Final Wrap Post for Abby's Wish Trip

From Brent

Wow... this is the last post about Abby's Make A Wish & Florida Vacation trip. We waited for a year with great anticipation, and it seemed like it was over in just a few moments.

Abby's Ultimate Wish to beat cancer and have us adopt a new baby brother or sister will help us to continue to live her WISH for a while longer. I've created an "Abby's Wish" badge. You can get the code over there in the right column, at the top. We would be incredibly grateful if you would add it to your blog and pass it on to everyone you know. Here is Abby's Wish page...

Thank You's

The bad part about doing "thank you's" is knowing you are going to miss someone. So I'll just extend that apology now.

Thank first of course to Make A Wish, the Oklahoma chapter for making it all possible. Thank you to Tracy Culwell for taking the time to make sure we did everything we needed with Make A Wish. Thank you to Betty Kay and all the wonderful folks at Make Wish.

Thank you to the Bauman's for their unending love and encourging us to apply to Make A Wish. Thank you to Darron and Tracy for generously extending our Florida vacation at their expense. Thank you to MeeMaw and PawPaw for all you do and the souvenir money for the kids. Thank you to Grandmother and Aunt Missy for taking care of things back home. Thank you to Dodo and Mr. Johnny for loving the kids and watching our house while we were gone.

Thank you to Give Kids the World Village for an incredible week. All the volunteers were loving, kind and obviously passionate about ministering to hurting families.

Thank you to Jasmine and all the Disney characters who seemed to have an extra hug for the Make A Wish Kids. Thank you to the Disney and theme park staffs who graciously allow the Make A Wish Kids to go the front of every line without question or hesitation.

Thank you to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines whose staff and attendants gave Abby special attention and preferential treatment.



Thank you most of all to God Our Heavenly Father who not only numbers the individual hairs on our head, but saw each one fall out of Abby's beautiful brown skin. After God held Abby safe from death's sting four times last year, He then re-numbered each and every strand that grew back on her head, eyebrows and lashes announcing to all that cancer is not yet the final chapter of her story.

God and God alone determines our days and it was His providential care and irrevocable Will established in eternity past that brought Abby into our home and loving arms. It was God's plan that Abby survive to be blessed with this Make A Wish Trip. Everyone else involved, including Michelle and I, are just instruments of God's providence and the fulfillment of His design for the life of a four year old orphan girl from Guatemala.

Miss that, and you miss the whole point of Abby's struggle to live.

A Few More Photos


Abby was basically quarantined for a couple of
weeks before leaving on the trip because the
chicken pox and swine flu were making the rounds.
David Corbly came over to do Abby's Awana lessons with
her so that she could still participate without
having to leave the house and risk getting sick.

Abby got hugs from her favorite characters every day.

Spiderman is about to meet SpideyLandis. That is NOT a
statue looking down on the babies. This Spiderman must have been
an acrobat or something because he ran around jumping up on
things like this kiosk. It was pretty amazing to watch.

From the first moment, Abby had the time of her life.

Another big hug.



As nighttime fell each day, the kids were
tired but never willing to give up.










Michelle met up with another blog family who had two sets of twins and two big brothers.
We loved getting to meet Heather and her family. Abby and Hannah fell in love
with all six of your children. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us.










The beach was a huge hit. The kids had
the best, best, best time there.






Landis loved the water and the waves.

The view from our cottage at Give Kids the World.

Our street and the playground.
You can see the wonderful van they provided us
over on the right.


The kids got to ride the carousel every day after breakfast.

SpideyLandis honing his skills.



Abby's wish to meet Jasmine was very special.



Roller coasters...

...and more roller coasters.

Abby was captivated by the whales at Sea World.



Joy was the definition of every single day.



Abby the Brave. The audience actually applauded
her for getting on this live alligator.


Sami is the very best big sister.



We loved meeting all the Guat-Tots and their families.

Darron and Tracy doubled our dream vacation by
extending it another week at their expense. It' such a
blessing to have such kind and wonderful friends.

~ THE END ~