Dorian: Our Newest Angel

We are thankful we were able to enjoy and love Dori for 10 incredible years.  Never in a million years when we were given the terminal diagnoses of Mucolipidosis II as newborns did we know how much Dorian and Wynn would enrich our lives, fortify our family and multiply our faith in the Lord and in one another.

Little stinker never did anything he was supposed to do.  He was joyfully as stubborn and feisty as anyone we've ever known.  He was supposed to have a life expectancy of 3-7 years; he was a warrior for 10. He was supposed to be developmentally delayed, he turned into a musical connoisseur (he would raise his eyes and look up towards the right, intently study a new song and would nail the rhythm and chorus of a song after hearing it just once).  He was supposed to have a bad heart;  his big heart gave love and received love in the most fierce way he could.  He was supposed to not be able to walk or crawl; in his healthier days he would zoom past us rolling laps around the house and around his brothers like an escaped rolling pin powered by a motor.  He wasn't supposed to grow bigger than the size of a 18 month old baby; he was a giant firecracker with a sharp sense of humor who thrived on making people laugh.  He couldn't do much of what "normal" kids could do, but he found his own majestic ways to do everything he wanted to do.

The day Wynnie passed away, I woke up with a gut feeling knowing that it would be his last day.  I spent the entire day holding him and telling him it was ok for him to rest and go to heaven.  I wanted to prepare him so I kept showing him pictures of my parents, pictures of Jesus and pictures of all of us so that he'd know to watch over us when he made it to heaven.  Chris and I stuck by his side until he took his final breath, and it was a peaceful passing in our home surrounded by our hospice nurse, the night nurse, and Miss Marcia holding Dori all in the same room. From that day forward if you'd ask Dori where Wynnie was he'd say joyfully "HEAVEN!"

But on Dori's last day (this past Monday 1/14), I didn't see it coming.  He had been under hospice care in our home for the past 3 years so we knew he wasn't "great" and his ability to breath had become more and more labored since November.  In early November we didn't think he'd make it to Thanksgiving.  But in typically Dori fashion he bucked our expectations and celebrated Thanksgiving with us.  By mid December his health had deteriorated to the point where we didn't think he made it to Christmas.  Of course we thought wrong.  Big guy spent countless hours listening to Christmas music all the way through the holidays.  January rolled around and both Chris and I had scheduled our business trips months ahead of time because sadly we thought he wouldn't had made it to the new year.

Chris packed for two back-to-back conferences in Las Vegas Monday morning and went twice into Dori's room to give him lots of kisses and tell him goodbye for the week.  I had been holding Dori for a few hours while his nurse Lindsay assisted me in the background when I received a surprise text from Miss Viktoria (our beloved au pair from 2010-2013) that she wanted to swing by the house and see Dori.  Within minutes she was holding him and talking to him and updating me on all the new adventures of her life.  While she was holding him Dori was sleeping and calm.  Since he was always connected to two breathing machines and the pulse oximeter he was surrounded by cords and tubing while she rocked him as he slept.  His pulse ox machine began to alarm "no sensor" which happened often if his pulse ox probe was old, so I asked Lindsay to get him a new one.  We kept switching his probes from one finger to another, from one toe to another and still the machine read "no sensor".  At that point Lindsay took her stethoscope to listen to his chest but with all the machines humming loudly she said she couldn't hear anything.  I turned off one of his oxygen concentrators and placed him on an actual oxygen tank to make it a bit more quiet in the room to allow her to hear better. When she looked up calmly and told me "I still can't hear anything" I placed the palm of my hand on Dori's chest and I felt nothing.  Normally his strained heart would beat hard as if he had just ran a lap around the track.  Nothing.  Normally with his two breathing machines helping him to you could feel his chest going up and down.  Nothing.  I took Dori out of Viktoria's arms and held and kissed him completely shocked of what had just happened.

As I held him Viktoria consoled me and all three of us were crying while Lindsay called Hospice to come over to the house.  I kept trying to get a hold of Chris but his flight had already left and he was somewhere in the air between Dallas and Las Vegas.  I'm so thankful I wasn't home by myself, Viktoria and Lindsay kept me company while we all gave him kisses and told him how much we loved him.  We had Marcia come over so she could help me get him ready to be taken away and I was finally able to hear from Chris once he landed.  I felt so terrible that I had to break the  news to him over the phone and I could hear the pain in his voice.  Thankfully he was able to hop on a plane within minutes to come straight back home and my next concern was Ben and Alex.  It was about an hour until I was supposed to pick them up from school so Viktoria immediately volunteered to pick them up and bring them home.  At that point we informed all of Dori's nurses so if they wanted to come over and say goodbye to him they could.  Mo and Kathy came over and all three of them bathed Dori and prepared him before the boys came home.
The funeral home people came about 15-20 minutes before the boys came home from school, thankfully their transport vehicle parked in front of our home was an unmarked black suburban, not a hearse nor did it have any funeral home logos or signage on it.
As the boys were getting out of the car with Miss Viktoria they were all smiles and laughing saying "We don't remember Miss Viktoria being so short!"  When they came into the house I said "hey follow me into my room I need to tell you something."
"Are we in trouble?" asked Ben.
"No your totally NOT in trouble," I couldn't help but chuckle to think that's where his mind went.
As they walked through the French doors of the study towards the master bedroom Alex asked "Who are those people in the bar?"
I said, "that's what I'm going to talk to you about."
Last time when Wynnie died Chris woke them up and told them after the funeral home had come to pick Wynnie up, but this time since Dori was still home I had Marcia hold him and wrap him in some of his favorite Husker blankets that Aunt Verna from Nebraska had made them many years earlier.  We dressed him in his sassy red and blue striped pants and his "Boss" shirt.  He always loved his nurses to ask him "Are you the boss?" and he would proudly assert his authority and say yes.  There wasn't a shirt that could personify his wit and his strength more than this one.

I told them boys we we had lots of tears and lots of hugs. After the boys and I regained our composure I offered them the option to say goodbye to Dori if they wanted to see him. I said "you don't have to if it makes you feel uncomfortable" but they both said they wanted to see him and give their final goodbyes.  So they went into Dori's room to see him and hug him and give him a kiss on the forehead, and I was really proud of them because I could feel their love and their grief as they walked out of him room.  

Why do I share all these details?  I want Ben and Alex to remember this day, I want them to remember how much Dori loved them and how much he was loved by all.  And honestly I don't want people to ask me "how did he die?  how did it happen?" because it would be like a scab picked over and over again not allowed to heal.  

We are so proud of the brave young man Dorian proved to be.  We are proud of how hard he fought to live alongside us and love us.  We are proud of how many people's lives he touched and made better by his presence.  We are proud at how he made us better parents, better brothers, better nurses, better teachers and better friends. We are proud that he is finally free, finally able to break through all the restraints he had on this earth and finally in the loving arms of the Lord our God.  But we are most proud that he is finally reunited with his twin brother and partner in crime Wynnie.  He is finally seeing things that our eyes have never seen, he's hearing music so lovely our ears have never heard, and he is surrounded in love and warmth we have never felt until we are fortunate enough to be reunited with him again. 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, we feel your love and support for our family.  This new normal will take a while to get accustomed to over the next few months.  The house is awfully quiet... for the past 10 years we've had two babies, lots of loud life support machines (our house is like a miniature hospital), a revolving door of caring nurses and teachers, and the constant bustle of friends and family.  We wouldn't have had it any other way. 

In lieu of flowers or meals we request that you please help us with Dorian's Make-A-Wish North Texas legacy.  As a Wish Kid three years ago when our specialists told us he had merely months (if not weeks) left to live, Dori was rushed a Wish to meet his favorite singer Ne-Yo.  For someone that only had weeks to live, he turned the corner and lived for three more years and it was such a beautiful gift to our family. We want other families to feel that love and support from their community, and to give other Wish Kids the blessed hope and joy that a Wish brings.  You can click here to help Dori grant Wishes for his friends. 

Here is his obituary, and we'll be celebrating his memorial Mass tomorrow (Saturday 1/19) at noon at St. Rita.  Details are in the obituary. 

Thank you all for your love and support.



Make-A-Wish North Texas Legacy Page
 https://secure2.wish.org/site/TR/WishYourWay/Make-A-WishNorthTexas?px=3569499&pg=personal&fr_id=3128&fbclid=IwAR10fsq2Ixk_lyoqKR0iaZL1dX1RAuASG349CtSJcGUF-DwAioCme_MmeF4#.XD9_pVxKiUn
Obituary
https://www.turrentinejacksonmorrow.com/obituaries/dorian-allen-johnson

Freshman Year ... Class of 2022 and Dorian's Journey

1st Day of Jesuit College Prep High School!!!  Johnson Duo, Class of '22

Dori is a big time 4th grader and was delighted to get back to his mornings with his teacher Miss Carolyn!  He had been talking about her and asking for her all summer so he is a real academic winner (like his shirt says). 

Alex tried something completely new... he joined Crew.  He rowed rowed rowed his heart out from August until just last week.  He'd never set foot in this sport before and he took a chance going all in.  The first few weeks of his season were marked with triple digit practices at the lake, muscle soreness, lots of running and bloody palms from calluses earned from all that rowing.  First semester regattas took him to Oklahoma City and Chattanooga.  He really enjoyed it and made a good group of friends through the process.  Since it's an intense year round sport (including spring break and summer practices) he decided to focus on something else that wouldn't consume so much of his time.  He quit last week (I hate the word "quit" but that's basically what he did with our permission) and is now a free agent back in the sport market (ha ha).  Currently he's giving soccer a try so we'll see how that goes. 

Here is Alex at the top left of the photo. I had visions of Harvard as soon as he joined Crew but I have to remind myself it's not about me.  But seriously, how cool is crew!? I even bought a cowbell for the regattas so now it's time to repurpose the cowbell and refocus on what other interests he has that doesn't involve video games. 

The boys have truly fallen in love with their school.  The rigorous academics have been an adjustment but everyone tells us not to worry because once they graduate from Jesuit, college should be a breeze.  Here's hoping! 

Two nights ago Ben started on the Freshman Gold team for basketball.  For the longest time we didn't know if he "made" the team since it's an ongoing try-out process up until the first game. He and his teammates were nervous but they managed to beat their opponent over 20 points so they all walked off that basketball court with big smiles.  Alex had a great time in the student section cheering everyone on.  

Dori entered the threshold of DOUBLE DIGITS for his birthday this year!  He was 10 on 10/27!  Since he LOVES music we made his cake reflect his love for jamming out.  On the top handle of his boombox we placed a small "W" with wings on it to honor Wynnie who celebrated from above.  It's been four years since Wynnie passed away but we always keep him in all our hearts and celebrations. 

For the past two months, Dori's health has been increasingly deteriorating.  It's a familiar decline that is reminiscent of Wynnie's final few months.  Dori requires more help to breath.  His body gets worn out very easily.  He's not able to stay out of his bed and hang out with us like he used to.  He used to be able to be with us on just his nasal canula air (tube in his nose) for 2-4 hours at a time.  In the past month he's dwindled down to being able to hang out for 20-30 minutes, to where now he's able to only eat and quickly take his medications for 1-2 minutes at a time max.  It's a huge difference and we see and feel him struggling, but he is still Dori.  He still asks for ravioli at all hours (honestly he has no business eating ravioli but we indulge him as much as we can).  He still hollers out requests for his favorite songs, and even though he asks for "snuggle time" he'll still get mad at you if you touch him too much.  With a single swipe of his hand his body language screams "Hands off woman!".  

We've been increasingly trying to prepare Ben and Alex that our time left with Dorian is very short and will soon be coming to an end.  We don't know how much longer we'll have him to love on him and be his personal DJ's so we're just focusing on surrounding him with as much love as possible. He still calls out for Ben and Alex -- I don't know if he does that because he is nosey and wants to see what they are up to, or if he thinks he's helping me call them down from upstairs.  He's always been a great helper in that regard. 

We haven't gone around making grandiose sad announcements because that's not us. All we want is your prayers and friendship. Dori has blessed us for years beyond what we had ever anticipated (suck it "3-7 year i-cell disease life expectancy") so we are so proud of him!! His stubborn will and his heart of gold have carried him through. Our hearts are full of so much love and admiration for him and for all his care-takers that help us care for him while we're running the boys around all their school and athletic activities.   We're beyond blessed to have such a wonderful supporting cast of friends, neighbors, family and medical professionals that have made this journey as positive as could be.  

Dori received the Holy Sacrament (The Anointing of the Sick) by Father Matthew from St. Rita last week.  Father's real name is a beautiful Polish name for Matthew but I don't know how to pronounce it nor how to spell it.  He was very kind and Dori received him very nicely (he usually does NOT like new people).  We didn't know if Dori would get upset and thankfully he did not; instead he listened attentively during the prayers offered for him and the blessing given to him and kept saying "HI!" to Father Matthew.  It was so cute.

This is a familiar path that we are heading towards and I'm just fortunate to have Chris as my rock during this, to have my goofy teenagers to serve as playful distractions, and to have a fully stocked adult beverage area in my home to get through this all.  Oh... and when things get real uncomfortable I also resort to the comfort of bad jokes and inappropriate comparisons which many have come to mind during the composition of this post but I have restrained myself numerous times so yay me.  

Holy Smokes!

Wow... I'm the proud self designated winner of the "mom who didn't update the blog award."  It's been a fun, stressful, fruitful, enjoyable year of milestones, birthdays, anniversaries, new jobs and fun family vacations!
This year our handsome and witty Dorian turned NINE years old.  For a little guy that was originally given a 3-7 year survivability prognosis, he has happily punched all those life span projections square in the face.  As an homage Wynn, we named the jersey on the birthday cake as a little heavenly shoutout to Wynnie.  Dorian had a great school year with his home-bound teacher Miss Carolyn.  He really listens to her and has flourished under her tutelage.  Anyone else just wouldn't be able to handle all his little quirks and demands; she's gone above and beyond to connect and motivate him to learn each and every time she visits.   We are so blessed she was assigned to Dori and we pray that never changes.

Dori's birthday party was sports themed. 

Dori loves to make supermodel faces with papi. 

Hands down, the best halloween costume I've ever made for myself, in honor of the BEST DANG SYRUP IN THE WORLD. Chris was my counterpart with a t-shirt covered in hot-glued waffles. By the end of the night he didn't have any waffles left on his shirt but it was for a good cause.  So happy to have once again teamed up with our fun friends and neighbors to raise money for Make-A-Wish North Texas!   #TeamButterWorths #Don'tEvenMessWithAuntJemima 

Business trip was parlayed into a family trip to watch the Huskers play against the Purdue Boilermakers.  I don't even remember if we won or not, all I remember is the huge Purdue drum and the runners that played it.  In related news -- Chris is OVERJOYED and OUT OF A STATE OF MAJOR DEPRESSION ever since Scott Frost was named the new head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  The motto around here is if Scott Frost and Jesus both walked into a room in Nebraska, people would push poor Jesus aside to talk to Scott Frost.  Sacrilegious?  Yes.  True?  Sadly yes. So hopefully this football season I'll have a much more cheerful spouse opposed to the last 10 seasons. Here's hoping! 

In other Chris big-daddy-Johnson news, Chris accepted a position at 1st Global this summer.  He is back into the world of wealth management with a new twist -- geared at CPA firms.  He's been at his new position for nearly a couple of months and has enjoyed meeting his new colleagues and learning from them.  Way to go Papi!  

Every year we make it to one Husker home game and this year was no exception.  Here we are with our favorite crew - the Bargens, the Fitzgeralds, The Allens, and The Amens.  We went back again this spring for Chris's 30th High School reunion, too. 

Dori always the suave mama's boy.  This past year Dorian's health has remained steady (thankful he hasn't needed any hospitalizations or ER visits).  But as he's gotten older this year his mood definitely fluctuates.  Some days he wants to have fun and hang out with all of us in the family room area, listen to the boys holler and mess around and listen to music with us.  Other days he prefers to keep to himself in his room and listen to music without distractions with just his nurse.  I can't blame him because honestly I'm the same way.  Our sweet boy just needs a little space and now he knows how to command it.  Good for you Dori!  

Blessed to have visited Nana Cary with my sister this January in Sarasota. Cary was my mom's best friend and she still plays a big role in our lives.  We are so thankful for her granddaughter Kristy who takes such wonderful loving care of her.  Cary is feisty as ever and always full of life advice -- marriage advice, friendship advice, parenting advice and (dare I say) she doesn't hold out on giving us sex advice.  Awkward coming from someone in her mid 90s?  Yes.  Absolutely Hilarious?  Heck yes! 

While in Florida we were able to meet up with our prima Amelia that came to Florida to run the Miami marathon all the way from Colombia.  We had a blast spending time with her  and her son Sebastian (who thought we were all clinically insane) and reconnecting with our cousin Gigi and her family, our tia Silvia (whom my sister was named after and is Gigi's mom) and our cousin Elizabeth that joined from San Antonio.    

Spring break was a blast as we spent time in Durango then Telluride with our friends the Mazur family. During this spring break we received the exciting news that Ben and Alex were both admitted to Jesuit College Preparatory High School.  We were sweating major bullets, and were excited when the acceptance emails were received.  The boys worked really hard on their grades, application essays and entrance exams to be accepted -- so happy tears were shed with relief that it all payed off this school year. Ben kept asking "can you double check and make sure it's not a mistake?"  

A huge thank you to our dear friend "Mr. Bryan" for being Ben and Alex's sponsor for their confirmation within the Catholic Church.  Ben and Alex spent many weeks going to confirmation classes and retreats and I had a great time being one of the group leaders and getting to know their classmates better.  Mr. Bryan has agreed to be their forever morality and decision making guru from here on out so we're excited to have the load taken off our shoulders (ha ha ha!).  

If I could have been a little fly on their shoulders, Chris and I would have gotten a kick hearing this conversation between the boys and the Bishop.  They were so nervous--- hence Ben chewing his fingers mid conversation. 

8th grade Graduation!!!  This school year was packed with all kinds of memorable events at St. Rita honoring the 8th graders.  Both boys enjoyed playing basketball for the Spartans, Alex played football in the fall, both boys helped with backstage production of the school play "Annie", and they attended all the Junior Assembly (JA) dances throughout the year getting to know other 8th graders attending the Dallas Diocese schools.  They had a beautiful 8th grade graduation ceremony at the church and many festivities throughout the spring to commemorate their big next steps into high school.  I was a hot crying mess at all these events so I can't imagine how I'll be once they graduate from high school. 

Once summer kicked into gear, we celebrated by taking a family vacation to Aruba.  What gorgeous white sand beaches, friendly locals and fun tourists that we met that go year after year.  Surprisingly, we also met a lot of Colombians that live on the Island. Here the fellas are posing on the Jolly Pirate snorkeling booze cruise we took.  Chris and I still can't get over the fact that the boys swim like fish -- they definitely did NOT get that from us.  It must skip a generation or two since Chris and I both sink straight to the bottom. 

This year has been the year of sprouting growth.  Both boys tower over me, but Alex is very close to surpassing Chris (who happens to be 6"4').  Dori and I are officially the shorties and we're okay with that. 

Last week we visited my bff's at the lake of the Ozarks with all the boys in the 3 families.  Dori was there in spirit. These kids have grown accustomed to this annual "mommy and kids" trip and since the youngest one (Leah) didn't make it this year, we bumped up the adult factor by letting them watch scary movies.  Cliff diving, fishing, tubing, tread water tests and card games filled our week with fun and laugher. 

We had a mini family reunion over Labor Day.  It was so much fun we decided to get organized and have a big family reunion this past 20th of July.  This date is very important for Colombians since it's the Colombian Independence Day from Spanish rule.  So here we are with our matching shirts -- family came in from San Antonio, San Francisco, Kansas, East Texas, and Wichita Falls (Texas).  We video conferenced in some of our aunts/uncles and cousins in Colombia as well.  Next year we plan to have it in Florida.  Note the cute little baby on the far right -- he's the newest member of the family.  His name is Bear and when Dori met him he told him "hey big guy".  My heart melted.  My sister has turned out to be a cool grandma so I enjoy watching her with lil Bear, her grandson.  Chris made up a new game called "Biscut" that all the men played, the kids enjoyed playing in the pool, and we ate enough empanadas and tamales to hold us over until the next loud fun gathering.  

Back to School Fun

Dancing and wiggling before his teacher came to the house! 

Dori is going for an edgier look this year, thus the rocker t-shirt and the spiked hair.  

Can't believe 8th grade is here! Thanks to grandma Gerry for sponsoring their uniforms this school year :) 

It's been a fun and busy August for the Johnson boys.   We enjoyed quality time in the Ozarks with all our besties.  Ben and Alex went cliff diving and did all kinds of insane adventurous stuff.  Then as soon we returned we went straight into "back to school" mode.   

Chris went to Nebraska for the big fight with all his buddies.  He stayed an extra day to watch the eclipse since he was in the path of totality.  He said it was beyond breathtaking.  Looking forward to 2024 when Texas will be in the direct path for the eclipse.  Time to start party planning for that!  

Today Dori started the 3rd grade!!!  Two weeks ago Ben and Alex started the 8th grade!!  All three boys have a great things coming ahead for them this fall.  

Dori will be preparing all year to take the STARR Test for the first time (gulp!).  He'll have a modified version to perform with the assistance of his homebound teacher and his speech therapist from the district.  Thankfully they'll be able to work with him because if not he would be responding "Ravioli!" and "Night Night!" to all the questions. :)  He'll be learning all kinds of neat things in Science, Math and English/Reading.  Last year he had a blast with all the books and stories Miss Carolyn would share with him -- anything that rhymes is awesome for him.  Math will be tactile.  Since he doesn't respond as much to visual cues (like flash cards or pictures) she realized that if he didn't want to verbally respond he would answer simple counting and math questions by tapping the answer with his hand to her (tapping 3 times to signify the number 3 for example).  He'll also learn how to be more compliant at accepting "No" as an answer (which honestly nobody on the planet ever tells him "no"), and switching from task to task while remaining calm (instead of screaming because he doesn't want to switch to another activity that he doesn't deem as fun).  So wish Dori luck as he learns "Big Boy" stuff this year!  We still look at him in awe ... thinking that originally his life expectancy would be around 3-6 years; and here we are roughly a month away from his 9th birthday. Yay Dori! 

Ben and Alex have a super exciting year ahead.  They will be preparing and going through Confirmation (lots of prep classes, faith formation activities and lots of community service).  They also will be applying for high school.  It's a big process -- they will be preparing for a comprehensive entrance exam (it's like an SAT/ ACT test required to get into any of the parochial high schools in Dallas), preparing a resume of their accomplishments/ activities,  they need to get letters of recommendations from teachers and other adults, taking high school campus tours to narrow down their choice, and going through individual interviews with their top high school and a family interview with the admission committees.  In the meantime I'll be panicking the entire time and doing lots of screaming throughout the process.  At least that'll give us a little preparation into the college admission process and hopefully I won't be as freaked out about that at that point.  Chris is cool as a cucumber so he'll keep us all from feeling overwhelmed during this exciting time.  They'll find out by spring break which school(s) they were admitted to so we can't wait!  

Ben is playing on two different select basketball teams and Alex is playing football for St. Rita.  Ben has always been an eager athlete, but something must have happened over the summer because Alex is in beast mode about football.  He loves talking about it and loves making things happen.  They've had plenty of practices and one scrimmage at this point so we'll be ready to cheer him on once the season officially gets started.  Go Spartans!

Saturday mornings will be SO MUCH SWEETER now that College Game Day will be airing again on ESPN.  Pretty much nobody except for Chris knows my obsession with College Game Day.  Chris says I like it more than he does, and that says a lot since he is a college football fanatic.  So please don't call or text me during the College Game Day show because I'll either be laughing at the signs in the crowd, crying at one of the tear-jerker stories, or just attentively watching while drinking my coffee.  You have no idea how excited I am! 

We continue to pray for all our friends and fellow Texans going through the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.  In just one month we've seen the WORST of American culture (Charlottesville) and the BEST of American culture (Houston).  Although the devastation is enormous and the recovery will be arduous, it has given us a glimpse once again on how wonderful of a nation we can be when people forget about all the political ideologies and prejudices that divide us and instead choose to focus on our common humanity that unites us.   No president, no governmental agency, no celebrity can unite us; only WE as individuals can unite us.  It's been a blessing to witness from afar here in Dallas.  

No matter where you live, you can directly help those in need.  If you shop on Amazon, area organizations helping have posted registries of items they need.  Simply click, order and their desperately needed items go directly to the organizations on the ground helping now. 

Amazon.com has become a big way people are offering specific help and sending items directly to organizations helping Hurricane Harvey victims. Here is a list of Amazon Wish List links to donate! 

American Red Cross Wish List:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3S2C81IC67YC1…

Texas Diaper Bank Wish List:
https://smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2GACHT2Y0BS9B…

SPCA of Texas Wish List:
https://www.amazon.com/…/regi…/wishlist/ref=cm_wl_search_24…

Junior League of New Orleans Wish List:
https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_v&tag=hurricane…

Austin Pets Alive! Wish List:
https://www.amazon.com/…/wishl…/3ANOWTR7Y70UO/ref=cm_sw_su_w

Austin Humane Society Wish List:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/OZGD9S34VITI…

Hellooooo Summaaaaah!

Today is the official first day of summer for Ben and Alex, and today was also Dori's last day of 2nd grade.  Dorian had a blessed year with his teacher Miss Carolyn who always knew how to bring out the best of him through music, laughter and lots of love.  Here's a little video of Dorian listening to his new favorite book today during his last class.   https://youtu.be/reAsyaicarY

So long 2nd grade! This handsome fella is getting ready for a fun summer and with lots of honeys! 

Ben and Alex said "Adios" to the 7th grade and had a blast going swimming with their friends after school yesterday at the country club alot of the Spartan families belong to.  A big special thank you to the Riley family -- Matt and Katie were always so kind in letting the boys walk to their home after every day after school until Chris or I picked them up.  We're confident that the boys probably ate 3 tons worth of food and drank 30 gallons worth of juice boxes, sodas and water bottles from their fridge after school so thank you Rileys for being so awesome with our boys and being such an exemplary St Rita family!

Congrats on 7th Grade Baseball Dallas Parochial League Champions St. Rita Spartans! The kids had a solid squad this year and it was a lot of fun to see them win the championship game on their last week of school.  Ben's select basketball team (the Wolf Pack) also won their league last week so we've been enjoying lots of celebrating these past couple of weeks.  

Since the last time I posted in February we bought a new vizsla puppy (Gracie).  She is such a sweet heart!  Luna didn't want anything to do with her, but she has slowly grown on her.  She has been a wonderful addition to the family!  

In other late breaking news, I accidentally ran over Gracie last week.  Yikes!!  Miraculously she'll be back to normal in 8 weeks with the help of lots of love, reconstructive jaw surgery and a small fortune.  She is ready to get back in action and play even though she gets sedatives twice a day to avoid messing with her wounds or moving her jaw too much.  She has more energy on sedatives than most normal people have after 3 red bulls.  Luna is keeping her distance from Gracie during the meantime.  Poor Gracie!  

Our two champs -- Ben for the DPL Baseball championship and Alex for participating in a special performance with the choir at school for their principal who retired this week.  We are so proud of them, they had a fantastic year. 

Thanks to the Mazurs for going with us to the 2017 Wish Night at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas earlier this month.  We had a great time and it was fun getting all dressed up for a great cause.  If you see me posting a lot more about Make-A-Wish these past few months is because I'm now officially on the regional council for Make-A-Wish North Texas.  It's a lot of fun meeting other Wish families, being a part of Wish reveals, and raising awareness and funds for amazing families across North Texas. 

This past week Chris and I celebrated 19 years of marriage.  Time certainly has flown by quickly these past 19 years and we look forward to many more years to come.  

Happy start to 2017!

Christmas and the new year came and went in a flash and I can't believe it's already mid February.  In fact today happens to be my mom's birthday.  She would have been a youthful 79 years old today. Ben and Alex also are still floating around in their post birthday celebrations -- they are now officially TEENAGERS!  We had a great time spending Thanksgiving week in NYC... we had a blast attend the parade and visiting all the sites.  Both boys are playing basketball for St Rita... Ben is on the A team and Alex was happy to make the B team (there's 4 7th grade teams so he truly was happy to make the B team!).

 Ben is #24 on his select team The Wolf Pack

Here's a picture of the B&A (lower right corner) during their last day of school at the Christmas party.

Here is the B-Team St Rita Power House 

Dorian has continued to be awesomely defy the odds and spends his day singing, demanding to be rocked by his nurses, and making us laugh.  He loves Luna and calls out for her when he hasn't seen her around, and his favorite part of the day is when Chris comes home from work.  He helps me yell for Ben and Alex and is always Mr Nosey Rosey when the boys are working on homework in the kitchen.  We didn't have a night nurse last night so we stayed up late playing; here he is wishing you all a happy Valentines Day.  Don't let his cuteness fool you.  He is such a funny stinker. He ate a lot of  beans yesterday and his breath was stinky.  Marcia kept telling him jokingly "Dori your breath stinks!" and he would respond by puckering up his lips and blowing into her face each time she would say it.  Niiiiiice.    

  

Central Park NYC over Thanksgiving 

Gangster Dori 

Here is a picture of Cary -- my mom's best friend who I was able to visit 2 weeks ago in Florida before my annual girls trip to Marco.  Cary will be 96 YEARS OLD at the end of this month and she still takes the time to lecture me on how to be more romantic with Chris. She is the original Love Doctor.  She has always been such a blessing to my sister and I... we love her dearly!  She and my mom were always Lucy and Ethel (my mom was the crazy fun Lucy and Cary was the level headed partner in crime Ethel).  

Please join me in praying for our extended i-cell family around the world.  Since December many little i-cell earth angels have bravely earned their wings. Cold and flu season is always hard on our warrior babies and this season has been particularly hard on many.  We pray for their families to find strength and comfort in the memories of their dear children.  

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the month and hoping your new year is off to a wonderful start!