MLH Make a Wish

MLH (Mended Little Hearts) is a wonderful support group for families with children who have CHD.  They have been a fantastic source of strength and comfort for us through out our journey with Rowan and provided a place where we felt “normal” and understood.

A few weeks ago, the monthly meeting was fantastic.  We met with people from the Make A Wish Foundation to talk about supporting wishes and getting wishes granted for CHD kids.  Make A Wish grants wishes to children 2.5 years to 18 years of age.  So, of course Rowan isn’t old enough for one. 

So the ladies from our Tulsa chapter decided to grant a wish for Rowan on their own.  They called and asked me what we wanted to do.

At first we really struggled to come up with anything.  Rowan sleeps so much that trying to plan something to “do” wasn’t a good idea.  So I thought back to that meeting.

Make a Wish grants 4 types of wishes:

I wish to be…

I wish to go…

I wish to meet…

I wish to have…

And I realized that what I wanted to have was something concrete to remind Evelyn that she and Rowan liked each other and did things together.

And suddenly, I had an idea! My sister-in-law had thrown a Piggies and Paws party a few years ago when I was a first year teacher and we were WAY too poor to do anything like that.  What Piggies and Paws does is take hand/footprints and turn them into art! 

I thought it would be incredible if we could get artwork made out of Rowan and Evelyn’s prints and then take pictures of them doing it together.  This way we could show Evelyn pictures of them doing it together and then always have the art to hang in our house.

I texted the MLH chapter leader and told her my idea, promising to think of a back up just in case…

and she responded with “No need! We have someone that can come tonight or tomorrow!” Raylea, an artist in Tulsa, heard our story and their request and came out the same day to make our wish for Rowan and Evelyn come true.

To say I was humbled and touched is to scratch the surface.  Here are pictures of us doing prints.  We decided to do a fairy tale theme:

Rowan’s hand turned into a knight

Evelyn’s foot turned into a dragon (she picked it)

My hand turned into a forest

Doc’s hand turned into a castle

And then we also did handprints of Doc and Rowan overlapping and a foot print of Rowan’s to turn into a plane.

We are so happy to have these special moments together and to have these beautiful pieces that will hang in our home.  The finished products will arrive in a few weeks and will serve as a fantastic reminder of the beautiful days we are sharing with Rowan.  Thank you to MLH, and to Amy for the pictures! (And for being there along with Meredith to share the evening with us)

Amy does photographs for families with children who have special needs.  You can view her photography at: HM Photography by Amy Schroeder