Saturday, July 19, 2008

4:40 am

Today is the day of the car wash!! I'm looking forward to it - with a BBQ & face painting, it should be fun!! I haven't been sleeping well lately - completely stressed over the upcoming trip. ONLY 3 WEEKS AWAY!! I'm so afraid I'm going to forget something or get there & realize I should've brought something. I've never had anxiety attacks but I really think I've had a couple in the last couple of days!! If anyone has any tips on what to bring - PLEASE let me know. A lot of people who read this blog has already been to China and knows the ins & outs of it so I would appreciate any helpful tips. I purchased a translator to help us in our day to day adventures in China - PLUS hopefully it will help prevent an accidental ingestion of a cat or dog. I've been reading horror stories on what people are accidentally eating over there & it's pretty scary! Brandon on the other hand will be completely fine as long as he has his daily dose of Cinnamon Toast Crunch & fries. He's counting down to August 8th and reminds me every day of how long until we leave (of course I really don't need reminding - I'm aware of it every minute of the day!). I'm really happy that he's excited. We've been searching for a treatment for 7 years and our dream is about to become real. We honestly could not have done it without so many people. This journey has really opened my eyes to the fact there are so many others who need help. We recently met a blind man in Colorado Springs who has been down on his luck. He had a cane that needed to be replaced years ago and was in desperate need of a meal. We took him to a hamburger place & fed him then took him to his apartment. That night we ordered him a replacement cane. We really couldn't afford it but we felt the need to try and help him like people has helped us. I'm sure there has been several people who donated to Brandon that really couldn't afford to but felt the need to - just like we did with that man. His new cane arrived in the mail 2 days ago & it really felt good to give it to him. He was absolutely thrilled with it and thanked us repeatedly. I wish him luck in his future endeavours. Since Brandon was diagnosed with ONH, John & I have a new respect for the blind. I don't mean that we didn't have respect for them before but we can now appreciate the difficulties they face with day to day life. That could be why God chose us to have a blind child - maybe we needed to experience this first hand in order to be more understanding and better people. There's a reason we were given Brandon & I don't really care what the reason is - we love him so much & could never imagine life without him...

Monday, July 14, 2008

10:14 PM

The car wash will be this Saturday July 19th from 7:30 am to 6 pm at the Hub Car Wash & Diner at 4460 Forest Hill Rd (next to Garden of the Gods & Centennial). We will have Brandon there for most of the day. The car wash will be donating part of the sales to Brandon and will also be taking donations for him. There will be a BBQ, face painting & a chip repairman who are also donating a portion of the sales to Brandon. We also have several "Donation Prizes" valued at nearly $1,000.00!! Come on down & enjoy the day with us!! Channel 13 news was contacted by a company who would like to do a concert benefit for Brandon on July 26th. The singers are local talents and from what I've been told are well worth the time to go listen to them. They are working on an exact location and time so I'll let everyone know when I find out. We are turning in our Visa applications tomorrow - the very last application/form/paperwork that we have to do before we leave (I think!!). Brandon is so excited that the trip is only a few weeks away. He keeps asking what he'll be able to bring. Brandon has never played with traditional toys and has opted for electrical appliances. He likes to hear the blender, can opener and is sad that he will be unable to bring the vacuum or carpet shampooer to China with us. I told him that they are too big & the pilot of the plane won't let us take them. I couldn't imagine taking a vacuum to China for Brandon to play with! I really hope that after the treatment Brandon will start to enjoy normal toys. He really hasn't had a "childhood" to speak of. He has grown up not playing with toys or playing with other children. He has Courtney & Nick to play with but he doesn't like to. That has been the worst part of Brandon's condition. He is more like an adult than a child and he has missed out on so much growing up. If he can only gain one thing - I hope it would be for him to enjoy playing like other kids his age. He would be so much happier and I think he would enjoy life more. In just a few short weeks, his life will hopefully change for the better & I can hardly wait!!