You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

How do you climb?

How you climb up the mountain

is just as important as

how you get down the mountain.

And, so it is with life,

which for many of us

becomes one gigantic test

followed by one gigantic lesson.

In the end,

it all comes down to one word.

GRACE.

It's how you accept

winning and losing,

good luck and bad luck,

the darkness and the light.

We Walk in Hope

We don't know how long the road is;

We just walk it to the end.

We keep on walking expectantly, heads up, walking in hope.

We do not sit down in protest;

We do not get sidetracked by better-traveled roads;

We do not look back.

We are on the right road

and so we walk it

with joyful anticipation

and quiet confidence

and steadfast assurance.

We walk this road in hope,

And we will walk it to the end.

When You Wish Upon a Star

What if the brilliant, twinkling stars that bring the dark night to life, are windows looking out of heaven? And at the very moment when we're wishing on those stars, hoping that the loved ones we have lost are happy, safe and free...maybe they are looking at those same stars from the other side, making the same wish for us and sending us all their love.

Scarlett Victoria

Like the image of a rosebud not yet to bloom
so will the precious memory of our child,

not long with us,

live in our hearts forever.

We want to let our friends and family know that our daughter, Scarlett Victoria, was stillborn, March 3rd, at 6:07 pm at Grant Hospital, Columbus. We were able to hold her, dress her, have footprints taken as well as pictures. These are memories we will cherish forever. Thank you for loving us during this terribly difficult time for our family.

Tom and Bethany

Heart Day

I think back to Valentine’s Day 2002.








Passing over my baby boy to the nurse ready to take him to his life saving, open-heart surgery. Not knowing if I would ever have him look at me again. Hoping we had made the right choice. Praying we had - as this was his only chance. Taking comfort in the words of the Anesthesiologist “I will hold and sing to him as he goes to sleep”. Knowing that in these possible last moments he will feel loved.

And now Valentine’s Day 2008.

He lives by his heart. Not merely by the fact that it beats strong and true. But that it dictates how he approaches everyone and everything. If only I could love anybody the way he loves everybody. He’s able to look into your eyes and glimpse your soul. He struggles to talk and yet is a great communicator. He’s able to earn a smirk out of even the sternest of faces. I often stand back and watch this little fella, who might not have been, affect more lives than I, or any one else I know, ever has. Effortlessly. Uniquely. I thank God for the gift he has given me and I know that somehow this little boy born with a broken heart has fixed mine.

Introducing the Lollipop Gang!

I thought it would be fun to chronicle the life and times of our little gang! The kids grow so fast and change so quickly that I just really don't want to forget any of it!



Allie is fast approaching the teenage years and already towers over me. There certainly should be laws that you can not be taller than your mother til you leave home :) She'll be 13 this July and is simply beautiful inside and out.


Cameron will be 9 this summer and has always been an old soul. He's appointed himself as the family peacekeeper. He's creative and oh so compassionate. Clever as can be too!

Next are the twins. Our Thing One and Thing Two. Fric and Frac. Ernie and Bert. Ying and Yang.




Braden and Grant. They turned 6 in October. Those two have certainly made sure that we are not ever bored. I'm not sure that you could find twins as different as ours.



Braden has Mosaic Down Syndrome.






Grant has an estimated IQ of 140 - he's our own little Jimmy Neutron.




Braden is not a big fan of talking and Grant never stops! Braden loves mess and Grant loves order. Together they have shown our family that you don't love someone because of what they can do but because of how they make you feel. I'm not sure which one of them was our "extra baby" but life would not be complete without both of them.




And now for the fifth and final munchkin due on August 8, 2008. Tom and I went to an ultrasound this morning and got to take a long peek at this little bean. Amazing! We all can't wait to meet this wee one. Well, that is the cliff notes version of our little gang!