The Nugget got to experience the first memorable snowfall of her young life. Now certainly it has snowed and she has been in the snow but not until Sunday, December 6 2009 did Liana really experience snow that she was old enough to remember it. It snowed just a few inches overnight and we woke up to see snow on the ground. After we told her about it the Nugget proclaimed "snow!" several times. We learned an important lesson about timing and experiencing new things - we got her all dressed up in her snow suit to play in the snow but the real plan was to spend a few minutes playing and then go to Keith's Farm to get a tree. Well after running in the snow and pulling the Nugget in her sled for a few minutes we were ready to go to the tree farm. By, "we", I mean mama and daddy - we've seen snow a million times - been stranded by it, shoveled it, had snowball fights, built snowmen, etc - no big deal for us. However, the Nugget freaked out when we went to put her in the car - she just screamed "snow!" a hundred times as she fought to get out of the car seat and back out to play.
Nonetheless, she was able to experience snow in a whole new way once we got to the tree farm (see the video). We had a blast picking out a tree and Liana enjoyed all the other shoppers and the tractor ride out to the tree lots. What a great family tradition that we will hopefully keep alive for years to come. And I hope the Nugget continues to remind us of the things in this world that mama and daddy take for granted but are so new and exciting for her.
I typed this after our visit to Craig Hospital back in August but for some reason I never pushed it out to the masses. August 8, 2009: We just got back from visiting our friend John at the Craig Hospital in Denver, CO. As I mentioned in my July 30th post John was in a terrible accident while biking with his girlfriend in Hawaii and was nearly killed. He spent several weeks recovering at Queens Hospital in Hawaii before making the trip to Craig Rehab Hospital. John only has less than a week before he gets to go back home to Hawaii to continue his recovery. We had such a great time visiting with John and his girlfriend Laurel. It was hard being so far away and not being able to give hugs or tell him in person how much we love him and care about him. It was amazing to see how far he had come yet how much of a struggle he has in front of him. He is determined and has people all over the world praying for his recovery and if anyone can overcome these odds it is John. We had a chance to go to a BBQ that one of the patient's father was having for some of the friends he met there. The patient, Chris, was in a skiing accident and when he did a flip he came down on his head and broke his neck - instant quadrapeligic. We met Russell, John's roommate for the first part of his stay at Craig. He was also a quadrapeligic after being pulled from a bucket loader when installing a roof on a children's playground. Flynn was a ski instructor at Big Sky in Montana and was in a car accident on her way home one day. She lost the use of her legs and had upper body mobility with some restrictions in her hands. What amazed me more than anything was that at this BBQ I didn't hear one of these people complain or ask "why me?" I'm sure each have had their moments but their loved ones were there supporting them through this difficult time and they all seemed strong and resolute and John was no exception. They all laughed with us and told jokes, shared stories, and enjoyed each other's company. Each of them touched our lives and reminded us of the fleeting nature of our time on earth, how blessed we are and how thankful we should be for what God has given to us. The Nugget ran around and gave kisses and smiles to everyone and it was touching to see the impact she had on their lives. To her everyone was the same and that they were in wheelchairs made no difference. She is so young and probably won't remember being there but I hope to share this with her some day when she is old enough to understand the impact she was able to have without even knowing it and the opportunity she can have to do the same thing throughout her life. The best thing was Liana pushing John's wheelchair around - she loved it!
