Songs of Love Foundation

The Songs of Love Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing personalized songs for children and teens currently facing tough medical, physical or emotional challenges, free of charge.

We received the info for this organization in a packet of goodies from GKTW. 

We received her song today and I was verklempt the second I saw it in the mail box! :) When submitting for her song, I had to fill out stuff about Annie. I mentioned Dumbo, Disney, Jersey, etc. I also mentioned that she was adopted and incorporating "chosen" may be nice. Also the mermaid quote, "You don't have to walk to be beautiful, just ask the mermaids," would be nice. I was fully aware that they were writing a song so even though I had pretty explicit requests, I tried to make it clear that we would love whatever they came up with. :)

Y'all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Of course Annie does too! Just check out her song and her reaction:

You can download the song if you would like- just let me know and I will get you the info. :)


Lyrics:

She loves dancing and carousels
and she loves elephants
especially her stuffed one named Dumbo
Wheeling around the mall
or swimming in the pool
She loves going to Disney
and she misses snow.

Ann Marie Paulie Keierleber
You can call her Annie too
and just ask the mermaids
You don't have to walk to be beautiful

She loves her mommy and her daddy
and her dog Jersey
They all love their chosen child
Catching and playing with frogs
is so much fun
I just hope this song brings to her face
a great big smile

Ann Marie Paulie Keierleber
You can call her Annie too
and just ask the mermaids
You don't have to walk to be beautiful

Words, music and vocals by Carl Allocco for Songs of Love Foundation

By the way, while posting this, uploading the video, etc, her song has been on repeat. For the last hour+ all we have listened to is this song. :) 

WISH Trip, Day 1

Annie was born with Spina Bifida. On top of her SB, she has Hydrocephalus and an arachnoid cyst, (among other things). She has 5 life threatening conditions total, that we know of. She has had 5 brain surgeries since we adopted her, 8 total- all before she turned 3. She has been hospitalized more times than I can remember. There will be many surgeries and hospital stays in her future. 

 We chose to go with a Wish with Wings to grant her Disney wish. We considered going with Make A Wish, but I have heard SB families have trouble qualifying. You must have a life threatening condition to qualify, (it doesn't have to be terminal), but for some reason some SB families didn't qualify (even though SB is a life threatening condition). 

If you life in Texas or are a patient in Texas and would like a WISH granted, I HIGHLY recommend a Wish with Wings.  With Make a Wish, they meet with you and interview your child, and your child must make their wish. A Wish with Wings was very laid back, but did so much for us. I just can't say enough good about them! (I am not downing MAW, but a Wish with Wings is fantastic.)

On December 6, we left for the airport, in a limo...

 Annie's first limo ride. :)

 Daddy's first limo ride too. :)

 Movie star Annie, and of course, she had to bring her beloved Dumbo along. :) 

 We don't drink, but Daddy thought he would be funny. :) Daddy and Dumbo celebrating. ;)

On our way...

When we got to the airport, Annie was in for quite a surprise! The pilot asked if she would like to fly the airplane! 

 During take off, the captain came over the loud speaker to announce that we had a very special guest on board- ANNIE! He informed everyone that she was on her way to Disney for her WISH trip and that it was almost her birthday. Needless to say, I had to fight back tears!

Half way through the flight, I stood take Annie to the bathroom. As I was about to get her up, another announcement was made. A sweet attendant, Vickie, had everyone close the windows. Then she had everyone press the attendant call button. Everyone sang Annie "Happy Birthday!" Afterwards, she was told to "blow out her candles," and as she blew everyone turned off their call lights and opened the windows! I was a mess! I then returned to my original plan of taking her to the bathroom. We were in the front of the plane, but that bathroom was occupied. We had to trek to the very back. As we walked, Annie waved to everyone and they all wished her happy birthday. I had to fight back tears so hard, y'all. I didn't want to look like a crazy, blubbering fool, but having the whole plane show your child love, well it was just too much!

Another flight attendant handed Annie a gift from a woman on the plane. It was $25 for her birthday. She was a blind woman traveling alone. Needless to say, we were very touched! We weren't even off the plane and we had been blessed multiple times. This trip was going to be good!

No matter what WISH organization you go with, everyone who makes a Disney World wish gets to stay at Give Kids the World. I was told that many families choose to stay home from the parks and spend all day at GKTW, it is THAT awesome. No way! Well, I started looking at pics prior to the trip and they seemed to be right. Once we got there, I knew they were right! You can only stay there as a WISH family, but you can return as a volunteer or an alumnus. We will return as both in the future. :)

 Our villa. It was huge! Instead of a small hotel room, it was the size of a 2 bedroom apartment. The kid's bathroom was huge because it was wheelchair accessible! 

 Because it was December, we had a Christmas tree in our villa. Annie was so excited. Sadly, our volunteer took a blurry pic. I so wish this was clear!! 

 We came in to gifts on our kitchen table, and everyday the "gift fairy" left a gift for Annie. :)

Our first day was already such a blast. We decided to hang out at GKTW. We ate dinner then headed to the La Ti Da Spa. :)

Annie got to get a pillow from the pillow tree:

On top of the La Ti Da Spa, they also had a carousel! Two of Annie's favorite things that she could visit everyday!

We had such an amazing day, and it was only day one! Fellow special needs families, you MUST take a WISH trip! The whole day I reflected on what we had been through and was so thankful to have this time as a family to just have fun! It was such a blessing, and it was only the first day...

Pumpkin Patch 2012

In 2012, we took Annie to an amazing pumpkin patch. Our first time there and her third time in a pumpkin patch. :) Also, this was her third and final time to wear that shirt. :) She also wore it in her first two pumpkin patch shoots. :)

 A few months after Annie came to us, she had two brain surgeries in one week , (this was after her first two brain surgeries when she was a baby). She went on to have three more brain surgeries, all before her 3 birthday. Her last brain surgery was September 2012, and these pictures were taken that October. Her hair was growing back nicely. :) I still can't believe it has been 2 years since her last surgery!

 It was after seeing the white flowers with the white pumpkins that I decided to make her wear white in the coming years... at first I had her matching the fall/pumpkin theme, but then I realized how limiting that was! Wearing white allows me to photograph her without pumpkins and still get a pretty shot- not just a fall themed one. :)