A Very Special Case.

Guys....are you ready for it?! Each year Case for Case's birthday (December 21at) and Christmas we try to do a great big "give back" project for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. We team with Rooting for Ramsey and have collected everything from toys to ornaments. This year we are collecting non perishable foods for the family pantries! Each unit has a little kitchen with cupped that are often scarce. There is such a need for quick and easy snacks that will fill families up when they are low on time and or money. We will be collecting food from now until December 21st! We will be providing a list of food, an address to send the food to and flyer to share with your friends and family! Thank you for always supporting Case and for helping us give back to the hospital that gives us continual hope!

Dear Case Daniel McNulty, Today you woke up FOUR! Wow! That's 4 more years than you were promised. Four more years than we were told to expect! Four years full of kisses and chaos! Baby, you have come so far! You have proven so many wrong. You fought for every year! I am SO proud of you! I've watched every tear fall from your eyes and held your tiny hand through every needle, every test, every sonogram, every hospital stay.  Daddy and I can't imagine life without your contagious smile and your energetic hugs. Your life will be different than the other preschoolers. It's full of tubes and pumps, medicine and Dr visits but we know four is full of promises. The promise of strength for the journey. Grace in abundance and the promise from Jesus that he will never leave you or forsake you.  Nobody ever promised it would be easy but I promise you, it's worth it!!! Love, mom.  Birth  First birthday  Second birthday  Third birth...

Case is our fourth child. He has 3 sisters. At 22 weeks pregnant I had a routine ultrasound. The tech seemed calm, ordinary. She said we were having another girl. We named her Parker. "She" was healthy. Typical. Fine. A week or two after that "normal" ultrasound we got a call. There was a spot on our "baby girl's" heart and one on "her" kidney. Not a big deal. At about 25 weeks of Pregnancy, We had a second level sonogram about an hour away from our home.  I was told our baby would be different. Very different. It's limbs were way behind in growth. It had heart problems, kidney problems, and was small. Very small. The doctor strongly suspected Down syndrome or Trisomy. He did an amnio. I cried. He told me this was not my fault. I was doing everything I could. The baby was just made different. Two and a half weeks later, I got a call. I was there, in that hotel. On a mini "getaway" with the family. The doctor called an...

"You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of dust. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of us. You make me new. You are making me new." Case is a beautiful thing. Through him we are becoming "new". A new mom and dad doing things and going places we never thought we would. During the nightmare that was my pregnancy with Case one of the million OBs I'd see used to say his "computer programming is messed up. When your baby's computer program was put together it was put together wrong." Yesterday at the Genetics appointment they talked of how baffled they are by Case. "We've just never had a case quite like his. We know there is a reason behind all of his differences/issues we just don't know what.  We are at a point where we've tested most everything we think it could be." We spent hours with the Geneticist, Genetic councilor and a student studying Genetics (they brought her in because "C...

Dear Case,   I don't care if you're never tall. It doesn't  matter to me if the world calls you abnormal. You don't need to follow a text book. I don't care if you're always hard work. I will grow weary taking care of you if I need to because you were made exactly the way you are meant to be  and I love that about you. I love that you are happy in your own skin. Don't ever forget about your inner strength, you're undying peace or your faultless Maker. Don't let anyone tell you you are less then perfect. Don't back down. Don't give up. Don't ever stop loving and don't ever start caring about what people think. You are perfect to me. Love, Mom

Tonight while I was rocking sweet Case I was thinking about his feeding issues. He maybe takes a few bites and and ounce on a really good day and by day, I mean 24 hours. I was really wanting him to eat again. While I am thankful for the tube, I desire a bit of normalcy when it comes to food. As I rocked Case I spoke to him, to his belly specifically and told it to empty, to grow, to be hungry again. Sounds little silly, I know but when I was pregnant, I would put my hand on my belly and speak healing to every part of Case's body. It worked for his heart and maybe for some other issues. I would end those prayers something like this, "Jesus, these are the desires of my heart but above all I desire your will to be done." That was a scary prayer to pray. I gave this baby to Jesus. I find myself  (sometimes daily) giving Case to Jesus. Every time I worry, every time I fear, I take him back. Then out of my peace-less-ness, I realize I need to give him back.;) Tonight while I ...