on as it arises with a bounce in our step, a smile on our face and laughter in our hearts. The past is the past... I cannot change it and I can't get a redo so I will grab this bull by the horns and continue to make light of the cards that have been dealt and make the best with the precious life that was SAVED BY THE GRACE OF GOD. Life is all about how you handle Plan B.... nothing but sunshine, giggles and rainbows for me from here on out. Staying positive, moving forward and not looking back!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

Moving right along!

2011-08-14T23:08:00.000-04:00

I haven't gotten any word on the MRI or XRAY that Alex is needing in order to complete the baclofen pump trial so I will be calling this week to see what the hold up is on getting that squared away. Alex has improved quite a bit since my last blog..... it's kind of in comparison to seeing your baby stand up and walk for the first time! It just happens all of a sudden out of nowhere! I think he has gotten some major confidence in himself and has really taken off with it! He has now accomplished being able to sit up in bed, get out and walk with his cane! I purchased this seat/handle thing for the toilet so that he has something to hold on to when he goes to sit down and it seems to be working quite well. However... I feel like I need to purchase a taller toilet as it is still a struggle for him to be able to sit properly on his own. We take for granted the smallest things for granted....such as being able to lower ourselves onto a seat of any kind. The muscle control that it takes is alot more than you think. Because Alex is still weak on the left side, when he goes to sit down he kind of just PLOPS down without any kind of control. So when we he goes to sit down on the toilet, it's so low that even with the handle thing that I bought it's still hard for him to sit without just plopping down. I want to make his transition easier for him so with getting a taller toilet that may give him a little more confidence as well! He has been using his cane and walking all over the house, lol. He told me just yesterday that he was going into the kitchen to make a sandwich. YEA RIGHT.... sooooo Kinlin and I watch from the bedroom peeking around the corner and we see him walk into the pantry, grab the Chips Ahoy cookies, open grab a handful and shove into his mouth, hahahahhahaha! WHERE'S THE SANDWICH ALEX???? "I only had one cookie!" SERIOUSLY! Little bugger! So now I am going to have to hide ALL SNACKS and only place the healthy items in his reach! He still hasn't conquered getting up from the sofa.... we are still working on that. I think it's too cushiony and low for him to conquer and push himself up. God continues to bless us on a daily basis and Alex has come a TREMENDOUS long way in a year and a half.....Thank you God for all you have done and continue to do in and thru our lives!!

Alex still has quite a ways to go cognitively and the impulsiveness and no inhibition are still major factors in our everyday life and who knows if it will ever go away?. We still have obstacles we have to face everyday but have learned how to cope and take the good with the bad. I think we have finally settled in and learned to adapt and face our challenges head on with less stress and a smile on our faces. Alex still has issues with being left alone for any amount of time.....hopefully one day we will get to where I can take Brooks to school without having to wake him up and putting him in the car or him being left alone for even 30 minutes while I am at the neighbors. Do you ever really get over post traumatic stress disorder? I guess I need to read up more on it, lol. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.... this I know. I sit back and look at the big picture of things and see how very lucky, blessed and far we have come since January of 2010.

Alex is in his last week of day treatment...."brain therapy" as I call it. He has been doing great going 4 days a week from 9-3 and will graduate from the program on Thursday...... all he has been talking about. Not because he is excited to graduate but I think more so because he is tired of getting up at 7:30am lol! LAZY ha ha! Speaking of... its getting late and I must get him in the bed and off to sleep myself.

I will post more in the week as hopefully I should know more about his xrays. Hoping you all have a great week.... :0)

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

XRAY RESULTS INCONCLUSIVE.... NATURALLY!

2011-07-30T10:05:00.000-04:00

Hi All.... it's me again! I spoke with Alex's docs yesterday and the xray he had last week only shows that his spine may have other things going on.... REALLY?!!! SCENIC ROUTE!! Any who.... the neurosurgeon that was going to perform the surgery on Alex is now in contact with Alex's original neurosurgeon and they are going to discuss doing an MRI or some other type of maybe a dye cast xray because I don't think he can have an MRI due to the fact that they are magnetic and being the bullet is still lodged in his brain that could potentially MOVE the bullet and we sure as heck don't need that!!! SOOOOOOOO.... that is all I know for now and am awaiting phone calls this coming week as to how we are going to proceed.

Alex will begin an intense 3 weeks at day treatment....(BRAIN THERAPY as I like to call it) on Monday. He will go 4 days a week for 3 weeks 9am-3pm like he used to do back in the beginning of last summer. YAY.... FREE TIME FOR MOM, LOL!! Alex has been doing great and still improving and making great strides.... however...THERE IS STILL A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE and still a LONG way to go emotionally, physically and cognitively. He still has a great attitude....never sad, mad, angry or depressed... God blessed us with a positive attitude and for that I am TRULY TRULY grateful! Things could always be sooooo much worse. We still face obstacles and challenges on a daily basis however things have gotten much easier for us in our new HANDICAPABLE world as we have adjusted and are always looking for new ways to make our life easier :0)

Brooks just turned 15, got his drivers permit and is now officially our new chauffeur!! We have been staying busy this summer.... lots of baseball going on with Brooks and boys at the house which has been nice for Alex ..... just like the good old days :0)

Once I hear something from the docs regarding his spine I'll be sure to get online and share. Thank you all for your supportive emails and concerns.... keep those prayers coming we have lots to accomplish!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

BUSY BEE'S THIS SUMMER....NEW THINGS ON THE HORIZON!

2011-07-21T23:30:00.000-04:00

Helllooooooo my long lost blog followers..... We have certainly been busy bee's this summer and on the go A LOT!! Since graduation we have been to Alaska for a 10 day visit ....thanks to my awesome family and recently just got back from Orlando for 7 days from a baseball tournament with Brooks' team at Disney's Wide World of Sports! I have lots of pictures to share and stories to tell :0)

Between Alex's therapies and Brooks' sports, my free time is very limited these days and we are always on the go. Today we ventured to Wolfson's hospital for a 12 hour day for a Baclofen Pump trial. I meant to blog earlier in the week to get you prayer warriors praying but time just slips away from me these days and before I know it, night has fallen and I'm exhausted and ready to pass out. He went under IV sedation to have a large dose of Baclofen injected into his spine. After 2 hours they do several tests and then again after 4 hours.... that's when they will really be able to tell if the meds are working as this is the peak of the dose. There has been a huge success with this operation especially with cerebral Palsy patients and you would never know they have it after they have gone thru this procedure. Well like any of our other adventures thru this ordeal, once again we are TAKING THE SCENIC ROUTE as I like to call it and a route that we know all too well! We left the house at 6:30am and arrived at Wolfson's at 7am for check in. He was weighed in ( now a whopping 185...OMG CAN YOU BELIEVE IT) and a physical therapist performed many different range of motions with his arms and legs so that they could get a good baseline reading with his limbs to see if at 4 hours there is a difference in his movement. He also had to be videoed walking etc. At 9:30 is when he was scheduled to go back and be sedated then injected with botox and the baclofen into his spinal column. Well, there was another case before ours that was taking longer so we were put off for about another 2 hours just sitting and waiting in the waiting room. Finally at 11:30 they took him back and we waited to hear. About an hour after they took him I just wanted to make sure he was doing ok under sedation with his breathing so I headed to the nurses station and asked if she would please call and check on him to see how it was going. I catch the doctors assistant out of the corner of my eye heading into a stairwell and yell her name to grab her attention. She was on the phone and actually was looking for me as she had a question from the anesthesiologist in regards to Alex. They wanted to know if Alex had any prior back problems as they were having difficulty penetrating the spinal column to inject the drug. OMG.... are you kidding me? This is the LAST thing that I thought they would have problems with lol!! They had tried 4 times already unsuccessfully and after they spoke with me were going to try a couple more times to see if they could make it work. NO SUCH LUCK! Here comes the scenic route part.... what the doctor is thinking is that when he was shot in the head and the bleeding was so profound that he may have bled into his spinal column causing scarring therefore making it difficult to penetrate the spinal column. DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN LOL???? Never in a million years would that have even been the slightest concern to me with this procedure. I'm more worried that he won't come out of the anesthesia than anything else, lol! So this is the choice I have to make. Since Alex is under sedation we can go ahead and inject the botox or we can bring him "to" and get him xrayed, catscanned, MRI'd to find out what is causing the blockage. Here's the catch.... if we proceed and give botox.... you have to wait another 3 months for it to wear off so that we can get a good baseline reading for the baclofen trial to really know if it is working. There was no way to go ahead with the botox, get him xrayed and back in OR for procedure as they were booked with other patients. Sooooooooo, poor kid was sedated, been emotionally tramatized with all this I said go ahead with Botox since he is already under and we will wait for the trial in 3 months. He'd been thru enough today to not go thru with SOMETHING! While I am sad and feel sorry for him because it took a lot of coercing and buidling up to get him to agree to this trial... i feel that maybe we have this roadblock because there is something else we need to know or that God wants us to see. Hopefully I will have results from the xray in the next couple of days and I'll post and give you the status and where we go from here.

Alex has been in a lot of pain since we got home even to the point that I had to contact the doctor to see if we could get him some pain meds however that is a no go as well until they see him tomorrow if he is still in pain! Please say a little prayer for him that the pain subsides..... my little (big) guy has been thru so much already I truly hate to see him in any sort of pain!

He continues to have an awesome attitude.... still full of piss and vinegar however he continues to improve on a daily basis and still getting stronger as time goes by. He came out of sedation today insisting that I get Brooks a white flying horse, from him, for Brooks' 15th bday tomorrow .... hahahahahaha! He was dead serious and kept saying I better make sure to get it! He cracks me up and was feeling NO PAIN today when he woke up thanks to some good meds!!
We still have a very long road ahead of us......we still deal with obstacles daily. Yes we have learned to adapt but there are those days that I so wish I could go back and have the Alex I had prior to January 6, 2010. As for now, we are taking a break....enjoying summer and time off of school. It is our plan to enroll Alex for some online college courses come January of 2012 and hopefully the baclofen pump will be installed and he will be a little more "independent" and maybe at some point.... ATTEND college on his own. I continue to put my faith in God that he will provide all of our needs and that Alex will at some point be fully recovered and independent. "Faith is not believing that God can.... It's KNOWING that he will"! Hard to believe all that we have been thru and where we are today.... I have much much appreciation for and to the handicapable (Alex's term) world. It's been a long time since I have expressed it but remember that your life can be changed in the matter of a phone call. Count your blessings... then count them again and be sure to thank HIM for those blessings on a daily basis. It can ALL be taken away in a heartbeat and your life will be forever changed! Hug those babies... spend time with loved ones.....say I love you every day.....pay it forward whenever you can..... trust in Christ...... BELIEVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART..... Jesus is very much alive and is a MIRACLE MAKER..... Alex Michael Ross is living proof of that!

I'm not certain if a lot of you are still there or not.... I only have myself to blame as my free time is almost non existant these days. If you are reading this.... please continue to lift Alex up in prayer.... even though I don't blog on a regular basis..... we still very much need those prayers to cope and deal with life on a daily basis. It has gotten easier as time goes by but the loss and void are still very real and fresh..... thinking only time can heal this. We continue to MOVE FORWARD not looking back but focusing on the positives ahead and I really hope the roadblocks are removed and Alex can move forward with this baclofen pump trial.

Below is a little read up on the baclofen pump and how it could potentially be a GREAT thing for Mr. Alex! I'll be in touch as soon as xray results come out! PROMISE!

Baclofen is a muscle relaxant medicine commonly used to decrease spasticity related to multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, or other neurological diseases. Spasticity is a motor disorder characterized by tight or stiff muscles that might interfere with voluntary muscle movements.

How does baclofen work?

Spasticity is caused by an imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory input in the spinal cord. This imbalance causes hyperactive muscle stretch reflexes. These reflexes result in involuntary spasms and increased muscle tone.

Baclofen (a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) agonist) works by restoring the balance of excitatory and inhibitory input to reduce muscle hyperactivity. In this way, it allows more normal motor movements.

What are the side effects?

Oral and intrathecal baclofen can have potential side effects. Some side effects of baclofen include dizziness, drowsiness, headaches, nausea, and weakness.

Why is intrathecal baclofen preferred over oral baclofen?

Baclofen can be taken orally or delivered into the intrathecal space. The intrathecal space contains the cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid surrounding the spinal cord and nerve roots. Oral baclofen causes side effects that might limit its usefulness.

Of the oral baclofen delivered throughout the body, only a small portion goes to the spinal fluid where it is needed to work.

An intrathecal delivery system, which provides the baclofen right to the target site in the spinal cord, is an effective way to deliver the medicine.

What is the baclofen pump system?

The baclofen pump system is the intrathecal (directly into the spinal fluid) method of delivering the medicine. The system consists of a catheter (a small, flexible tube) and a pump. The pump, a round metal disc, about one inch thick and three inches in diameter, is surgically placed under the skin of the abdomen near the waistline.

The pump stores and releases prescribed amounts of medicine through the catheter. The pump is refilled by inserting a needle through the skin into a filling port in the center of the pump. With a programmable pump, a tiny motor moves the medicine from the pump reservoir through the catheter. Using an external programmer, your treatment team can make adjustments in the dose, rate, and timing of the medicine.

Patients must return to their doctor's office for pump refills and medicine adjustments, typically every two to three months. The pump is taken out and replaced at the end of the battery's life span, which is usually five to seven years.

Who is a candidate for the pump system?

Anyone who has spasticity and is not responsive to oral medicine can be considered for the baclofen pump system.

What are the advantages of the baclofen pump system?

It efficiently reduces spasticity and involuntary spasms, promoting a more active lifestyle, better sleep, and reduced need for oral medicines.

It continuously delivers baclofen in small doses directly to the spinal fluid, increasing the therapeutic benefits, and causing fewer and less severe side effects compared to the oral medicine.

It can be individually adjusted to allow infusion rates that vary over a 24-hour period.

It can be turned off if spasticity reduction has shown no benefit.

Pain and discomfort from spasms and spasticity are often reduced or eliminated.

Baclofen therapy evaluation

If you are considering intrathecal baclofen therapy, you will likely have an initial evaluation by a treatment team that might include a doctor who specializes in rehabilitation (physiatrist), a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a nurse, and a social worker. All of these professionals work as a team to provide a comprehensive evaluation of your spasticity symptoms and to establish a treatment plan adapted to your personal needs.

How will my doctor know if the baclofen pump system will work?

If your treatment team recommends the baclofen pump system after your evaluation, you will have a trial of the intraspinal therapy to test the potential effectiveness of the medicine.

During the medicine trial, baclofen is injected into the spinal canal (using a small needle) and you are assessed by the treatment team over two to four hours to determine how well the medicine treats the spasticity. If your muscles don't relax during the first trial, a larger dose might be given on a later date to determine its effectiveness.

Patients who experience positive results with the intrathecal medicine can decide with their doctor and family members if they should have a baclofen pump system implanted during a surgical procedure. Prior to surgery, you will meet with the surgeon and nurse to ask questions about the procedure.

What happens after the procedure?

After the implantation procedure, you will stay in the hospital a few days so your recovery can be closely monitored. While you are in the hospital, the dose of baclofen will be adjusted. You will have follow-up visits with your doctor.

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

GRADUATED!!! GOD SHOWED UP AND IS STILL PERFORMING MIRACLES!

2011-06-13T23:56:00.000-04:00

It feels like just yesterday he was graduating kindergarten only now it's the real deal..... momma's boy has finally earned his high school diploma and you know I couldn't be prouder, especially after all he has been thru!! Our day started out with having to be at graduation practice at the Veterans Memorial Arena bright and early at 7am! As I started driving down the highway the tears began to fall.... I was taking Alex to his high school graduation practice and it was all coming so fast! I had been waiting for this day and praying that Alex would be able to complete the necessary courses to get to this point and he did it! He did it with a 2.58 GPA none the less!!! Needless to say Alex was WAY OVER STIMULATED and crazy as ever! He was very very excited and it was a bit hard for him to contain himself as the rehearsal began. Cracking jokes and spitting every 5 seconds (his new OCD habit or nervous tick, which ever you wanna call it). He practiced with the usher... rolling out and going to his spot on the floor. Once they ran thru the process a couple of times it was time for Alex to practice rolling up the ramp and walking across the floor. I wanted him to get a feel for how long the walk would be prior to actually doing it. Sooo, the usher rolled him up the ramp, he moved his leg rests and up he went.... walked half way across the stage and then sat back in his chair. Of course everyone went crazy because no one from school has ever witnessed him walking, lol! I on the other hand was NOT IMPRESSED the least bit because I felt like he was being lazy!! I knew he could have walked across the whole stage...... sooooo I had a little pep talk with him and told him he needed to step up his game!!! We left practice at 9:00 and rushed home to get him showered and gussied up for the big event to be back at 11:15 so family and friends could get pics with miracle boy before the ceremony. As everyone crowded around I took pics of Alex with all of his graduating class.... told him to "show out" and then sent him off with his buddies so that we could go inside and grab good seats so I could get him walking across that stage. We headed in and got the perfect seats.... just to the left of the stage where when he walked he would be walking towards us... perfect for video and pics! As we were sitting in our seats all of a sudden here comes Alex and he has his friend wheeling him towards us..... stinker had told them he had to go to the bathroom so that they would let him come and find us, lol! That was only the first of 4 times he came out until graduation began. The last time out, he really really had to go and I was told we had 8 minutes until showtime!!! Here I go running down the stairs.... running with him in the chair.... OMG you have your gown on... praying to God it doesn't get in the toilet as I'm trying to square him on the toilet to sit with all this clothing he has on.... sweating, panting.... rushing (THERE IS NO RUSHING ALEX) I don't know why I try, lol! I think I work myself up more by trying to rush him because I get frustrated and Alex only has one speed.... HIS! Off the toilet, in the chair..... off he goes..... this was it.....THE GOLDEN MOMENT!! I get back to my seat in the nick of time and here comes the pomp and circumstance music and MR. ALEX!!

Escorted by his childhood buddy Sammy Alvarez.......Cane in his hand...pumping it in the air..... gotta love that kid!!! Sammy put him in his spot and the Alex show began! OMG..... I should have known that an hour and 15 minutes would turn into 2 hours and I should have known what to expect from Mr. Crazy himself! He sat there waving, flicking Nick off (because he had the video camera), making faces.... My little 4 year old was in FULL SWING!! When you watch the video, I apologize in advance to anyone he offends as he thought he was being funny with his older brother videoing him not realizing that EVERYONE in the Arena as well as ANYONE watching the video was going to see. HE LIVES IN THE MOMENT....sometimes that is good and sometimes well.... not so much, lol! It is who he is today.... still learning behaviors of what is socially acceptable and what is not....when to speak the truth and when to keep things to yourself.... there still is no filter or inhibition.... hopefully in time the brain will continue to heal and that will be repaired as well. If not... we are in for a LONG ride folks!! 2 hours is a very long time for anyone to sit still... especially someone with a traumatic brain injury of his caliber. I'm not by any means making excuses for him.... only trying to make you understand that he actually did REALLY WELL considering his conception of time and sitting still is at about 25 minutes right now. Any who... as we are sitting there watching Alex and all of his antics.... the security waves me down and I figure that Alex must have to go to the bathroom so I head on down. As I get to him.... he informs me that Alex's behavior is getting a little out of hand and he thinks maybe I need to pull him out for a second and let him regroup! OMG.... is this really happening!! I walk over to the other side of the arena behind the stage and this lady comes up to me and asks me about his spitting. I have to explain that yes this is one of his nervous ticks and the more attention I bring to it... the more he does it. She is ok with that and says not to worry about that but could I please get him to stop "MOOING LIKE A COW" yes...you heard that right and could I get him to stop "FLICKING HIS FRIENDS OFF BEHIND HIM".... because it was just a little distracting to the people in the seats. OMG... I wanted to crawl under a rock lol! Security found me a nice little seat on the floor only 15feet from Alex and I gave him the LOOK OF A MAD WOMAN, told him to get it together or he was outta there! I then sent security over to tell him and reinforce because I figured he would listen to them better than he would me for sure! He looked at me, said OK "go back to your seat and take pics...I'll be good"...I gave him the benefit of the doubt, said a prayer, apologized to everyone around and headed back to my seat. Amazingly.... He contained himself enough to get him thru everyone's speeches and finally the moment we had all been waiting for!

Tears filled our eyes, disbelief at seeing him walk the distance he did and without missing a beat!! WHO IS THAT KID IN THE VIDEO? You see him pause and talk to the principle Mr. Simmons... He was asking if he could speak! hahahahaha!! Brother Joe usually gives up the microphone at church on Wednesdays so Alex can have his say... usually a prayer or a bible quote, lol! Now he thinks that he can speak any where we go!! Alex received a standing ovation and he LOVED every minute of it! God showed up with him that day... giving him the energy, strength and will power to walk up, across, down and back to his spot that he originally started. I can't even begin to explain what I was feeling.... there are no words to describe the happiness and the sadness I was feeling all at the same time! I truly could NOT BELIEVE how very far he walked and how great he did WITHOUT A CANE OR A WHEELCHAIR.... INCREDIBLE!!! His physical therapists were all really impressed and very pleased with how good he did and with his endurance! So much that Erica said "NO CANE" at therapy on Thursday!! YOU DON'T NEED IT! He still has a very long way to go.... especially cognitively speaking but when I look back to a year and a half ago where we were:

GOD HAS BEEN WITH US EVERY STEP OF THE WAY...... YOU'VE WITNESSED IT.... YOU BEST BELIEVE IT!!! I never would have imagined this day was possible on January 6,2010 but God had a different plan.... John 11:4 "When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
Thank You God for one more day with my handsome boy and for choosing him for the miracle of his life and a second chance at life. It certainly hasn't been easy and the life we live is certainly a different one with many challenges and obstacles each day. I refuse to focus on the negatives.... the positives are endless and our glass is half full ALWAYS!! I said earlier that Alex lives in the moment and maybe we should all do a little more of that.... enjoy and be thankful for what we have and what we are doing at this very moment. Enjoy our children more and focus less on the negative things they do.... focus on the positives and maybe we'll see more of that come out in the long run. I know Alex responds way more to positive reinforcement than negative..... I think you can see that in his recovery progress. Charles Swindoll said it best: The longer I live, the more I realize the impact with attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change the past... We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge with our attitudes.

I've said it before and I will say it over and over again.... ONE PHONE CALL CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE..... whether it is YOU or someone very close to you.... you will be affected in some sort of way. It's a domino effect. Don't take for granted what you have..... say "I love you" everyday to those who are special and close to your heart..... Cherish every day and moment as if it were your last.... LIVE IN THE MOMENT.... Hug those babies and give them every second of attention that you can.... they just want our love and approval, is that really so much to ask?? Leave the clothes in the dryer, the dishes in the sink, the bed unmade.... sit and read a book together, or watch their favorite movie with them..... tomorrow is a gift and can be taken away in a second. If you don't know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.... or if you are doubting there is even a God. HE IS VERY REAL.... HE PERFORMS MIRACLES DAILY IN OUR LIVES...... don't wait till tomorrow to get right with God.... the reality is that tomorrow may be too late!! Alex doesn't even realize how many lives he has touched and how many people he has brought to God. BLESSINGS UPON BLESSINGS!! I would give anything to go back and get a redo..... but that is not an option. I must deal with the cards that have been dealt. God doesn't give us more than we can handle......My cup is overflowing. But I am in charge of my attitude and I choose to see rainbows and sunshine. We have missed out on A LOT of stuff.... Jr prom, homecoming weeks....friday night football games.... senior year....basketball games...... high school baseball, dreams of playing college ball but we have also gained A LOT. My son is alive.... no, he will never be the same Alex that I miss terribly.... but he is alive.... he is still handsome as ever to me..... he is witty....he loves his family and friends....... HE IS ALIVE....ALIVE....ALIVE.....AAAAAAAAAAAANND a High School graduate...CAN I GET AN AMEN!!!

YOU DID IT ALEX..... You really did it and I couldn't be more honored to call you my son today than prior to Jan 6, 2010. You can do anything you set your mind to do and I will be here for you every step of the way.... cheering you on, holding your hand and pushing you to be the best that I know you can be! CONGRATULATIONS SWEET BOY..... You have so much to be proud of. Never doubt yourself... keep reaching for the stars and remember that God has a special plan for you!! I am sooooo excited and can't wait to see what great things he has in store for you!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY... NEED HELP PLEASE :0)

2011-06-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

Well we are graduated and I have sooo much to blog about only I need some IT guru help from any of you out there that know how to upload DVD to youtube or other website so I can share the video with all of you. GOD SHOWED UP ONCE AGAIN and YOU GOTTA SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!!! Incredible and words can't even describe what I am dying to share with those of you who didn't get to be there! Sooooooooooo .... if there are any experts out there who know how to get this DVD uploaded PLEASE EMAIL ME so that I can get this video OUT THERE!! Thank you mucho!!!

I also have urgent prayer request for a 3 and 5 year old that were in a very serious car accident.... 5 year old just had to undergo brain surgery.... PLEASE LIFT THESE CHILDREN UP IN PRAYER! Lord I ask that you be with these children and their parents as they go thru this very difficult time. Please wrap your arms around them and bring them a peace that they can only find in you and trusting in their faith. I pray that you be with the surgeons and guide their hands as they perform their life saving tasks..... I pray that you heal those babies from the top of their heads to the tip of their toes..... I PRAY THIS IN JESUS NAME.... AMEN!!!!

THANK YOU!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

BACCALAUREATE PICS..... PRICELESS... HAD TO SHARE!

2011-06-07T00:26:00.000-04:00

So proud of my handsome boy and I am bursting at the seams to share these pics with you.....GOD IS GOOD MY FRIENDS... GOD IS SOOOO GOOD!!

These are some of his oldest friends..... all graduated from different schools but I wanted some pics of them all together as they venture onto new horizons. Old friends are always some of the best friends and I am truly thankful for the friendships we have in the kids as well as their parents.... LOVE YA'LL!!

As I stated on FB.... we thank you God that his personality is still in tact! HE IS A HOT MESS FOR SURE!

Randi is back for graduation.....Kristen will be on her way tomorrow :0)

Dax...one of those old childhood buddies.... proud of you and Alex and glad that he gets to graduate with you!!

Amanda.... thank you for keeping me in sync and up to date with Ed White and their activities. You are truly special, Alex is lucky to have you as a friend and I wish you the best on your new journey in life. xoxo :0)

Kinlin and Brandon... thank you for always taking time out of your busy days to be at my kids functions..LOVE YA'LL!!

Irene....it hasn't been easy raising these boys but one thing is for sure....THEY KNOW HOW MUCH WE LOVE EM! Love you my friend!

Alex is already tired of taking pictures....LORD GRANT HIM SOME PEACE because Wednesday it's SHOWTIME and the CAMERA WILL BE CLICKING!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

Graduation is right around the corner!

2011-06-06T07:01:00.000-04:00

Soooo many emotions running wild this past week with graduation coming up especially since attending one of his friends, Skylar's graduation party. I have so much to be thankful for and I know this but it was very painful for me to watch him have to sit and WATCH his friends do everything that he can't on the huge jumpy slide with water and soap.... ONE OF HIS FAVORITE past times. It took everything I had to keep the tears from falling.... wishing he could be doing all that he SHOULD be doing and partaking in his Senior year of high school... which is supposed to be one of the best moments in his life....graduation and the parties that go along with it!! I am soooo proud of all that he has accomplished and he HAS come so far in a year and a half but the humanity in me makes me soooo sad for him. It's so hard to explain and I surely don't mean to sound ungrateful for what we have been given.....but I'm a mom... with a huge heart and my heart aches for him when I see all of his friends having the fun that he can't. Now... if you ask Alex..... he had a great time, lol! THANK YOU GOD FOR THAT! My brain injured child doesn't even look at things the way I do.... HE inspires me! He wasn't sad that he couldn't go up that slide.... all he was worried about was going in the pool and EATING, lol! It's times like this weekend that I am truly thankful he doesn't have emotions.

Today we practice at 9:45 for his bacclaurette and then the service is tonight at 6:45 at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church. For those of you that have written me and were hoping to go to graduation, I'm sorry but tickets are very limited and I've had to get some from other students so that all of our family can go. However..... tonights service may be your chance to witness a small part of his graduation by attending this. Please pray that he can sit for an hour thru this service with no major interruptions.... I will probably be on edge the whole time lol!

Stay tuned this week... I will post grad pics and hope to post video from graduation! Wednesday is going to be one of the most memorable days in our lives and I'm so proud of you Alex Michael Ross! Phillipians 4:13..... AMEN!!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

GETTING READY FOR GRADUATION!

2011-06-02T10:54:00.000-04:00

With no more school work to complete, no more tests to take, Alex has been focusing on therapy and being able to walk by himself across that stage and get that diploma! I spoke with his occupational therapist last week in regards to his left hand/arm and wanted to know if he would ever fully get that functionality back. Her answer was that it all depended on if that part of the brain repaired itself...... certainly not something I wanted to hear and I somewhat became discouraged. UNTIL YESTERDAY.... WHEN GOD SHOWED UP AGAIN!!! With Alex's hard work and God's unending blessings.....ME, ALEX & JC GOT THIS FOR SURE!! AMAZING...AMAZING ... AMAZING! That left arm and hand did what it was supposed to do!!!

He still continues to work hard at walking ..... he tells me he has a double date on Monday... well double meaning him and two girls lol! amazing what that incentive can do to put a little pep in his step and to push himself a little harder! I truly hope these girls are serious and he does get to go on his date.....if not, I will be one HOT MOMMA..... and I don't mean in a good way, lol!

Graduation is a week away and it will truly be one of the best most memorable days of our lives! I promise to video and post for all to see the glorious works of our GOD and the miracles that he continues to work in and thru my handsome boy! Thank you all for your prayers and support..... please continue to pray for Alex that his brain does heal those parts that we need to get that left arm back to full functionality. God has done so much in such a short amount of time with Alex and I am putting all my faith in him once again that he will continue his work and WE WILL HAVE A FULL RECOVERY..... in HIS time! THANK YOU GOD.....GIVING YOU ALL THE HONOR, GLORY AND PRAISE THAT YOU SO DESERVE! AMEN!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST FOR NICK CURRAN

2011-05-31T08:29:00.000-04:00

Hi my sweet friends..... Graduation is right around the corner... June 8th at 1:00 pm.....THANK YOU GOD! What an awesome day that will be! Alex is doing great and it has been really nice to finally breathe and not have to worry about school! We enjoyed a nice long weekend, watched my nephew get baptized in the ocean at Jax beach and then took Alex to the beach for the day.

I am online this morning asking for special prayer request for a young man named Nick Curran, (19 I think) and his family. There was a very tragic accident at Ginnie Springs this weekend and Nick has lost a lot of blood and oxygen and is fighting for his life in the hospital. I don't know this family or all of the details but being what I have gone thru with Alex...... you all know I can relate and I ask that my prayer warriors please get on this and ask God to pull them all thru this. We have all seen the miracles he continues to bless my family with and If anyone knows that there is power in prayer it is I!!!

Thank you!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

SCHOOL IS COMPLETED.... GRADUATION IS A GOOOOOOOOO!

2011-05-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

FIRST AND FOREMOST I WANT TO THANK GOD FOR GIVING ME THE PATIENCE, ENDURANCE AND STRENGTH TO GET THRU THIS PART OF OUR JOURNEY! I can assure you he has been standing right by my side every step of the way.... holding my hand and guiding me to do what everyone thought or deemed impossible! THROUGH HIM.... ALLLLLL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE....3 hours to live on January 6, 2010 to GRADUATING on June 8th of 2011!! THANK YOU SWEET JESUS FOR ALL BLESSINGS..... GREAT AND SMALL!!!

Alex's ankle is still a little weak but it was before he sprained it so we are just monitoring it and making sure he has his brace on when he does therapy.

We had a scare the other day at the ballpark with Alex.... he was in his wheelchair going to the concession stand and backing up in his wheelchair. Well his back wheel slipped off of the sidewalk and got stuck in the sand sending his wheelchair flying back and him slamming on the sidewalk! OMG.... everything flashed back and in an instant I began to run from the stands to him on the ground. I even think the game stopped, lol! Thank God when he flipped back his head did not hit the ground!! Tears streaming down my face, my heart beating three times the normal..... it was hard to catch my breath with the emotions that were racing thru my mind! It took me a good 30 minutes to finally settle back down and realize he was ok. Alex.... well he was fine... of course making jokes how he was trying to do that and how he was doing back flips...etc. Even though his head didn't hit the ground, I still watched him because it was a huge jolt and I wanted to make sure nothing came of it... but as always.... according to God's plan... ALEX IS ON TOP OF THIS WORLD!

God continues to send angels my way and just when I think I can't take anymore..... someone will come up to me and say... "I know you probably get this alot, but I have followed your story and still keep you and Alex in my prayers". THOSE WORDS ARE WORTH A MILLION DOLLARS TO ME! It's the little things in life that sometimes mean the most and it seems as if God knows just when I need a boost and he sends an angel to lift me up and keep me going. THANK YOU.... Thank you to those of you who bless me immensely with your words of encouragment and keep me going in the midst of what seems like an eternity of neverending obstacles! Now that school is over we can focus on his therapies and get him independent and back on track to a somewhat normal life. Many people wonder what we have in store as far as college goes.... well... I AM TAKING A BREAK, lol. We are going to focus on therapy until January of next year and then sign Alex up at FSCJ and decide at that point whether he will be taking online classes or will have moved further along in recovery and can actually attend classes. He has every desire to go to college........ it is acutally I who needs a break and need to slow down a bit. Time to take care of me for a bit and get some things done that I need to take care of that I have put off so that we could focus on getting Alex graduated. Somewhere along the way I have lost my mind and my memory so by slowing down our pace a bit from school 5 days a week and therapy 3 times a week, laundry, housework, cooking......caregiving 24-7.... I NEED A BREAK!

A special thank you to my sweet friend Theresa Hawkins who, at the drop of a hat, came to my rescue and we did a senior photo shoot with Alex! A HOT, MUGGY, SMOKEY, BUG INFESTED, SWEATY photo shoot but together we did it and she got some amazing shots of Alex. There are soooo many great shots I can't possibly get them all on here but I wanted to share some. We gathered all of his Gator memorabilia from Tim Tebow and his pro day experience with some of the other Gator players and set him up ready for smiles... see below:

AND THAT'S A WRAP!!!

MIRACLES HAPPEN... GOD DOES PERFORM THEM......LOOK AT MY HANDSOME BOY AND BELIEVE IT!!! THANK YOU GOD FOR ALLOWING ME TO BE A VESSEL FOR YOUR WORD!!!! I know YOU have great things in store for Alex and just as I promised you the night of January 6, 2010...... HE WILL DO GREAT THINGS FOR YOU, WITH YOU AND IN YOUR NAME! AMEN!!!
graduation is on June 8th at 1:00pm ..... GOD IS SO GOOD and I can't wait to see my boy WALK across that stage and get his diploma after everything he has been through, the obstacles he has overcome AND the hard work he has endured. Sooooo proud of you Alex Michael Ross!!!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA

GREAT NEWS!

2011-05-12T08:18:00.000-04:00

We have been bogged down with school work and trying to get everything completed in time so that Alex can graduate with his class on June 8, 2011. I must say that I am really proud of him for pushing through the days AND his attention span..... it certainly hasn't been easy! All he has left now is his finals and end of course exams.... Please keep us in your prayers, lol!

We had a visit with his neurosurgeon yesterday and it was our LAST! She released him yesterday.... saying he looks great and we are on an as needed basis with her!! THANK YOU GOD......GREAT NEWS!!! I want to share the images of his cat scan below that he just had taken in April......YOU ARE WITNESSING A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD...... BELIEVE IT!!

(the pics are flipped ....the damaged area is really the right side but look as if it is the left side)
The first pic shows the normal ventricles on the right and the ventricles that are full of fluid on the left...thus the reason for the shunt. You can also see some fluid on the outside of the cranium between the cranium and the skin to the left. This is the reason that we see a little swelling on his right side. She said this is normal because they couldn't possibly sew every inch square tight and some fluid will seep through, however the shunt should and will continue to control this. Only if I see change in personality, sleeping habits, headaches etc do I need to be concerned. In other words... if it ain't broke... DON'T FIX IT!

Picture 2 you can see the thin line going from the center to the outside... this is the shunt..... you can also see the circle outline where the new piece of skull composite was placed back in April of last year when he was put all back together again. The two prominent small white pieces are fragments of the bullet that will be there forever. He is not allowed to ever have MRI or go thru anything magnetic becausse that could cause the bullet to become dislodged and surely create more damage of which we DO NOT NEED,lol!

This is a frontal view.... the bullet looks like it is in the front from this view however it is really in the back.... the pic is as if you are looking THRU his head.

This is the picture that should really make your draw drop and say WOW! You can see the damage that the bullet did.... you can clearly see the parts of the brain that are left and what is NOT there. The bullet spattered the right side (which looks like the left, remeber the pictures are flipped). He has little if ANY brain left on his right side....basically functioning on half of a brain and doing the unthinkable things he is! If you don't believe in God or that he performs miracles.....BELIEVE THIS! ALEX MICHAEL SHOULD NOT BE HERE.... HE SHOULD NOT BE FUNCTIONING AS WELL AS HE IS....HE SHOULD NOT BE AS FAR ALONG IN RECOVERY.... ALEX MICHAEL ROSS IS A TRUE MIRACLE OF GOD!!! I sit here and look at this picture.... hard to take my eyes off of it because it seems impossible. It humbles me and makes me want to be a better mother.... with more patience than I already have.....to not sweat the small stuff.... to cherish EVERY single moment.... to not lose my cool every once in awhile.... TO BE THANKFUL most of all.....to HIM, JESUS CHRIST! Thank you Lord for soooooo many many more days with my handsome boy than I ever could have hoped for.

My boy is a walking, talking, funny, crazy, impatient, neurotic, OCD, ADHD young man and I am truly thankful that I have a second chance to be right by his side thru thick and thin until he is able to become independent and carry out God's will!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

Bunkered down!

2011-05-05T05:18:00.000-04:00

My apologies for not getting on here sooner, probably the only reason I am on here now is that it is 4:18am as Alex just woke me up to go to the bathroom and I cannot for the life of me go back to sleep! Soooooo, I am putting free time to use, lol.

We have been bunkered down with a bum ankle, major school work to complete and a nasty stomach bug that just won't quit! Just when I thought it was gone.... it pops back up again!

The xray last week was inconclusive so he had Alex wear this heavy boot thing that protected his ankle from rolling when having to stand on it to use the bathroom or transfer to bed/sofa. All he kept saying was, "I don't need a cast".... "it doesn't hurt".... ONLY because he didn't want a cast with our cruise coming up. Chad's brother is getting married next week on a cruise and for obvious reasons he wanted to be able to enjoy himself in water activities on and off the boat. Anywho, we had to revisit the orthopedic doc again yesterday to see if the swelling had gone down and he could see if there was any type of fracture at all...THERE WAS NOT...THANK YOU GOD! Doc says it is just a severe sprain.... sometimes those are worse! It has been quite a week with the BOOT, ANKLE AND STOMACH BUG..... going to the bathroom every 5-10 minutes has not been an easy task with him! A special thank you to my mother who has been driving every couple of days from Fernandina to watch him so that I can go to Brooks baseball games in the evenings because we tried one night with him at the ballpark and I WON'T BE DOING THAT AGAIN atleast until it's ALL OUT OF HIS SYSTEM, LOL!

We just found out from school that all of his online courses have to be completed by May 14th since we are going on our cruise! Needless to say I have had him online every possible free minute that I can grab his attention span for! HE WILL GRADUATE IF IT KILLS ME! Soooo, needless to say the last week has been very stressful for me....he hasn't been able to go to therapy because he was ordered by the doctor for no weight bearing activities on that left foot until we knew what was going on, school work around the clock and the stomach bug! CALGON TAKE ME AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I should have saved the Hawaii trip for after graduation, lol!

Thanks to all of you who have written emails checking on Alex.... it's nice to know you are still there even though my blogging has become scarce these days. Once we get through school, I will be able to breath again and I promise I'll get back to my duties once and for all. :0) I ask that you keep Alex in your prayers for the next month so that he is able to focus longer than normal as we get thru this last bit of school work and finals and that his ankle doesn't give him trouble so that he can get back on track with recovery and be able to WALK ACROSS THAT STAGE on June 8th to receive his diploma! God hasn't let me down yet and I truly feel like he will show us once again that HE IS IN CONTROL as I see my handsome boy WALK on June 8th!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

ROADBLOCK.... PRAYERS NEEDED PLEASE!

2011-04-27T18:26:00.000-04:00

As Alex and I were doing school this morning, we received a phone call from the doctor that the xray they had taken of Alex's left ankle yesterday revealed a fracture. He has been complaining of his ankle really hurting so while we were at the hospital doing the botox injections... I asked her to have an xray done of his ankle. WOW! On top of all this.... he has had a stomach bug and going to the bathroom like every 5 minutes so he has been having to walk on it ALL DAY! Bless my father in law as he brought Alex a bedside commode so he doesnt have to keep walking far on it. I have been on hold ALL DAY with various doctors, receptionists and tricare trying to get referrals to get him in today. AGGRAVATING!!! Finally at about 4 I got authorization and we are headed to the Jacksonville Orthopedic Institute at the beach at 10am tomorrow morning to get this ankle business taken care of. We need prayers please because if he has to get a cast this will be detrimental to his progress with physical therapy. He will not be able to do any therapy nor will he be able to do any WATER activities..... and you have all seen how much he LOVES the water and the free spirit he is able to be while in the water. I ask that you pray for healing.....QUICK HEALING..... hoping that the fracture is not SEVERE and that he will only be down a short time. We are going on a cruise for my brother in laws wedding in two weeks and he has really been looking forward to going and being able to hang out at the waterpark on the top deck. With a cast..... this will hinder his fun. He also was looking forward to WALKING and getting his diploma in June with his class.... again... this will make that impossible. He can still graduate yes... but he would not be able to walk! The devil always wants to pop in and put up road blocks but I'm claiming this and giving it to GOD! Just when we get settled in and the going gets good..... ROADBLOCK! Lord.... I thank you for always being my rock and for always showing yourself when I least expect it. You have blessed us beyond my wildest dreams and I thank you for that. I ask you to please wrap your arms around Alex and heal his ankle, and take away the pain so that he is not down for long. I know his recovery is on your timeline, not mine and I know that with everything there is a meaning and a purpose. Thank you for dying on the cross for us and thank you for your many miracles you continue to bless my family with. We are your children and I know you are the way, the truth and the light. I pray that we go tomorrow and it is a simple sprain and nothing serious .... maybe the doctors saw something that wasn't there :0).... I give it to you God... In Jesus Name I Pray.... AMEN!!

I'll keep you all posted tomorrow on the diagnosis.

Thanks so much for your prayers in advance!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

DAAAAAAAAAAY 6.... OUR DAYS IN PARADISE ARE COMING TO AN END

2011-04-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

Today I let the boys sleep in as we didn't have any plans until 11 at Duke's Restaurant for lunch.... compliments of Duke's via Dreams Come True. This place was sooooo cool and had the most relaxed and beach atmosphere.... just an all around cool place to hang out and the food was AMAZING.... especially the HULA PIE!

THIS PIE IS AMAAAAAAAZING! If you ever get a chance to go to a Duke's Restaurant.... GET THE PIE!

Once lunch was over, our bellies full and it was game time for the SCREAMER!

http://honoluluscreamer.com/contact_us.html

Alex absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this ride and it was sooooo awesome to see him laughing and yelling and screaming and having the time of his life. THIS IS JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED! This boat is a 49 passenger speed boat and it was a blast! Doing 360's and nose dives.... spraying us with water .... not a dry person got off that boat, lol. As we were out.... all of a sudden we see WHALES! Jumping and playing... OMG.... what an amazing thing to see.... God and all his wonders..... BREATH TAKING... and a little scary at the same time, lol. THEY WERE SOOOO CLOSE!!!

What a great day.... An experience of a lifetime ... especially in the water... so close... THE WHALES! ABSOLUTELY BREATH TAKING! The kids were in awe and speechless as were Chad and I. Incredible! Tomorrow we rent a car and explore the island on our own..... CAN'T WAIT TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT! Stay tuned :0)

PRAYER WARRIORS I HAVE SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS TONIGHT:

My sister Kristen has a special request for one of her close friends, jonathan lavezzi? who is in icu in an induced coma after going in for a routine procedure to check out his gall bladder last week. Since the procedure he has suffered numerous strokes and seizures, which in turn led to a spinal chord injury, and oxygen was apparently cut off to his brain for some time.

One of my very dear friends JV.... she is in Mayo in severe abdominal pains and they do not know as of yet what is going on... just running a lot of tests to find out. Praying it is nothing truly serious and that they find the problem to relieve the pain and find the source of the problem.

2 month old little girl was in hospital on life support....doctors told her mother she would have to take off of life support and would not make it as she has meningitis which caused her to have seizures and they say that more than half of her brain is dead. Her mother refused to give up.... took her off life support and straight to church! She is now at home, STILL ALIVE...PRAISE JESUS... and nurse came today to see her and said she looked really good. ANOTHER MIRACLE....THANK YOU JESUS!!

You are all witnesses as to what God can do so I ask that we all band together and pray for these three in need of our prayers. Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Thank you sweet friends for checking in with me every once in a while..... It's nice to know you are still there even though I have slacked off because of our busy schedule. Alex had botox injections mostly in his left arm today and 3 shots in left leg...... all was successful. He has some kind of stomach bug today.... probably will be missing therapy tomorrow which I hate doing but I feel like we just waste our therapist time when he isn't up to par... his mind is elsewhere and they don't really get the full potential out of him. Also.... we had xray's taken of his left ankle because it has really really been rolling bad everytime he walks on it... especially at the beach yesterday. He has a special ortho brace that he wears during therapy but I have got to figure something out for when he walks around the house or beach.... without shoes. he can't wear the brace to the beach or without shoes.... if anyone has any suggestions... please shed some light on this. The doctor mentioned that he may need a walking cast until his ankles become stronger. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh just another thing I gotta deal with, lol. On a happier note... here are some pics from his beach day yesterday.... LOVED IT! He swam and boogie boarded.... not like he used to lol... but this is as good as it gets at this stage and brought joy to my heart!!

Brooks, Brittany and Kinlin... THANK YOU! Thank you for making it such a fun day for us.... Your love is unconditional with Alex and I thank you for your love, patience and understanding when it comes to Alex and his needs. I LOVE YOU! Brooks... I cannot tell you how proud I am of you and the awesome little brother you have grown up to be. Alex couldn't get thru this without you... neither could I. Thank YOU from the bottom of my heart for all that you do on a daily basis not because you HAVE to... but because you WANT to. Alex is so lucky to have you and so am I! YOU DA BEST BOO!! Together we have a solid family.... Chad, thank you for going to work everyday and being the bread winner for our family. You have sacrificed a lot and we truly appreciate you and all the hard work you do to provide for us as a single income. Mom... thank you for coming at the jump of a call to assist whenever I need. Even though I don't express to you guys on a daily basis just how much your love and support means... please know that you play a huge part in our success with this recovery and I appreciate you and all you do so very much. Brian and Dana... thank you for having Alex on the weekends you have Brooks.... it gives him and I some time apart...... Chad and I sometime together alone with Alex becoming a little more independent from me. Alex is very lucky to have so many caring people in his life that you all play a significant part in his successful recovery. Soooo... I don't say it enough but THANK YOU.... to all who encourage, support and pray for my handsome boy! Isn't it nice to know you play a part in this thing we call a miracle? Thank you God.... it's all you.... IT'S ALL YOU!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

DAY 5...... SEEING PARADISE FROM ABOVE

2011-04-18T08:22:00.000-04:00

Up and at it bright and early the next morning we were excitedly waiting at 7am for the helicopter bus to pick us up for our Helicopter ride!! This was one of our most exciting adventures together as a family and for sure something we will never forget. It will probably be a very long time before we ever head back to Hawaii as a family so we were very excited to see as much of Hawaii as we could from a different perspective.

It was a little difficult getting Alex in the helicopter as you can imagine but he and I had front row seats and it was AMAZING! The helicopter company that we chose to go with just so happen to be owned by the gentleman Richard Schuman and he actually is the one who flies the helicopter in the new series of Hawaii Five-O! We thought that was pretty cool all in itself, lol!

Here is one of Nick's video's.... noisy may want to turn down your volume :0) Notice the beautiful blue water!

Below is our hotel.... our room was at the top right floor 30!

There is our pool and beach ...we shared the beach with the Royal Hawaiian (the pink hotel)

I believe this is the inside of Diamond Head of which you may have seen in previous pictures

This was the military helicopter that had recently crashed and they were still investigating.....glad I didn't know about it before hand because I probably wouldn't have gone thru with our tour, lol.

This is a valley where they filmed parts of LOST and Jurassic Park

Waterfall

We saw two beautiful rainbows while on our tour... the rainbow comes full circle, sorry I couldn't get a picture of that my lens was too big, lol......but it was amazing to see the rainbow make a complete circle and fly thru it..... as we can't see that from the ground!

Here is a video that Nick took... if you look close you can see it on both sides and see that it makes a circle as he scrolls from left to right on each side of the helicopter. It's a little noisy you may want to turn volume off.

We actually visited this waterfall.... you will see pictures up close on another day.

PINEAPPLE FIELDS

Dole Plantation's Pineapple Garden Maze hold the record for the world's largest maze from the Guinness Book of World Records

PEARL HARBOR....these boats are not functional but they did use them in the movie Pearl Harbor

If any of you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii I highly recommend you spend the money and do this. We even bought the video of our tour, lol! When I asked the kids what their favorite thing was from our Hawaii trip.....they ALL named this in their top 3 things....It is definitely well worth it! Thank You Mr. Richard for being so sweet to my boy and for making us feel special on your tour.....ANGELS ALL AROUND US.... everywhere we turn!

We still had our whole day ahead of us as I said we we left the hotel at 7am for our helicopter tour so once we got back to the hotel the boys and I decided to visit the aquarium. We learned that it was only a little over a mile away from the hotel so we decided we were going to walk and so some sight seeing along the way!

First thing ....SURFBOARDS..... everywhere surfboards... imagine that!

Statues like this were all up and down the walk on the beach

These trees and their trunks are amazing

Little man made waterfalls perfect for picture spots... of course Alex was tired of me stopping and taking pics and insisted we keep moving.

Diamond Head

I don't remember the name of this little swimming area but there was a wall separating it from the ocean and all the little kids would swim in it and the surfers would surf right up to the wall.... crazy!

Alex wanted me to get a picture of this bum chillin with his music :0)

And this one braiding her hair, lol

See the surfers... CRAZY

This was the boys favorite local,lol

Lifeguard huts.... We should have these at Jax Beach, lol.... we need an upgrade!

There were trees like this everywhere so the boys took advantage of the vines and had a little fun

More of Alex's friends he wanted me to capture lol

The aquarium in Waikiki is VERY small and took us all of about 15 minutes if that to go thru but I really enjoyed the walk with my boys there and back just soaking up some momma/son time and enjoying their laughter as we encountered different things along our journey :0) IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MEAN THE MOST SOMETIMES.

We headed back to hotel to rest a bit before our dinner at The Chart House, one of our dinners that was set up by Dreams Come True. This place was across from the marina and we got to witness a beautiful sunset from our seats of open dining.

Thank you Chart House and Dreams Come True for an evening of good food, great staff, laughter and smiles with an awesome view of the sunset :0) There is nothing better than seeing these smiles at the end of the day and savoring every minute of it!!!! I love going back thru these photo's to share with you because it was actually the happiest week of bliss that we very much needed away from reality.

Thank you to those of you who continue to write me and encourage me as I still have those moments and days..... had one last night. We had all gone to bed and Alex kept waking up.... calling me in his room, the last time to go to the restroom. His words.. "Mom, I'm sorry.... I wish we could have our old life back." "me too Alex.... me too". GETS ME EVERY TIME! If ever I stop....the waterfalls begin. I think that's why I try to keep myself so busy so that I don't have time to think about where we are and the reality of it all and how far we still have to go! We are STILL adjusting and working thru things and I guess going to one of Alex's friends birthday parties put it all back in perspective for me of how it was and now how it IS! It is very hard for Brooks and I to sit back and watch him with his friends now as to how it used to be. He sooooooo desperately wants to be right back in it.... hanging with his friends.... doing the things that they do....the things he SHOULD be doing. Playing basketball, running around... talking about senior trips, grad night, the beach, movies...... ALL OF IT. I know how very far we have come..... but yet I know how VERY far we still have to go .... both mentally and physically. Day by day.... baby steps... taking the good with the bad... keeping my positive attitude in tow trying to put the past behind and focus on not what was but how I can make things better in the NOW. THIS TOO SHALL PASS..... The future is what we make it. I took the boys to see "SOUL SURFER".... if you have not seen it...GO SEE IT! It is "faith" based of which I didn't know but am thrilled that it was! I only wish I had seen the movie before we went to Hawaii so we could have met her! The movie brought me right back to DAY ONE with so many emotions running wild and memories of that day flooding back as I watched the events from her day unravel. A very inspirational heartfelt movie.....I can only imagine what her mother and father were thinking
and feeling as well as her family and having to adjust to a whole new world of the unknown. To those of you dealing with children with disabilities of some sort.... God Bless you! I had no idea until I was thrown into this world as to what you deal with on a daily basis and I have mucho respect for all of you. At the end of the movie the screen read these words ...... "IT ISN'T THE END.......IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING". How very true that statement is! Thank you God for my many blessings from the past and present and for your unending love for all of us. With YOU I know that I can get thru this and I have every bit of faith that you will bring a full recovery to Alex in YOUR time!! I truly believe that you have great things in store for Mr. Alex and I am sooooo very thankful for one more day with my handsome boy!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

DAY 4 IN PARADISE.... ALEX'S 18TH BIRTHDAY.....MY FAVORITE DAY!

2011-04-15T10:13:00.000-04:00

My heading says it all! I know you are probably thinking how could Wednesday's events top the miracles you witnessed in the swimming pool on Tuesday????... well hang on to your hat because not only did Alex swim on his birthday... HE SURFED!!! Dreams Come True had set up what we certainly thought was impossible.... Alex surfing in Hawaii on his 18th birthday just a little over a year after being shot in the head and given only 3 hours to live! THANK YOU GOD...THANK YOU DREAMS COME TRUE....THANK YOU ACCESSURF!!

We started out our morning bright and early with a limo picking us up at the hotel at 7am sharp. Chad was a little slower than we so we headed down to the lobby to wait for the limo. As we were waiting for the limo Alex was having fits because Chad still wasn't down there and he was speaking to the camera as if it were Chad... check it out, ha ha:

Chad was actually looking for us inside the hotel where we told him we would be however.... Being Alex was freaking out and wanted to make sure we didn't miss the limo we headed outside unbeknownst to Chad, lol. Anywho... the limo pulled up and the excitement began!

I asked him to give me a thumbs up and this is what I got! I remember a time last year when I was soooo happy to see that, lol.... not so much anymore Mr. Alex the jokester! ( Sorry, I couldn't resist putting this up for those of you who remember the very first sign he game me and I knew that a piece of my old Alex was still in there!)

The limo ride was fun... blasting the 80's music station and enjoying the laughter of my 3 boys!

So it takes us about an hour to get to the beach we will be surfing at and the AccesSurf group is waiting for us and have a cool beach wheelchair in tow!

They supplied us all with rash guards so here we are getting Alex's surfing attire on :0)

Alex wanted to bring this beach wheelchair home lol!

Mark, owner of AccesSurf and team are explaining what's fixing to go down in the ocean!

Getting ready to take on the deep blue sea!

They gave us a quick tutorial on the three moves needed to get up on the board before they began their focus on Alex.

Getting Alex positioned on board making him feel safe and comfortable with the days activities

Hawaii sign language for "HANG LOOSE"..... he is ready to rock!

This picture cracks me up, lol..... You can only imagine what he is saying to them

Here we gooooooooooo

Nick and Brooks head out... look at those waves!

Brooks got up!

Nick got up!

Alex surfed by himself!!

Chad got up!

And.... most importantly.... I GOT UP! Actually I rocked that ocean and got up every time! That's what's up!

You know what's funny is that the trainers said that I would do better than the boys..... and I DID ....HAHAHAHAHA! 42 and still got it, ha!

The most amazing part out of all of this..... Alex Michael Ross got to stand up on the surf board, in Hawaii on his 18th birthday.... My proudest moment of the trip.... check it out below!

THANK YOU ACCESSURF FOR MAKING WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS IMPOSSIBLE.. ABSOLUTELY POSSIBLE.... AND THE MOST TREASURED MOMENTS MOST MEMORABLE!

Once we left the beach, the limo took us back to the hotel we showered and Brooks, Alex and I headed out to do some birthday shopping for Alex for the afternoon :0) That night we headed out to Hard Rock Cafe for an awesome birthday dinner where Alex got to blow out his candles:

Alex Michael Ross..... I am so proud of you and how you continue to push through your struggles with a positive attitude! You never let life get you down...... you begin each day with a smile and a joke or two, lol! I am honored to be your mom and as you say most every day..... You, Me & JC... WE DEFINITELY GOT THIS!

Nick, Brooks and Chad.... THANK YOU! Thank you for making this trip an awesome adventure just as memorable with your love, support and laughter. We sure did have one heck of a time didn't we?! I love you all and am so happy we got to experience this as a family, take a step out of reality and relax a little! Ok so when are we going back... I hear the ocean calling me again, lol!! :0)

AccesSurf..... what an amazing program you have and I cannot thank you enough for making this possible for Alex, Heck for me too, ha ha. I never thought I could surf... let alone in Hawaii! YOU MADE THAT HAPPEN! You brought something to this family that will forever be engraved in our hearts. Thank you for dedicating your company to helping those of us in less fortunate circumstances and for bringing smiles, joy and laughter into the hearts of many! I could never repay you for giving us the chance of a lifetime. THANK YOU, THANK YOU ....THANK YOU from our family to yours.... God Bless You and may He continue to bless you with the opportunities to touch many more families and make what seems the impossible.....POSSIBLE! Sending you many hugs and gratitude! YOU GUYS ROCK!! xoxo

Please check out their website... it's sure to bring a smile to your face to see how they help so many!

http://accessurf.org/index.html

Tears falling as I sit here and relive that day by blogging...... happy tears and sooooo wishing I could go back and press pause! It's unexplainable the feelings and emotions that stem from looking back. It's been such a crazy roller coaster ride and I never thought any of this would be possible let alone in just over a year. Alex is improving every day and has really really been working hard at walking with his cane. He doesn't realize how far he has come and just how much he has OVERCOME in such a short time. God... I give you all the glory, honor and praise for sure because you have been right there with us every step of the way. You have placed angels all around us.... mainly the most awesome and patient therapists of all time. THANK YOU LADIES for pushing him and encouraging him! Because of you he will walk again one day on his very own! People say to me all the time, " I just don't know how you do it and stay so positive and happy all the time". My response is always the same.... " I am not doing anything different than I think any mother in my position would do.... go into SURVIVAL MODE". We cannot change what happens to us in life but we can make the best of it and work thru it. It's a choice and failure is not an option! Alex has always been full of piss and vinegar and I thank God for that because I truly believe that is part of the reason he survived and continues to improve at superman speed recovery! You can't hold him back... I never could. He was the kid who always jumped in head first....never thinking of consequences.... making the most of every moment in time. That part of his personality has not changed and maybe even intensified, lol. I'm not sure if I still have followers out there, heck I might just be writing for my own therapy these days but it helps nonetheless! I will close with this final video.... ALEX MICHAEL ROSS.... I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! You will be walking on that stage to get that diploma in June and I'm sure there won't be a dry eye in the house!

GOD IS VERY REAL.... MIRACLES do happen and most of all DREAMS DO COME TRUE!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

DAY 3 IN PARADISE!

2011-04-13T22:32:00.000-04:00

Even though we were totally exhausted from our adventure at the Polynesian Culture Center... my body alarm clock went off at 5:30 and I headed to the balcony as I call it my little "peace" of heaven. I talked about the surfers that were always there.... not one morning did I go out there and they hadn't beat me to it. They are definitely dedicated to their sport!

Because we were so exhausted from the travel and going going going the day after we got there... today we decided to be lazy and just hang around the AWESOME pool at the hotel. I let the boys sleep in a little and then we decided to do our own excursion and set out to find a good old DENNY'S, lol. Everything was so expensive there we figured we could get more bang for our buck there with a grand slam or something of that sort. WRONG, lol! It was $ 80.00 for the 5 of us... aaaaaaaaaaahhhh.... I was ready to find a Dunkin Donuts or a bagel shop after that, ha ha. We finished breakfast and just walked around the area getting a feel for what was around us and found a little flea market of sorts where Alex found anything and everything that he wanted to buy. We had to get him outta there quickly because he was like a kid in a candy store and touching everything, lol. We headed back to the hotel, changed into our swim suits and headed to the pool. This was a very very emotional day for me, definitely one of the most memorable with the sweet taste of Alex getting his legs back. Once the boys got him into the pool..... WOW... it was like the old Alex or seeing my baby swim for the first time. Tears flowed from my eyes as he discovered that he could RUN, JUMP and SWIM in water .... ALL BY HIMSELF! He was SOOO HAPPY.... he just kept saying over and over again... " I GOT MY LEGS BACK... I GOT MY LEGS BACK"! "I'm outta here.. I'll see ya'll later"! ONE OF OUR BEST MOMENTS BY FAR!!! Here are a few video's that you may have already seen along with some pics from our pool day.

One of the happiest moments since January 6, 2010.....swimming with Alex and getting a taste of who he used to be! Thank you God...... for it is moments like this that I am grateful to know you as My Lord and Savior and to witness your AWESOMENESS and GRACE! THANK YOU FOR ANOTHER DAY WITH MY HANDSOME BOY!

You all know the attention span of Mr. Alex and know all to well that he soon got bored if we weren't chasing him around the pool and decided he wanted to try the ocean. Walking in water shoes with no support was a real challenge for him the entire trip because his left ankle LOVES to roll when not supported in high top shoes or low tops with brace. His ankle did swell some while on vacation but he was a trooper and surely wasn't going to let that ankle stop him from doing ANYTHING!

ONE OF FAVORITE PICS FROM THE TRIP! My three boys just hanging out!

Once back from the beach Alex had had enough of the walking and water and convinced Brooks to go in and take showers.... I honestly think he had to be pooped from getting so much exercise lol!! He hasn't been that active since before he got shot. Chad, Nick and I opted to stay by the pool and relax and soak up the beauty of it all :0) Alex called a couple of hours later they were getting ice cream at Baskin and Robbins and heading to lobby to make lei's so I headed that way and I too learned how to make a lei!! I helped Alex because you needed two hands, so he strung some of the flowers as well. We are all pro's now at making real flower lei's!!

What a great day we had with many amazing moments and precious moments captured that fed my heart and soul that I had so longed to experience. To see Alex light up and realize that he could actually walk or rather run all by himself was the most precious gift God has given me since saving his life. Words cannot describe the emotions running wild that day nor erase the smile that I am grinning from ear to ear just writing about it. If I could have stood time still that day for a bit longer I would and I might even hit the replay button over and over and over again just to see that first initial reaction of his childlike expression really was heartwarming and priceless! Dreams Come True had arranged a dinner at Roy's that night so we got all gussied up and headed for a stroll to our destination. We were in such a perfect location and central to everything that we were within walking distance of shopping and eating which was really nice.

Dinner was amazing and we had the most awesome waiter ever! I have no pics from dinner and I can't believe it lol! I was a picture taking fool.... we must have been concentrating on the food, ha ha! Once we got up to our room, I headed out to the balcony outside of our bedroom and got a snapshot of the beach below.... again... surreal and breathtaking. An amazing ending to a perfect day...... Thank you God for with you... ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

DAY 2 IN HAWAII - POLYNESIAN CULTURE CENTER/LUAU

2011-04-12T23:18:00.000-04:00

My normal wake up time consistant throughout our entire vacation was between 5-5:30am EVERY DAY, lol. Soooo, I would sneak out to my quiet peace of heaven... the balcony and just sit and take in every bit of God's AWESOME wonders in the paradise I was blessed to enjoy. It amazed me that the surfers were out at the first bit of light and how far out they would go. CRAZY! Lots and lots of them. I thought of you guys back home and took a little video below of our view from our balcony..... here is a little "peace" of heaven I wanted to share with you :0)

Alex and Nick slept in while Brooks, Chad and I got dressed and went exploring for breakfast. We headed out the hotel not knowing which way to go but I knew what I was looking for.

YUP! STARBUCKS.... right around the corner and yes even on vaca I frequented my favorite mojo spot! We sat and enjoyed our coffee and got breakfast for the others. I did find a special treat that they sell at the corner store and thought I would surprise the boys with this tasty treat.

YES.... THEY ARE EDIBLE!! The boys wanted nothing to do with that part of their breakfast but you know Chad just had to try them. He said they really didn't have a taste... whatever... it's still ewwwweeee, lol!

Once they ate, showered and got dressed wedecided to walk around the shops a little bit as our bus wasn't picking us up until 12:15pm. Alex soon made a new friend in the Volcom store, Kekoa and insisted that he go with him and Nick to the strip club on Wednesday night as he would be turning 18 .... NICE! For the record, they never went, it was just one of Alex's RANDOM ideas that he had in his head. You turn 18 and you go to the strip club..... NOT SO MUCH, lol! He gave them a good laugh for sure and we did everything we could to convince him that there was much more to do in Hawaii than that! So we bought him a swimsuit and headed back to the hotel, lol. We waited at the Aloha Landing where would be heading on a bus to the Polynesian Culture Center for the day and dinner and luau around 5pm. While we sat there you know I had my camera out and captured some true giggles out of the boys.... I LOVE WATCHING THEM and I LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing them all laugh at each other!

What an awesome day we had! The Polynesian Center is what I would call the EPCOT center of the islands. It was a HUGE walking garden of different sections depicting culture of places such as Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii and those sorts of islands etc. It was really really cool to experience how each of the villages used to live... houses...canoes ... utensils... art etc. Here are some pictures from the day... enjoy:

The day started with a parade on this little canal with many different countries featuring their dances.

To see more of these pics you can go to my share site: http://dreamsdocometruehawaii.shutterfly.com/

Below Alex is having a go at whirling the poi balls... Brooks wa sure to move out of his way, lol

This guy taught us how to start a fire with two sticks... he later became a fan of Alex and gave him his head piece after Alex shared his story.... he gave Alex a kiss on the forehead.. angels everywhere I tell ya!

we headed to the dinner... just in time to get a glimpse of the pig

We were seated and had a buffet feast that Alex raved about and LOVED the food... naturally, lol

We saw sooo many people drinking these cool drinks out of pineapples we had to have a couple to taste.... some kind of tropical juices and very refreshing

These little Tiki men were everywhere... this one reminded us of Alex... his meaning I later found out was "LUCK". You could say Alex has some of that aura around him, hee hee.

While we waited for the luau to begin.... we shopped around a little... Alex bought a Ukelele, imagine that... and Nick bought some poi balls and a nose flute ha! With the images below... you can imagine that we can maybe have our own entertainment here Hawaii style:

And then Alex had his go of which I videod ha ha:

This was the end of the luau and what I didn't realize is that it was going to tell a whole story. We werent allowed to take pictures or videos so I shot this at the very end hee hee.

Alex's new friend... he was awesome!

We were extremely exhausted by the end of the night haven been picked up at 12:15 pm and not arriving back at hotel from bus until 11:00 pm... certainly a very very long day for Mr. Alex and he did SO GOOD! An amazing experience for anyone... if you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, make your way to the Polynesian Center... we certainly enjoyed the day experiencing a little "island culture".

I gave you the link in an earlier blog to see ALL of my pictures... way too many to put on here and explain each one but as you go day by day with me you can always go back and see the rest of the pics from that day and maybe understand a little of our adventures each day. Thankful I am able to share a little of our DREAM COME TRUE and hoping you can experience just a little of paradise, laughter and excitement that we soooo much needed together as a family!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

DAY ONE of our DREAM COME TRUE!!

2011-04-11T22:05:00.000-04:00

Because my blogging time is limited these days I am going to blog about each of our vacation days individually or else you will be waiting forever to hear about our trip.... sorry.

Here we are at Jacksonville Airport getting ready to embark on a journey of a lifetime..."Dreams Come True"..... We can't thank you enough for what you gave back to our family....laughter, excitement, miracles and most definitely.... A DREAM COME TRUE! XOXO

Day one we had to wake up at 4am to be ready to travel to airport at 5:30am as we live about 45 minutes to the airport and we had to be there for 6:30am....flight leaving at 8:30am. Chad's dad and mom arrived at 5 to carry us to the airport (THANK YOU GUYS.... YOU ARE TROOPERS AND WE LOVE YOU FOR SACRIFICING SLEEP TO SEND US ON OUR JOURNEY!!).... Chad drove his jeep loaded down with 7 suitcases and 5 carry on bags, lol! So much for travelling lightly huh?! We got to the airport, unloaded the bags, said our goodbye's and headed inside to check our bags. What we didn't realize was the extremely LONG line at the Delta counter or rather why there would be one. Once up to the counter we were informed that our flight had been cancelled and that she was going to have to check and see if she could even GET us on another flight that day because there were afterall FIVE of us! Chad being the rock that he is for me.... could sense the tears beginning to well in my eyes and assured me that everything was going to be fine and we WOULD be on a flight that day out to our paradise. After much searching and dealing with the STRESS and OVER STIMULATION from Mr. Alex.... the sweet lady behind the counter found us a way..... NOT ALL TOGETHER, but nonetheless we would all arive at the same destination. The good news in all this was that because our flight had been cancelled.... they were going to bump us up to FIRST CLASS! THANK YOU GOD.... that was a lifesaver for sure! Our trip originally consisted of us travelling to Atlanta changing planes and on to Honolulu. Our new trip consisted of.... All of us flying to Atlanta First Class, in Atlanta we change planes and seperate :0( Chad and Nick would be flying on another plane to LA and not first class.... Me, Brooks and Alex on a plane in FIRST class to LA then we would all be on the same plane from LA to Honolulu FIRST class. I was sad about it at first because I wanted us all to travel together but then realized it might be a blessing in disguise because we were now FIRST class ALL THE WAY and Alex would be entertained the whole way, lol. As we board the plane first because of Alex's disabilities.... you can imagine him having to sit there quietly and to himself while all hundreds of people need to board the plane. NOT! He made sure that every attendant and PILOT knew who he was and his story, lol. Not only did he make friends but he also got to go to the cock pit, hang with the pilots and sit in the pilot seat! The whole time I am freaking saying... "Don't touch a thing Alex... keep your hands to yourself", lol! How awesome was that for him though??!! I was so touched by their kindness and genuine personalities in wanting Alex to come in and sit down and check it all out. Making sure they got the hat to fit him and all!

Once he had his fill of the cockpit we got him situated in his seat and he had the attendant Isaiah hopping the whole flight with getting him snacks and TWIX candy bars, lol! THANK YOU ISAIAH YOU WERE A TROOPER AND CATERED TO HIS EVERY NEED! I wish I could bring you home with us, lol! I kept apologizing to him and he just kept saying... "don't you worry about anyone else on this trip... this is Alex's trip and it's all about him".... GOD BLESS YOU .... thank you God for putting an angel on that flight because God knew I needed something with all the stress that the mornings flight activities were having on me. Alex and Brooks sat together... Me and Chad sat together and Nick was a row up from us. I thought he was sleeping the whole time but little did I know he was sharing Alex's story with the gentlemen next to him who asked what was with the blue shirts (our dreams come true shirts). So we landed safely and shuffled out the plane and seperated from Nick and Chad as they were going to different gate than us to board a different plane. As we are standing at the elevator waiting to get on and go down to catch the train, this gentleman approaches me and asks if Nick is my son. I said yes and he handed me a bag. I looked at him strangely and then he proceeded to tell me that Nick had told him our story and he was such a polite young gentleman and that Nick had been admiring his Dr. Dre headphones as they talked on the plane he had let Nick try them out and he told the guy that he really liked them and thanked him for allowing him to try them out. He handed me the bag with Dr. Dre headphones in them and said that he really really wanted Nick to have them. OMG.... angels everywhere I tell you! I started crying and told him I couldn't accept them and he insisted and really wanted Nick to have them. He met Alex and even writing this I get teary eyed that our story would touch a complete stranger in that way. I opened the bag to see what was in it as he walked away and there were the headphones with the receipt of $ 250.00!! I'm not sure if he gave up his set or if he went to the kiosk and bought another pair just for Nick... either way... WHAT A BLESSING and I am in awe that he, a complete stranger would do something so nice for Nick. I was soooo excited I had to go and find Nick to give them to him, lol. Here we go on the train.... I'm looking for the gate that they have to be at and we make it there before them, ha ha. As Nick walked up I handed him the bag and told him what the guy said.... his face was PRICELESS! I think there may even have been tears welling up in his eyes... he couldn't believe it. He said "Mom... do you know how much those things cost?" and I just replied that yes because the receipt was in the bag! What was really special was that the guy was also going to be on the flight to LA with he and Chad so he went searching for him in the waiting area to thank him in person and he did just that! I kissed my men goodbye and headed to our gate with a slight detour to POPEYES chicken of course before boarding the plane. A 6 hour flight... first class... we got a meal and all the free movies we wanted... NICE! Thank God... kept us all busy! Alex did have to go to the restroom a couple of times and yes that was a chore to get us both in there, but I am officially a pro now and I GOT THIS, lol! We landed safely in LA and headed to the gate to meet Chad and Nick and finally be on our last leg to Hawaii! Five and a half hours this leg, again... movies and a meal we look out the window and this was our view:

I don't know where we were but the scenery above the clouds was breath taking!! Alex did NOT SLEEP ONE WINK... of course he didn't why would I think he WOULD!!?? AAAAHHHHHH... we landed in Honolulu at 9:00 pm..... which is 3:00am FLORIDA TIME!! WE WERE EXHAUSTED!! Once on the ground... we headed off the plane and to get the luggage. The hard part was finding a taxi to fit ALL OF OUR BAGS lol.... Thank God this Suburban pulled up and fit us all in with ALL the bags and we headed off to the Sheraton Waikiki which was about a 30 minute drive. We got to the hotel and my expectations were well EXCEEDED to say the least ha ha. IT WAS TRULY PARADISE AND NOTHING WE HAD EVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE FOR SURE! We go to check in at the front desk... our bags will be brought up to the room by the bell desk ( what the french toast, lol)... i felt like I was in a movie! Then she hands me this silver VIP card and tells me we are in the PRESIDENTIAL SUITE... SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!! I wanted to pinch myself to make sure this was really happening, lol! The Presidential Suite is on the 30th floor of the 32 story hotel and when we stepped off of the elevator what we saw we couldn't believe!

This was the entrance to our suite!!! DOUBLE FREAKING DOORS.... CRAZY!

As we walked thru the double doors... this is what our view entailed! Oh wait... we must be in a movie or a dream... this can't be real right?! You only see rooms like this in the movies, lol!!

We were all starving so we unloaded the stuff and headed downstairs to the lobby to check out our massive hotel and all their ammenities. The only thing open was the RUM FIRE bar so the boys sat outside while I went in to order us some food. I was told they only had appetizer portions, at full price of course, lol... but at that point I didn't care and we needed food.... $ 50.00 later for 2 orders of nacho's, 2 quesadillias and 1 order of fries, lol. We headed back up to the room for our first sit down dinner in our Presidential suite!

Every morning between 5-5:30 this was my favorite place to be. I would sit here until the sun came up watching all of the surfers paddling out to catch the waves. An amazing view and a little bit of quiet heaven for me.

We were exhausted and after we ate.... we headed to bed at 11pm... 5am FLORIDA TIME and we hadn't slept a wink yet! I hope you have experienced a little of our first day out and enjoyed the ride with me......Night Night my friends.... stay tuned for Day 2 of our DREAM COME TRUE!!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

JETLAGGED SEVERELY....BUT WE ARE BACK!

2011-04-06T22:16:00.000-04:00

I know many of you are dying to hear all about our trip and I'm sorry I haven't gotten on here and updated by now. We are really having a hard time with the adjustment of losing 6 hours and have been lagging and laying around doing absolutely nothing, lol.

I did manage to upload pics to a share site so that you all could see the fun we had.... I will get online this weekend and give you day by day details so you can relate them to the pics :0) I have over 1200 pics so I have not detailed each one and what they are.... you are just going to have to use your imagination for now, lol

Hope you enjoy our pictures... this trip truly was a blessing from HEAVEN sent with the help of DREAMS COME TRUE. Thank you to all of those who made it possible for our family to take this vacation.... it was wonderful to leave reality and step into paradise... even if it was only for 7 days!!

ENJOY!

http://dreamsdocometruehawaii.shutterfly.com/
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

HAWAII IS AMAZING! ALEX GOES SURFING!!!

2011-04-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

We are definitely having the time of our lives and I just wanted to get online real quick while everyone is sleeping and post a couple pics to tide you over till we get back! This is exactly what our family needed and definitely miracles have been happening here since we got here! Alex has learned that he can swim by himself and run and jump in the pool! He kept saying.... "I GOT MY LEGS BACK, I GOT MY LEGS BACK"! Of course you can only imagine the tears flowing on that day! WHAT A GREAT THING TO SEE! The boys were playing chase in the pool...alex was running all around... truly a sight to see! He would run in the pool saying... "See ya lata... I'm outta here"!! I have video but have to upload to youtube first and the wireless here is sloooooooooooow, so sorry but you will have to wait till I get back... DEFINITELY A MUST SEE and will surely bring tears to your eyes as well! We are being treated like rock stars here... staying at the Sheraton Waikiki in the Presidential Suite nonetheless...WOW! Alex is having the time of his life and after all he has been thru... much deserved! On his birthday, Wednesday March 30th, the limo picked us up and took us to the beach where we ALL learned to surf. WHAT AN AMAZING DAY! Yesterday we took helicopter ride over Ohau....INCREDIBLE! I have shared a few pics from both days... of course I have lots more to share and will do when we get back. THANK YOU DREAMS COME TRUE....THIS IS TRULY..... A DREAM COME TRUE!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA

HAWAII HERE WE COME!

2011-03-27T09:23:00.000-04:00

.Sooo I thought I would have time to post some prom pics before we left but I didn't my apologies... you will have to wait until I get back from vacation. It went great... Alex walked into Ruth Chris for dinner and also INTO prom! Today we got up at 4 and left the house by 5:30 to head to JIA. Here we sit because you know we like to take the scenic route with life and our flight was delayed giving Alex the chance to meet EVERYONE in Jacksonville airport, lol. Originally we were to fly to ATL at 8:30am and then fly straight to Hawaii. NOW we are leaving at 10:00am flying to ATL changing planes. In ATL Chad and Nick will take a seperate flight from us however we all meet up again in LA and change onto another plane all going to HAWAII. Instead of arriving at 4pm in Hawaii..... we will be arriving at 9:00pm. The good news with all of this..... WE FLY FIRST CLASS!!! Funny God has a way of working things out for us because who doesn;t want to ride FIRST CLASS! Once again God.... thank you for taking the scenic route and letting us arrive to Hawaii safely in your timeline and not ours!! Signing off for now..... will keep you updated throughout the week if I'm not having too much fun, lol!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!
Keep us in your prayers..... for sanity and all!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA

SNEAK PEEK :0)

2011-03-24T13:17:00.000-04:00

Check out Alex's progress on how he is doing walking by himself these days! Getting stronger and faster... THANK YOU GOD!

Alex was timed 3 weeks ago on his fast walk with his therapist and completed the hall walk in 19 seconds, yesterday he did it in 11 seconds! WOOOHOOO!

Alex getting on mat.... he has improved soooo much and is really doing great getting on his knees learning to shift that weight to his left leg.

A big thank you to Tim Shurling and Karl's Clothier (at the towncenter) for hooking Mr. Alex up with a tux for his prom! He is soooo excited and can't wait...keeps telling me that he will be the best dressed guy at the prom, lol!! Here are some sneak peeks while being fitted for his text:

Prom is tomorrow night and he is sooooo excited! I will be sure to update you all on how his big night goes! He will be looking sharp...that's for sure!

Have a great day!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP! LISA

DREAMS COME TRUE....BOY DO THEY EVER!!

2011-03-21T22:42:00.000-04:00

OH MY GEEEEEEEEZE!!! Today was just an incredible day..... DREAMS COME TRUE has given our family the trip of a LIFETIME! I never in all of my wildest dreams thought we would ever be taking a trip like this! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU TO DREAMS COME TRUE AND THE MANY MANY SPONSORS THAT ARE MAKING OUR TRIP A DREAM COME TRUE FOR OUR FAMILY!

We will be leaving on Sunday out of Jacksonville at 8:30am, changing planes in Atlanta and then HAWAII bound for 7 days!!! WOW! We will be staying at the Sheraton Wakiki http://www.sheraton-waikiki.com/property/overview I AM IN AWE!!! Here is our itinerary so you can all think of us next week and will know what we are doing, lol.

MARCH 27TH
Depart Jax 8:30am, Arrive honolulu at 2:50pm

MARCH 28th
LUAU- POLYNESIAN CC
Pick up time 12:15
Dinner and Show 5:15 and 6:30

MARCH 29TH
Aquarium
Roy's Dinner - 5:45

MARCH 30th
HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY ALEX!
Surfing Lesson 9-11am (HECK YEAH!)

MARCH 31st
ZOO
Charthouse dinner - 6:00pm

APRIL 1st
FREE DAY ( I think I wanna rent a jeep and drive the island :0) )

APRIL 2nd
FREE DAY
Duke's Canoe - lunch - 12:00

APRIL 3rd
Depart 4:30 pm :0(
Arrive Jax April 4th at 9:41am

Everything I have listed are compliments of DREAMS COME TRUE!!!! And they gave us spending money to boot!!! HOW INCREDIBLE IS THIS GOING TO BE?????!!!!! Alex's response once the trip was revealed with all the details.... "HELL YEAH!" hahahahahahaha! He stood and did his own little hula dance all by himself!

CAKE FACE, LOL!

They also gave him a letter from Tim Tebow as he was invited to surprise Alex, but couldn't be there today. If I didn't know better I would say that he loved that the most at that moment in time as all he has talked about since is the letter and getting it framed, hahahahaha. Well maybe he has mentioned the trip a time or two....well that's all he has talked about.... WHO GETS TO SURF IN HAWAII ON THEIR 18TH BIRTHDAY??? ALEX MICHAEL ROSS!! I cried the whole dang time she was telling about our trip... I just cannot believe it! Now I finally feel like I am going to Hawaii, lol. People have been asking me if I was ready but since I haven't planned anything.... it didn't really feel like we were going. PINCH ME PLEASE.... I CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S REAL! Nick is also going but he was in Tampa today and cannot come to Jax until Saturday because of work and school. So I am stoked that I get my WHOLE family to myself for 7 days!!! Me and all my MEN! On a vacation of a lifetime.... away from REALITY and into a DREAM! I may not want to wake up, lol!

THANK YOU GOD FOR MY MANY MANY BLESSINGS YOU CONTINUE TO SHOWER ME WITH!!!! THANK YOU DREAMS COME TRUE for blessing us with this most wonderful trip that we will NEVER forget! Tears streaming down my face.... words cannot begin to describe how very grateful and thankful I am today ..... not only for the trip but because of this ordeal, I have encountered so many many many wonderful people whom I now can call my friends. I have angels beyond measures and prayer warriors galore.....THANK YOU ALL....from the bottom of my heart.... for following, for praying, for loving, for supporting....THANK YOU....YOU GET ME THRU MY DARKEST OF DAYS...and yes I still face them from time to time, but your prayers, love, support and emails keep me going and marching forward.

I hate to end such an awesome happy blog with a much needed sad prayer request but you know God has his own timeline and I just received this email as I was blogging so I had to put in request!
__________________________________________________________
Carli Woodward March 21 at 9:25pm Report

Hey Lisa, I just wanted to ask a big favor of you. Could you please ask all your prayer warriors to please pray for my friend Stephanie son Josh. He and his friend were in a terrible accident last night off of 121. His friend R.J. didn't make it and Josh is in ICU at Shands in a medically induced coma for 4 days right now due to the bleeding and swelling on his brain. If anyone knows about brain injuries you do and have been so strong through it all. Maybe you could send some words of encouragement to Stephanie and her family.

I know you guys are getting ready to go on vacation in Hawaii, but if you could please get some more prayers going for Josh and the families involved, I would greatly appreciate it! I have included a link so that you could read about it if you wanted to.

Thanks Lisa, hope you all have a wonderful vacation! Everyone of you deserve it!

http://www.news4jax.com/news/27262373/detail.html

_______________________________________________________

Lord I know exactly what those parents are feeling right now and I pray that You give them peace and comfort and that you work in and thru those nurses and doctors to give the best care that boy needs. I pray that you wrap your arms around the parents of both boys, especially, R.J., the one who came to see you Lord. If anyone knows best, I do! That all this is in your hands and you do things in your time line not ours. I know what you are capable of Lord...... I know the miracles that you can perform and I ask that you show us another one of your AWESOME miracles and pull Josh thru and put him on the road to recovery. I give you all the Glory, Honor and Praise Lord.... You are the ULTIMATE healer and I know all things are possible with you. I pray this in Jesus name... AMEN!

Every time I hear of something like this..... my heart goes right back to day one and I can feel it all over again as if it were yesterday. I wonder if that gut wrenching feeling ever goes away? Will I ever be able to NOT feel it? It is always so very vivid and my stomach just hurls and hurts when I think of what those parents..... any parents that go thru what I've gone thru. I want to jump in my car and rush to the hospital to give them some positive hope.... that they can get thru this, it's just a bump in the road. I sometimes feel like I should just hang around the hospital... hoping that I can touch someone and get them thru the first couple of weeks. It is the worst feeling in the world....the roller coaster you can't wait to get off of and even though I am off of that roller coaster... God put me on a different one, just not a life or death rollercoaster but one that involves all the other aspects of my life. As I said yesterday.... if I could give back all the many opportunities Alex has been given over this past year with the meet and greets with celebraties and free tickets and meals.....I would forego ANYTHING of that nature to have my boy back. Yes it's nice and it helps us along the way to sometimes forget for an hour or two what our lives are really like.... but nothing can replace the boy who Alex once was. Please don't get me wrong... I am very very grateful for all that we have encountered since Jan 6th 2010..... but never for a minute think that this is what we want for our lives or that we somehow feel like we deserve any of it. The truth of the matter is..... there are angels watching over us and some pretty awesome people in this world and ONE who is outta this world.... that truly bring the joy into our world, make us smile.... make us better people. COUNT yourself as one of my many blessings because of YOU...... reading this right now..... YOU are one of our most treasured gifts of all through this! THANK YOU!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

BUSY BEE'S!

2011-03-20T22:44:00.000-04:00

WOW is all I can say when I see that my last post hasn't been since March 9th and I'm terribly sorry because I know there are so many of you dying to know how Alex is progressing these days. I feel like I always start my blogs off these days with apologies because the time just slips thru my fingers and I'm emotionally and physically exhausted these days. Alex will graduate this year but it's probably going to put me in the insane asylum lol. He is really doing great these days and has really been working hard at therapy, practicing to dance for his prom which is this friday! Sooooo much has been going on with therapy, school work, getting him to focus and work thru hours and hours of school because we are behind and all has to be turned in by Tuesday! We have Alex's Dreams Come True, Celebration of Life party on Monday where they reveal our trip to Hawaii which is Sunday by the way.... I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! It doesn't even seem like we are really going because I haven't had to plan any of it. WE have no idea where we are staying what we will be doing... nothing. So Monday is going to be very exciting for us! I am truly thankful for this organization and their generous gift to Alex and our family because Lord knows I REALLY REALLY need this vacation away from our real world! I only wish I had a Nanny to go along so I could be totally stress free, lol! However, I think I will survive... don't you? :0) So Alex has his Senior prom on Friday.....
limo, Ruth Chris and prom. It worked out that he now has 8 of them going together and I am soooooo excited for him! You know mom won't be far... I'll be in the front with the driver if it all works out as planned, lol. I figure I'll hang out lurking in the dark, lol. Rhonda, his personal photographer and myself will make the best of the night, just thankful that he is here alive and wanting some independance to hang out with his friends and be a normal kid again. She will be there to catch the special moments of the night with the blink of a flash and create memories that God has so graciously given us. Ok so far you get that Friday is prom, Sunday is Hawaii..... you think my wheels are spinning or what? On top of all this... yes SCHOOL is to be completed by Tuesday. The problem with this is.... you know he is on compass odyssey... well it shows how many folders are left and he had like 4-5 in each subject. IN THOSE 4-5 FOLDERS are MANY MANY assignments lol. I'm thinking they had like 3-4 assignments maybe 2 quizzes... WRONG. One folder had like 9 assignments and 3 quizzes!!! We have been sitting in front of the computer like NERDS for days and days now still lots to get done! Hawaii will definitely be a NICE BIG BREAK from the real world no doubt! It will be back to the grind once we get back and that will be the last stretch home to graduating....THANK YOU GOD! Much respect to those who home school their children.... especially those who homeschool children with BRAIN INUJRIES! In therapy Alex has had some trouble with his left ankle rolling so we had to get him fitted for a new leg brace as since he has grown the old one does not fit anymore. While we were getting fitted for the brace at Wolfson's, Alex made a comment about how he wanted the bicycle that was in the gym we were in. How God works.....the lady doing the fitting said she had a foundation that she had special people donating money and she takes that money and BUYS CHILDREN ADAPTIVE BIKES .....AND...... PUT HIS NAME ON THE LIST TO RECEIVE ONE BY MAY /JUNE! HOW AWESOME IS GOD!!!! She calls it a FUN BIKE.....I call it a FAT BURNER, lol. Sooo excited he will be getting exercise while riding with us on our bikes!! We had been looking into getting one for Alex for his birthday, March 30th but they range anywhere from $700-$1,500 on up! God always seems to put us in the right place at the right time....continuing to shower us with his many blessings. Hopefully the brace will be in soon so he can get the full extent of therapy as it seems to hinder his ability to really walk on it a whole lot. Ms Kate and Ms Erica have been working on weight bearing on that left leg doing different exercises on the mat trying to get him to trust that left leg more. Once the brace comes in they can focus on the walking aspect again more aggresively. He has been doing great at Day therapy..... getting better with learning to relax himself.... he can sit longer in rooms by himself without freaking out as much..... his attention span seems to be getting longer at short intervals..... LORD HELP US ON THE 10 HOUR FLIGHT TO HAWAII!! Everyone on the plane will know Alex by the time we get off, lol!!

We went to the Sharks game Friday night and you know Alex had to go on the field after the game and get him some pics from the cheerleaders :0) He is a HOT MESS FOR SURE!

Sat night Heather took him to the Supercross with two of his friends, Corey and Drew! Thank you Heather for taking him and Thank you Corey and Drew.... it meant the world to us both! THANK YA'LL FOR MAKING TIME TO SPEND WITH ALEX ON A SATURDAY NIGHT!!

Having trouble getting the pics uploaded will try to add to blog tomorrow :0(
Alex said to me the other day while on the way to therapy.... "Mom, you know if this never would have happened to me, I never would have gotten to meet Tim Tebow, Reggie Nelson, Maurice Jones Drew, go to Hawaii or Pro Day"? I said... "Alex I would give all that up in a second to go back to January 5th and have my old Alex back". He said.... "Me too mom... me too!" No amount of money, fame or football stars, trips.... any of it I could do without ALL OF IT to have my Alex back. Sure it's nice, but I still struggle with wanting my old Alex back on a daily basis and wanting my life back to the way it was. All of the perks we have gotten I am very grateful for but I would give it ALL UP in a heartbeat to have Alex back to what he was. I still miss him with every beat of my heart and it is unbearable at times to not cry while watching him trying to learn to walk again and see the struggles he faces daily with all that he has to overcome. I feel sorry for him and thankful for him at the same time. So much has been taken away from him and he has missed out on so much as well as I. I can't get any of it back, I can only look towards the future and I know in my heart of hearts that God has great things in store for Alex Michael Ross. Sometimes it's just really hard to sit back and wait.... even though I know the best is yet to come!

Tomorrow is the big day for the REVEAL of our Hawaii trip that Dreams Come True has given Alex and we can't wait! I hope to blog about it tomorrow night and fill you all in on the details.....VACAAAAAAAAAAAAATION HERE WE COME!!! THANK YOU "DREAMS COME TRUE"!!!
HAPPY MONDAY!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

ALEX SWIMS FOR THE FIRST TIME!

2011-03-09T10:48:00.000-05:00

It's been a week of improvements since my last blog. We had a conference with all of his therapist that he see's on Tuesdays and Thursdays that he is at the day treatment program. Alex is improving in many areas.... learning to control his impulses..... learning patience..... appropriate behavior.... time management.... he is getting better with attention and focus span and I believe his cognitive therapist said he was focused for about 20 minutes yesterday which is awesome!! We did school from 11-4 on Monday and he thought he was going to die, lol. He kept trying to get me to stop and I kept on pushing until he had accomplished what I was satisfied with, ha ha. I was told that Alex can not get/understand dry humor.... it's either black or white and whatever you say is what he takes at face value. The psychologist explained it as.... imagine Alex is blind and whatever you tell him is what he believes. Like when I explained last week that Chad came in from running with his running clothes on, sweaty and Alex asked him where he had been. You and I make that connection with the running clothes and sweat.... Alex does not. Chad told him he was doing his taxes outside and Alex took it at what Chad said. Then he couldn't for the life of him understand why Chad was doing his taxes outside, lol. There is a misfire there with reading non verbal ques of which they are also working on at day treatment. He has gotten better with me leaving room and going to take a shower where as before you know I had to be in his sight at all times. He's good for about 10 minutes in living room by himself while I hop in the shower and then he is calling my name, lol. Baby steps.... but I do see improvement and can tell the therapy is definitely helping him. We are to focus on the positive things that he does and REALLY REALLY build him up on those and really praise him when he does something good because that will focus his attention to those things and he will want to do that again. WE ALL LIKE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT ANYWAYS RIGHT!

He went with Brooks to Brian's over the weekend and he wanted to go swimming so Brian gladly took him! See below:

He also went grocery shopping and pushed the buggy, lol

He has really been working hard at therapy..... working with Ms Kate, Ms Erica and Ms Lisa getting ready for Prom! All you parents out there needing tuxes for those boys.... go see Tim Shurling at Karls at the town center .... they have great deals!!! The video is taking forever so maybe I can upload it later. At times it's hard to watch him trying to dance because before this whole ordeal he was an awesome dancer always knew the new dances and latest moves....he and Nick were a team to be reckoned with! So it's hard for me to sit and watch him struggle at what I know he was so good at.... but yes...I am thankful he is alive to even be getting the chance to learn it all over again. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVES!

Alex has since moved on to a one point cane..... IMPROVING with walking. He HATES the one point cane but I just think it's because he isn't familiar with it and doesn't trust that he can walk with this on his own just yet.... even though I KNOW HE CAN, lol! See below"

Below is video of him working with Ms Leanne his occupational therapist. Standing on his own, getting electrical stimulation on that left arm while putting a puzzle together! MULTI TASKING! Working on thought process skills as well! There was a time a couple of months ago when there was no way he could do this...SO PROUD OF YOU ALEX!!

So all in all things have been looking up this past week. I am very pleased with his attitude and his progress and thank God for our awesome therapist..... WE COULDN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU AND YOUR AMAZING PATIENCE with Alex! LOVE YA'LL BUNCHES!! We have been very busy with school, therapy and just life in general so I apologize for the long spurts in between my blogs. We have Prom on March 25th, Hawaii (our trip from Dreams Come True) on March 27th and he will turn 18 while we are in Hawaii on March 30th! BIG MONTH FOR US!!

THANK YOU GOD FOR GIVING ME THE STRENGTH TO PUSH THROUGH THE DARK DAYS....THANK YOU FOR OUR SECOND CHANCE! WE WILL DO GREAT THINGS WITH YOU...THROUGH YOU AND FOR YOU! AMEN!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!

LISA

MOVING RIGHT ALONG

2011-03-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends.... sorry I haven't updated in awhile.... we have been busy bee's with trying to get caught up on school work as compass odyssey was down for like 4 days and it has been a challenge trying to get Alex to want sit and do school work. I think it took him a week to complete his Algebra pre test because after 15 minutes of problems he was ready to stop lol. On his report card he got all A's and two B's so he is still doing great.... it;s just a challenge to keep him focused..... all the more reason I did NOT put him back in school in a classroom setting. Wise choice on my part.

Alexander has not surfaced since that crazy Tuesday and I'm starting to realize that I think it had everything to do with the changes involved in his daily routine that day. Not to mention he woke up to start his day from a nightmare and it just spiraled downward from there. Things have been going smoothly.... KNOCK ON WOOD.... for the most part and he was a trooper at therapy yesterday doing everything they asked without complaining and pushing through the pain of it all. Normally he tries to bargain with them but yesterday before the sessions they gave him his schedule for the session with like 10-15 minute exercises and changed it up to where he didn't feel like he was doing ONE thing for the whole 45 min which i think might overwhelm him at times. HE IS GREAT WITH SCHEDULES AND STRUCTURE... however...if you divert from the original plan.... it sends him over the edge. I had a chat with one of the psychologist at Brooks and asked this question in particular. I noticed that when Chad comes in from a run, in his running clothes, hot and sweaty with earphones in his ears....you and I would clearly know that Chad just came in from running....however, Alex will look at him and say.. "Chad where did you just come from or where have you been?"... Chad being the smarty pants that he is said "I was doing my taxes outside". Alex looks at him and says "Why were you doing your taxes outside?". He doesn't make the connection based on his appearance, he takes him literally. This is one of the issues that everything is either black or white... there is no gray area. I'm not sure if this will heal over time or something he will have to face for the rest of his life. I was told he only has about 25% control over what he says and does and thinks. I pray that over time that brain heals and learns to reconnect those parts that were so severely damaged so that he can lead a somewhat independent normal life. He looks so good and is doing so great physically moving right along.... pushing forward as always that it's been hard for me to digest that the inside still has a VERY LONG road ahead. To meet Alex or spend 5 minutes with him, you would never know there are sooooo many issues that we face on a daily basis.....but to spend 24 hours with him is a whole new eye opening experience. I had a mini melt down last night... missing my Alex again... wanting our old life back....I think alot of it stems from Brooks starting baseball and knowing that Alex would be playing this year.... His senior year......possibly getting a scholarship for college.... HIS DREAM as well as mine. It breaks my heart and tears strolling down my face as I write this.... a very hard pill to swallow. I'm going to close for now.....try to regroup before the master awakes and we have to do school. Focus on the positives.....it gets me thru my darkest of days. LIFE GOES ON and IT IS WHAT IT IS! "When life give you lemons, make lemonade right?" Thank you God for another day with my handsome boy and for the many blessings you continue to throw our way and for continuing to let your light shine through me. You are my rock and I am a better person because of you! I give you all the Glory, Honor and Praise. AMEN.

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

GREAT WEEKEND! But is Alexander back??????

2011-02-23T08:26:00.000-05:00

Good morning sunshine's it has been going great..... until yesterday lol! We had an awesome weekend and headed to the beach both Sunday and Monday with the beautiful weather. Alex did awesome and lasted about 3 hours each day which is incredible considering his patience and attention level. He walked in the sand, he walked in the water and even took a dip in the FREEZING cold water as you can see below on the video. CRAZY KID!

So all has been going great until yesterday morning when he woke me up early with his nightmare. From there the day just spiraled downward and he was off kilter all day. WE headed out to therapy for 9 am of which he had a counseling session with the psychologist. He was not having it... he was not impressed...said he did not need to be there, kept checking his watch of when he got to leave.... he definitely was not the same kid that was in her office the week before. Alex still has many questions from that day of which he will never get any answers and is having trouble letting go and moving forward....especially when he has nightmares regarding anything to do with that day. He still suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and when he has a dream like that.... i feel like we take another step backwards. Like I said he doesn't get mad or sad or depressed... he gets anxious and acts out. Like yesterday several times he just up and left the group without telling anyone where he was going and they had no idea where he was. At one point they said he went in a room, locked the door and turned off the light so that they wouldn't know he was in there. WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST? Who is THAT kid? I knew he was off kilter on the way to therapy and even showing signs in the psychologists office but when I left he was certainly out of control and very anxious. Brooks and I went to pick him up and I had just gone to the grocery store so Brooks went in to get him. They didn't even know he had left and were calling me frantic because they couldn't find him. They then began to explain the day he had and I was horrified at all the things they said he had been doing yesterday. Again... certainly not the Alex that has been here.... more like the old Alexander of which has not surfaced in some time! I reassured them that I would take care of business and handle Mr. Alexander and he would NOT be acting like that on Thursday. Sooo Mr. Alexander lost his phone yesterday as a consequence for his actions which as you all know is his LIFE LINE right now and hopefully he will not be showing his butt on Thursday when he gets to therapy. This has been a challenge in itself because every 5 minutes he will say.,... "Is my phone plugged in?" "don"t let my phone die", "Can I get it back tomorrow?", "Did you plug my phone in?".... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! "Your phone is fine Alex, it's plugged in and if you are good you can have it back tomorrow". "Well did you plug it in so it doesn't die?". hahahahaha... I however survived that conversation a hundred times last night!

The tux fitting last week went great... he is going to be all decked out in his tux and yes HAT, lol! I didn't get any pics of the fitting because his friends weren't able to come and I had to hold him up while he got measured and all. He kept repeating the designer of the tux, the color of his accessories and what shoes he was going to wear.... his Jordan's of course ha ha! He is super excited and can't wait.... I just gotta get the limo squared away and we will be in business!

He has a countdown clock on his phone.... and everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry day he tells me how many days till prom, how many days till Hawaii and how many days till graduation. i told him another day like yesterday and he won't be doing any of that lol! I can't imagine what goes on in his head on a daily basis of trying to cope with everything that has transpired in his life over the past year and he has certainly been a trooper but I am going to keep pushing! I am going to keep pushing him to be all that he can be.... pushing the positives in his life..... pushing to put the past behind and focus on the future because no matter how much we want to go back in time, we can't. We can't change any of it. We will never have the answers we want... and even if we did it wouldn't change anything. We would still be where we are today so hopefully with counseling and this new day therapy..... he will be able to overcome it all and begin the inner healing that he so very much needs. Please continue to pray for Alex.....he IS doing great on the outside and improves every week with his physical movements...but he has A LOT of inner healing to accomplish with his patience, impulsivity, emotions, filter..... there is work to be done on the inside so that he can lead a somewhat normal life. I am told it can take 3-5 years and for me.... WOW! I'm gonna keep on leaning on my God because he is the only one that can get me thru another 3-5 years of this for sure! Deuteronomy 31:6 " Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." THANK YOU GOD.... for being my rock and for my many blessings each day. I know that I can always count on you to come thru for me in my darkest of days. This is your plan and I have accepted the challenge. Guide me and continue to let your light shine through me so that I can do great things for YOU and in your honor. Thank you for another day with my handsome boy. I give you all the Glory, Honor and Praise... Amen!

Praying for a better day Thursday.... I'll let you know how it goes! Have a great day! :0)

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!!

2011-02-16T23:28:00.001-05:00

Alex has been busting his butt and working extremely hard practicing getting ready for prom! March 25th is the magical day and he has a countdown on his iphone for that and Hawaii which is 2 days after prom. I am.. so proud of how hard he has been working.... superman speed recovery. Dreams Come True has set our Celebration of Life Party with them for March 21st ... Big Day for us where they announce our trip and tell Alex all what they have planned for his dream. MUCH DESERVED... for the whole family and all we have been thru this past year NO DOUBT! Big stuff coming up ahead... can't wait!

I don't have the site up and running for those of you that were able to come out to our Celebration this past weekend and take a picture with Alex. I will have it done by this weekend so please forgive me that it is not done as of yet. Just a tad busy with Mr. Alex, school and getting in the routine with the whole new therapy schedule. We are some busy busy bee's with little down time. We met with his psychologist on Tuesday and I am excited to report that THIS IS WHAT HAS BEEN MISSING.... the missing links if you will. I truly have a great feeling about his new day therapy treatment plan and think that he will be really benefiting and getting the most out of this for a FULL REVCOVERY! He will be in this program for 16 weeks and he is going to learn what is appropriate and what is not...what he can say and what he can not. She asked him and I both 3 things that he needed to work on.... PATIENCE, IMPULSIVITY and FILTER. If we can just get one of those things worked out it will be a HUGE impact on our everyday lives. I was told he had a GREAT day on Tuesday which is a big difference from last week. Last week he was kind of all over the place.... a big change in his normal routine and anxiety galore. Crazy how our brains work and what triggers certain things.... my quirkly little brain injured boy how you amaze me so!

Today we had a visit with Alex's neurosurgeon a post cat scan visit if you will to discuss what she saw in the scan. She popped in for a second before she had to leave for an emergency meeting.... I caught bits and pieces of what she was saying... the right side of the brain...evidently dead...ventricles smaller, brain on top of ventricle ...something about possible collapsing....did I notice swelling a little more?...... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh I'm still lost, lol. I need to call her and ask her what she was saying because I'm kinda freaked out a little. The last things I do remember were... Alex...NO ZIP LINING, lol and then he said..."No more surgeries right?"... she said... "Heck NO". Sooooooo, I guess my mind was eased some but she ordered another cat scan for April and said... "I'm not going to treat the cat scan...I'm going to go by how he looks and feels. If you see any personality change or headaches or swelling let me know, but other than that...I'm going to treat him and not the cat scan." WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST?! If you remember in the beginning of my blogging days.... Dr. Tepaz made that statement the day after the left side of Alex's brain stroked in the front and the back and I was told he wouldn't make it past 7 days. LORD.... it's all in your hands... we have come so far and I know you have a plan... great things are in store for Alex and his testimony of your miracles. Please continue to heal Alex from head to toe and whatever is going on inside that brain of his.... heal it and make it right. We have come so very far to take any steps backwards and I ask you right now to please take any worries off of my shoulders and give me peace of mind that we are still marching in a forward direction. Thank you so very much for your many blessings on a daily basis. We are living proof of what you are capable of Lord and I give you all the glory, honor and praise for the miracle of Alex Ross and his second chance at life. AMEN.

If anyone got a video of Alex going down the snow slide at the celebration will you please send it to me?

We are going to get fitted for his tux tomorrow after therapy.... so exciting... I can only imagine what the heck he is going to want to wear, lol. He has already insisted he wants the top hat and cane....hahahahahaha.... Don't be surprised if he wants to wear one of the dumb and dumber tux's from the movie with all the ruffles and everything, lol! I'll take pics and post.... you know you wanna see!!

Have a great day!!

LISA

SNEAK PEEK!

2011-02-15T07:31:00.000-05:00

I have been extremely busy since Saturday but I wanted to get online real quick this morning before we head out to day treatment and put a couple of pics as a sneak peek as to how the celebration went! IT WAS FANTASTIC! Alex had a BLAST and went down the snow slide 4 times!! :0) We had to borrow a batting helmet from a friend, lol... I got a little scared at him going down without protecting his head! I'll try to get online tomorrow am and blog about our BIG weekend! We have tickets to Cirque De Illumination compliments of Children's Miracle Network tonight... CAN'T WAIT! Oh yeah... Alex got a haircut on Friday.... LOVE IT AND also got his face painted at the celebration..... he had them paint a unibrow a fu man chu mustache and eye balls on his eyelids so when he closed his eyes it looks like he is looking at you, hahahahahahha!
Here are a few highlights from our blessed event... ENJOY!

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!! GOTTA GET OFF OF THIS THING!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

LOTS TO DO TODAY.... CELEBRATION TOMORROW!

2011-02-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

Let me say real quick that Gabi's surgery was a HUGE success and her blood flow has increased dramatically!!! We stopped by to see her after Alex's LONG day of therapy yesterday .... Alex even snuck into ICU and when asked how old he was.... he fibbed and said 18!! I was in the waiting room chatting with her family and next thing I knew Alex was gone and had gotten them to buzz him into ICU and was behind the closed door, lol. HE MADE IT IN! Last time I took he and Brooks to see her when she was in ICU they wouldn't let them in if under 18. Alex was going to make sure he got in to see his girl yesterday!

Tomorrow is the big day.... in case you all need reminders... tomorrow is the day to come meet Alex, hang out and go down the big SNOW SLIDE that THE ICE MAN is so generously is providing! Debbie's Doghouse will be there with her spectacular HOT DOGS.... best in town! Admission is free to the celebration, however there will be minimal charges for the snow slide, pony rides and bouncy houses. I think it's $1.00 per ride as well as for the popcorn and cotton candy. For every $5.00 you spend on tickets, you will be entered into a raffle for many great giveaways!! Once we have gotten all the prizes together... I will try to post later as to what is up for grabs and who donated what! Debbie's Doghouse has combo deals for hot dog, chips and soda = $3.00 and for sausage dog, chips and soda = $4.00 There will be 2 time slots to get pictures with Alex with a Survivor backdrop that Carly, Julie and Mr. Mark have been working on and put a lot of time and effort into creating. Times are 12-12:30 and 2-2:30. We have Gabi's mom, Karen who will be singing a special song for Alex at 1:00pm. It is my understanding that there may be some Jaguar Cheerleaders and maybe even a few players.... don't quote me on that.... If all goes as planned... this is the case :0) FRAN'S BOUTIQUE AND SALON will have a table with jewelry for sale ...cute cute stuff! CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK will be there.... If you donate to their cause...even just $1.00, you will receive a special 5x7 Survivor Card of Alex. This organization makes it possible for children in Alex's case to get the best medical technology possible! We couldn't have gotten this far without their contributions to hospitals. GATOR COUNTRY will be there by 1:00pm and Alex plans on getting on stage and showing off some of his moves between 1-1:30. We certainly hope to see you there and thank you in person for your love, support and prayers over the past year. SUPERMAN SPEED recovery couldn't be accomplished without all of you! So please come out... meet Alex, get a hug or maybe even a sneaky kiss on the lips, lol! THIS IS THE DAY WE WILL REJOICE IN HIS MIRACLES!! THANK YOU GOD FOR ONE MORE DAY WITH MY HANDSOME BOY!!

SEE YA'LL TOMORROW!!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA

PRAYER REQUEST FOR OUR DEAR GABI!

2011-02-10T07:24:00.000-05:00

I only have a minute to get online this morning before we begin our early journey to Alex's day treatment. Another free day for mom.....YAY! I am going to spend my day wandering the mall like I have no cares in the world... can't wait!

I ask that you lift our sweet little friend Gabi up in prayer today as she is undergoing a brain surgery today where they open a blood vessel and put a balloon in it to prevent the blockage that she has had up to this point. Karen and Todd, I know today is going to be a hard one....I truly feel at peace and know that this surgery is going to be a step forward in Gabi's recovery. God has kept her with us this far and I know in my heart he isn't finished with our precious angel here on earth. You are our family outside of our home and I pray that today you find strength as you sit in that waiting room and have peace knowing He is with her every step of the way. Lord I pray that you are in, with and all around that surgery room today guiding the doctors hands every step of the way. You are in the drivers seat Lord and I have complete faith that this is what's best for Gabi and she will be bouncing around again once she has healed from this surgery. I give you all the praise, honor and glory!! In Jesus name... AMEN!

Be careful out there today my friends.... it's a nasty day... perfect for me to be in the shopping malls, lol! HAVE A FANTABULOUS DAY..... hope I have good stuff to report on Alex's day away from mom later tonight. I will keep you posted on Gabi's progress!! THANK YOU!

LISA

FIRST DAY BACK AT DAY TREATMENT.... GETTING BACK ON TRACK!

2011-02-08T21:59:00.000-05:00

With a new routine set in motion ..... new beginnings and a different treatment plan.... anxiety had it's way of settling in with my little brain injured boy! Put him to bed early in hopes of a good nights rest before he began his journey of a 9am-3pm day learning new things with a new group of people with no mom in sight. NOT SO MUCH! He had me up 6 times last night for this or for that... one reason or another.. he couldn't sleep, no matter how hard he tried... he kept waking up. Finally at 4am I crawled in bed with him in hopes to sleep till my alarm went off at 6am. He did great this morning getting up and getting ready... brushed his teeth, got dressed even had a little time to lay on the sofa and watch the news before we had to head out. Grab a strawberry poptart... bottle of water and we headed out the door. I took him into the program .... dropped him off and was headed out the door for a DAY TO MYSELF ...yaaaayayayayayayyyyy!! :0) Wait... hold up.... can you wait an hour we need you to meet with the psychologist.... aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! So I hung out, filled out some paper work and then headed to the meeting with the psychologist. Alex and I both met with him... he asked some questions... he basically had to get a baseline of where Alex is today to know what he needs to work on and then we will know how much he improves. Of course Alex joked throughout the whole session... crazy kid, lol. We talked about how he only has one emotion....no anger, no depression, no loss of self esteem, etc. At one point he asked Alex to rate his self esteem on a scale of 1-10 and Alex responded with 33! The doctor said "No, I'm serious".... I said... HE IS SERIOUS ,lol. He said ok.. I'm gonna write that number down. :0) hahahahaha. He really does think he's all that AND a bag of chips! God Bless him! I am very very thankful that this is the attitude he has! Instead of feeling sorry for himself... or angry... or less than anyone else because he is in a wheelchair.... he sees himself as you and I ....with no defects! THANK YOU GOD!

Saturday's festivities are drawing closer.... I'm still looking for a FACE PAINTER. If anyone would like to volunteer for that activity... PLEASE email me! As it draws closer......I am all set and ready to meet all of our new friends and prayer warriors when Brooks brought my attention to a screeching halt. He looks at me and says... "Mom... what if no one shows up?" THAT THOUGHT NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRR CROSSED MY MIND. Now I am freaking out..... what if no one shows up....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. I had to get with God so he could put my mind at ease...... BE STILL...... I go to Field of Dreams... "If you build it...they will come" HAHAHAHA... If just our close friends and family show up... that's still a pretty good turn out because we have lots of that! IT WILL BE ONE OF THE GREATEST CELEBRATIONS EVER...NO MATTER WHAT. ALEX MICHAEL ROSS IS ALIVE and getting stronger every day! THANK YOU GOD! Giving HIM all the Honor, Glory and Praise!

Please keep Alex in your prayers.... this week is a bit of a challenge for him with school back in full swing, Economics, American Govt, English IV, Ecology and Algebra II..... on top of changing up his routine and going to day treatment two days a week. He has day treatment from 9-3 then goes straight to PT and OT so we are not heading home until 5:30. That's a LONG LONG day for Mr. Alex. I have NO doubt that he will settle in and do great things..... I just pray that it doesn't take him 3 weeks to settle into this new routine. On top of all this.... they have added a NEW PT therapist! Alex doesn't do well with change...you have all seen this, lol. As my Father says.... "This too shall pass". :0) We will keep reaching for the stars and looking at the positives....Nothing can bring us down!

Wishing you all a great week...hoping to see many of you this weekend!

Throwing a shout out to Chad... so proud of him this weekend in the Pirates Run. He placed 3rd in his age group and got the plaque to prove it! I LOVE YOU CHADDY POOH...CONGRATS!

Kinlin... Heather and I.... we were just glad we finished. hahahahaha!

LISA

2011-02-03T21:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been on in a couple of days... we have been busy busy bee's these past couple of days. Alex had his BOTOX injections on Tuesday at 1:30 pm... what a crazy day that was! He was not allowed to eat or drink anything past 12pm on Monday night. Well he hadn't eaten since about 6:30 Monday night because we were in Middleburg at the Extreme Home Makeover they were doing for Coach Prewitt. Sooooo, my plan was to let him sleep until we were to walk out the door and head to the hospital. He was exhausted Monday night from all of the activities and went straight to bed when we got home... naturally he was up about 9am Tuesday morning. You all know how much he likes to eat, lol. I did not want to have to deal with the "not being able to eat until after his procedure at 1:30" ordeal. I kept him occupied until we had to be out the door at 10:30am. We arrived at the hospital at 11:30am and Alex is in full swing with handing out his little cards sharing his story...God Bless him. Most of the ladies checking us in, know his story by now from our last couple of visits lol. They were sweet and took his card anyways. We get up to the 2nd floor and they take us back to get him changed into his gown. She tells him he can leave everything below the waist on.... well... he wants to be naked! NOT! I convince him to leave his boxers on.... we head to the back for vitals. He is asking all the nurses.."Where is my girlfriend?" He is referring to one of his favorites... Miss Amy Hill. She was a blonde.. now she is brunette and is with child,lol. However... she asks Alex if he likes her better blonde and skinny or brunette and pregnant.... my sweet boy responds... "It doesn't matter" HE LIKES HER ANY WAY HE CAN GET HER, lol! She and our other favorite Miss Gray treated him like a King for the rest of our stay! :0) Once vitals were taken we had to go out into the waiting room until it was time for the procedure. Well thank God Ms. Gray came and rescued us because people were bringing food in and the smell for Alex was a little more than he could handle with not being able to eat. He wanted to lay down in a bed and she hooked us up by taking us to the back and putting us in a little curtained room with a bed and a tv for King Alex. We weren't there long before we were taken to the pre-op area where you meet and greet the doctors before the procedure. The anesthesiologist comes in and see's the trach is out gets out his little stethoscope and begins to listen to Alex breathe. Normally when he has had the botox injections they put him to sleep because he has so much sensitivity on the left side that it would hurt too bad to do while awake. Well they would give him anesthesia by trach! OOPS... it's gone. Dr says that the trach coming out is too new and they would have to intubate him in order to get him under anesthesia...... stick a TUBE DOWN HIS THROAT! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAY! We have come too far to go thru all we have been thru again! That tube is what did the damage in the first place and we are not about to get ANOTHER trach because this tube could do more damage. So now you can imagine Alex is freaking out! He is NOT about to have them stick him with needles while he is awake and he is insisting that they put him to sleep, while I am insisting that they are not. Dr. Spierre comes in and suggest Versed.... a drug that will kinda make him loopy and forget any pain that he might feel. I'm all for it... get the drug and let's get the show on the road. Alex is freaking... I am trying to calm him and tell him that the sooner we get it over..the sooner he can EAT, lol! He finally says... "Alright then... get the drugs and let's do this!" So they give him the liquid versed.... and we wait about 15 minutes for it to take effect. If this didn't work... the only way he was getting Botox was if he was put under.... GOD TAKE CONTROL .... PLEASE! At this point... He keeps saying that it isn't working... I can somewhat tell it is... we are ready for the procedure. The doc comes in to get him and he is still freaking somewhat that the meds aren't working and says.. "I want my mom to come in there with us". WHAT....WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? She looks at me, as if this is a possibility and says... hang on I'll be right back.. I'll go ask. WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST?... I'm not quite sure that I WANT to be in there at this moment, lol. She comes back with a "Yep, it's ok"... OMG... am I really doing this? I have no idea what I am in for... but here WE go! We head into this operating room, beautiful mural of beach painted on the wall.... a couple of nurses, the doc, Alex and me. He can't relax, he is trying to watch what the doctor is doing with the needles, constantly asking..."How many shots are you going to use"... "Only 3 right?"... WRONG, lol. Not sure if he can see how LONG the needles REALLY are.... one of the nurses is holding his leg up while the doc gets ready to inject LONG needles into the muscles of his leg. She does the first one and he isn't saying anything but looks down as she is pulling it out and says... "Oh SHIT... that hurt".... hahahahahahaha... IMMEDIATELY I said... "Alex... watch your mouth". The nurse holding his hand says to him.. "I can assure you it doesn't hurt as much as my hand does from you squeezing it". HAHAHAHAHA.... Doctor looks at me and says... "It's ok mom... it's a known fact that cussing relaxes us". REALLY??? I said "Great Alex... now you are going to have everyone in this room cussing"!! ha ha! The nurse said "Too bad he didn't bring an IPOD to play some music to distract him". WAIT... I have my iphone, lol. I try to find something...I put Pandora on with Katy Perry station..... he wasn't going for that! Oh wait.. Bob Marley... he can put us back in Cruise Mode! We think of our cruises on Carnival every time we hear reggae... so let's give it a shot. IT WORKED somewhat, lol. We talked about cruises.. we talked about going to Hawaii and surfing.... before we knew it... procedure was over! YAY! Now he can't wait to eat the choc granola bars he insisted I shove in my purse before we left so he could eat immediately once he was done, lol. We got back to our little holding room but I couldn't find Granny, who had my purse with the granola bars... uh oh! So beautiful Miss Amy brings him not one bag of animal crackers but like 8, lol! He is ready to get up and go... wants to eat at Chic Fil A downstairs. Miss Amy says he can go in about 15 minutes... gotta make sure he can eat and drink... she gets him some apple juice as he inhales the animal crackers... 15 minutes done.. we load up in the wheelchair and head downstairs to Chic Fil A. We get in the door to Chic Fil A........ THE MEDICINE FINALLY KICKS IN. Let me say that again......so you understand me clearly. THE MEDICINE FINALLY KICKS IN! OMG! What the french toast???? Who is this kid and where did he come from? His words were outta control.... wanting what he wanted.... his body in sloooooooooooow moooooooooooooootion. Starving like Marvin....we sat down to eat. Soooooooooooo this is what the med was supposed to do,lol. Next time we will know that it takes a little longer to take effect on him for sure! He could barely hold his head up or his eyes open and talking was in slow motion,lol. He was DRUNK off the meds and it was a funny sight to see. I know people thought he was COO COO! At one point, and I'll put the video below... but at one point he told me "I'm trippin balls". REALLY.... what in the heck!?? He looked at me and my mom and said ..."I'm gonna take a nap now"... he put his head to his chest and stayed for like 3 minutes! I looked at mom and was like...ummmm is he ok? Is he still alive? lol!! He popped up a few minutes later and began to eat his chicken sandwich :0) See him in slow motion below, hahahaha.

We couldn't get outta there fast enough... trust me! The ordeal was over... the boy was fed and everything worked out great after a very stressful morning for all of us! We headed home.. rested a bit and headed back out to the Extreme Home Makeover that was being done in Middleburg, FL which is about 40 minutes from the house. What an amazing experience! Alex was in full swing again... handing out his alexrossupdates cards... telling his story...sharing God's miracle! Great to see our awesome community come together for such an amazing event! We made many new friends... some have heard our story.. some not. We also attended the reveal and that was a very LONG Exhausting day yesterday with Mr. Impatient Alex himself! A lot of standing around and waiting.... pushing 170 pounds of Alex in the dirt to the portalet.... LORD WHAT A JOB.....waiting and more waiting. A sprinkle of rain here and there.... thank you God for not letting it pour on us! Yesterday we got to meet Misty May... the volleyball 2 time Olympic Gold Medalist. Alex got to take pics with her Gold Medals on and he also got a hug and YES... HE GOT HER with the whole give me a kiss on my cheek/I'll get her on the lips trick! SHE CRACKED UP! It was too funny! I'm glad we stuck it out... it was an adventure my boys will never forget.... nor anyone else around us for that matter, ha ha! We got to experience the whole "MOVE THAT BUS" festivity and can't wait to see the final cut on Mother's Day in May! Below are some pics and video's from our festivities!

MISTY MAY... 2x Olympic Volleyball Gold Medalist ---- HE GOT HER!!

I have MOVE THAT BUS videos but can't get them uploaded right now.... hopefully can do in the morning.

Thank you to all the volunteers that showed up to our meeting tonight... the Celebration of Life is going to be FANTASTIC and we couldn't do it without you! Shout out to my brother Joe Moore...YOU ROCK... thank you for coming and opening up the church so we could meet tonight! I LOVE YOU! Chad Dillard... my awesome husband... thank you for sharing me this week and next to get it all organumized... I LOVE YOU! XOXO

Wishing you all a HAPPY FRIDAY!

PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!
LISA