Savanna’s Angels
March 6, 2005 by · Leave a Comment
Hello everyone: I just thought it was time for another Savanna update to let you all know how great she is doing. Nothing earth shattering, but just some fun things. She is still enjoying school, most days that is. This week she didn’t want to go to school one morning (because she was tired). She told me, “no school” and I told her yes, she was indeed going. When her school nurse got here to ride the bus with her, she looked at her and said, “bye bye Miss Teresa”. Three year-olds, you gotta love them. Most of the time she is absolutely the sweetest child in the world. Then the attitude comes out. She gets pretty bossy sometimes and I can’t imagine who she gets that from. “No, not that hand, this hand” she’ll tell me when I am handing her something. Her big thing right now is hugs. She LOVES to give hugs and she thinks everyone needs like lots of them. She is usually lying down and so she’ll ask for a hug. You have to basically get right on top of her and put your face right down next to hers. Then she’ll say, “Help” which means you have to lift her left arm for her and wrap it around your neck. Then you will feel the gentle pressure of her squeezing you and she will say, “Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm”. It’s just the sweetest thing. It’s ironic the little things you take for granted that a healthy child can do. My child cannot sit in my lap and wrap her arms around my neck and lay her head on my shoulder, but she sure can give some great hugs. Often times I will hear her saying, “Daddy, I’m ready for my hug now”. Aaaah, you say; doesn’t that sound sweet. But, it’s just a ploy (but don’t tell Tim because I don’t think he has caught onto her little game). Once she gets her hug, she then proceeds to tell him, “Hold my Cappuccino” which is her new dog. She thinks the dog needs a hug as well. We got Cap from some friends of ours and she is the sweetest thing. Savanna has claimed her as her dog. If we take a walk, Cappuccino and Sadie must come along.
Every day with her is such a joy. At night when we say our prayers, I always thank God for giving me my sweet Savanna and for healing her. A few weeks ago I asked her if she wanted to say our prayers and she said, Uh-huh. Okay. This ought to be good (which means, have the Kleenex ready). She closes her eyes and says, Dear God, followed by a bunch of jibberish. I could occasionally make out the “thank you”. She prays for like 3 minutes, which is a long time for a 3 year-old and then says, Amen. All I could think was how precious that was to my ears and then I thought, think how precious that is to God’s ears and He understands every word of it! I can just imagine God up there with a big smile and a tear coming from His eye.
As you all know, I have always said that I believe she sees her angels. They are always around her and she will look up and smile at the ceiling. Well I have decided to talk to her about her angels. She always tells me that she only has 1; it is a girl angel and she talks to her. I said, “What does your angel say to you”, “Hello Savanna” she says. What do you say back to her, “Hello Angel” she says. I proceed to ask her what color her angel wears and she tells me white. I’ll ask her where her angel is and she’ll look right at her and then tell me, “on the floor” or wherever she happens to be at that moment. I say hello to her angel and thank her for doing such a great job watching over her. Well, this last week after our conversation about her angel, I asked her, “What is your angel’s name?” Her answer was, “Mama”. Kleenex alert again. I told her , “You know, I pray for those angels around you all the time” and she just smiles that wonderful smile. I am just in awe of not only how special she is, but how blessed we are as parents that God chose us to take care of her. It’s like He said, “Okay, I have this precious, fragile gift that is priceless and I am picking you to take care of her. You will have some difficult and scary times, but the good will always outweigh the bad. I will give you extra help to take care of her and will surround you with the most wonderful family and friends a person could have. Every day will be a blessing and you will see the many joys in life that so many others never take the time to notice. She will bless you, bless others and thru it all, she will glorify Me.” Wow!! He chose us! Whenever I get worried about something we need, I stop and remind myself that if God gave me Savanna, He will provide everything we need to take the best care of her and He has never failed.
At church this last Sunday, our pastor told us to take 60 seconds and introduce ourselves to the person sitting next to us as we were 10 years ago. Wow; 10 years ago! I would have never imagined 10 years ago that I would be sitting here today having lost my brother, having a handicapped child and being a business owner, among other things. Then he told us to re-introduce ourselves 10 years from now. After church was over I asked Tim about his introductions and what he said. The amazing thing is that we both said that in 10 years, we will have a 13 year-old daughter named Savanna who USED to have SMA but she is now healed. I’m so blessed that if God gave me the challenge of taking care of a special child like Savanna, that he gave me the best partner to help take care of her. Someone who is always filled with hope, joy, dedication and love. I can’t imagine having to go thru this with someone who always sees the glass as half empty and worries constantly. I think Tim’s glass is always overflowing! I realize that everything I have gone thru in my life has prepared me for where I am today. I want to challenge you all to think what your life will look like in 10 years. Only you have the ability to change the outcome if it is headed in a direction that you do not like. The only thing we have control over is our attitude and I am so blessed to be married to Mr. Rogers.
I have been reminded lately of the importance of praying specifically. When we pray specifically, God answers specifically. All we have to do is ask. It’s coming up on eight months since we lost my brother Mike. In some ways it feels like it was just yesterday, yet at the same time it feels like it was a lifetime ago. I have been able to be involved in a bible study with my sister-in-law Kelly at the church they go to. I get the privilege of seeing my brother Mike every week when I go to bible study. The room we meet in is the youth room where his son Adam plays guitar in the praise band. That was absolutely Mike’s favorite place to be; in there jamming with the youth and watching with pride as his son plays for Jesus. The first week I “saw” him it took me off guard. As I was looking around the room, having a hard time concentrating, I would see him sitting in one of the chairs making one of his goofy faces at me to make me laugh. I quickly turned away. When I looked back, he had moved to another chair. Now every week I look forward to seeing what stunts he is going to pull. He was always a prankster and loved to pick on people, especially me being the baby sister. Mom, Mark and I were always his most captive audience as we were so easily entertained with his antics. Now since he is not confined to his earthly body, I see him dangling from the rafters, sitting on top of things that he shouldn’t be sitting on, just having fun. This last week I even saw an angel come and tap him on the shoulder as if to say, “Alright Mike, you’ve had your fun. Now let’s get back to what we were doing.” It is so comforting to see and feel his presence all around us. I see his strength in his wife, Kelly as she continues to amaze us with her grace. I see his beauty in his daughter Bailey and I see his determination and drive in his son, Adam. I know he is so proud of them all. Just this week, Adam sold his entire game system in order to have the money to buy “true love waits” rings for himself and his girlfriend. I just beam with pride as I see him grow into such a responsible young man. On another note, my precious niece, Erica (my brother Mark’s daughter) decided she wanted to send a message to Uncle Mike. She had a balloon and she wrote on there, “Hi Uncle Mike. We miss you. What does Heaven look like?” and then she released the balloon into the sky. Mark told her he was sure that Uncle Mike would give her an answer so I will update you when that comes. Aren’t children just amazing? Erica has such a strong faith and she prays the sweetest prayers.
We are again in the midst of planning Savanna’s fundraiser. This will be our third year and I am excited to say that we surpassed our goal of $35,000 last year. We have changed the locale and will be hosting it at the Will Rogers Roundup Inn in Ft. Worth. This place is much larger so we will not be limited on how many tickets we can sell. We have scheduled it for Saturday, August 27th, so I hope you will all mark your calendars and plan to attend. It really is a fun night. Just this week the Fox news network in New York ran a piece about SMA. The doctors at NIH feel that if they could get the funding, they could have a cure for SMA in as little as 2 years. Can you imagine just 2 years!!!! If you would like to see the story, go to http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149366,00.html
One last thing, Mom and Dad are finally moving to a newer home after 36 years! They had tried to sell their home last year, but the timing was never right. They prayed about it and put their house on the market last month and after 2 days, the first couple that looked at it made an offer (another specific answer to a specific prayer request; isn’t God good?) They will be closing on March 16th and will begin moving into their new home, which happens to be less than a mile from us (Yea!) on March 20th. Mark and I cannot imagine what it will be like to move them from a home with 36 years worth of stuff in it but we are thrilled to see them finally get a new home that they will enjoy.
As I close this lengthy email (sorry) I have a few prayer requests. First, I will be joining Kelly this summer for a trip to the resort in Mexico that they were at last summer when Mike was killed. We both believe it will be a time of healing and closure and are so looking forward to it and our good friend Dawn will be going with us as well. I ask that you all pray for a safe trip for us and that God will show us miraculous things while we are there and for a peaceful time of healing. As always, please pray for Savanna for healing and that things will go well here at home while I am in Mexico this summer. We will be needing to get a handicap accessible van in the very near future, but really cannot afford one at this time. Please pray that God will provide us with one and that we will be patient and wait for His timing. Good news, Tim will be starting his morning route within the month. It still won’t be full-time but it should be more hours and he will be home in the evenings. Please continue to pray for a full-time day route for him.
As always I am so thankful for the wonderful people I have in my life. I was able to be with my closest friends tonight as we saw another person baptized because of the impact Mike had on his life. What a blessing to see so much good come out of a painful experience. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Until next time, I hope you all have a blessed week!
Love,
Mindy