Benefit Golf Tournament scheduled for October 31st!

Legacy Photography & Abiding Place Ministries proudly announce

Christian's Influence Alliance (CIA) Benefit Golf Tournament
October 31st, 2011
Shot Gun start at 9:00am
Walden on Lake Houston, Humble, TX

Christian's journey has undoubtedly touched many lives, and has left a lasting impression on all of our hearts.  We are planning this Golf Tournament to bind together all who have been influenced by Christian's smile, touched by his journey, inspired by his perseverance, and prayed for his recovery with a common goal of assisting the Smith family to meet Christian's medical needs.
Flyers, Registration, and Sponsorship forms can be found at:

FLYER: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=87320718
REGISTRATION - FRONT: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=87320751
REGISTRATION - BACK: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=87320713
We are looking for Golfers, Sponsors, Silent Auction donations, and volunteers on tournament day!

If you are interested in playing, or would like to help, please contact Tara at 832-233-3222 or via email at legacyphotographybytara@gmail.com

Please share this information with your community, co-workers, friends, & family!

Thank you so much!

Tara Beasley
Legacy Photography
832-233-3222

Quick Update

Doctors are moving forward treating Christian as having recurrent transverse myelitis.  Today he was to have further testing to search for any underlying causes for the flare ups.  They hope to be heading home tomorrow.  Christian will go home on a steroid treatment.

The good news to come from all of this is  a plan for any future flare ups.  In the future, Christian will have access to outpatient iv steroid treatment. 

Danielle will update with more detail when she is home.  Please continue to pray for Christian and his family. 

Pray for Christian Daniel: TUESDAYS in JULY! Chili's in Humble, TX gets on board!

Pray for Christian Daniel: TUESDAYS in JULY! Chili's in Humble, TX gets on board!: "TUESDAYS in JULY! Chili's in Humble, TX gets on board!
~ UPDATE from Tara ~

Great News for Christian!

Chili's in Humble, TX has joined the cause to help raise funds for Christian's recovery!

Every Tuesday in July - from open to close - for every person who brings in the flyer (see link below), Chili's will donate 10% of all sales to Christian's benefit ! Praise the Lord!

Who doesn't love Chilis? Please download the file below, print & email them out, and lets pack out Humble Chili's every Tuesday in July!

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=83163300

The participating Chili's is located on the corner of HWY 59 & FM 1960, across from Deerbrook Mall.

Come hungry!"

Please Pray Tonight

Christian had an MRI today and the results have left his family confused and floored.  The MRI shows a new lesion on his spinal cord at T12.  We will update after the doctors make rounds and give more information.

For now, please pray.  Jack and Danielle need your prayers.  Christian needs your prayers.  Ky and Jillian need your prayers.  The Casting Crowns chorus comes to mind, "If we've ever needed You, Lord it's now!" 

If We've Ever Needed You Songwriters: Hall, John Mark; Herms, Bernie;
If we've ever needed You
Lord, it's now, Lord, it's now
We are desperate for Your hand
We're reaching out, we're reaching out

All our hearts, all our strength
With all our minds, we're at Your feet
May Your kingdom come in our hearts and lives
Let Your church arise, let Your church arise

If we've ever needed You
Lord, it's now, Lord, it's now
We are desperate for Your hand
We're reaching out, we're reaching out
We're reaching out

We need You now
Revive us now
We need You now

Hospital Stay #3

Christian has been admitted into Texas Children’s for the third time, due to a Transverse Myelitis flare up. I know this sounds like a broken record but AGAIN, THIS IS RARE! He is doing another round of IV steroids and MRI. C is doing great; he is his normal, cheerful self. He is flirting with every nurse and PCA he can get his eyes on. He is shameless. Kyleigh and Jillian (his biggest and bestest sisters) are not responding as well. Ky-Anne is crying a lot and does not want to come to the hospital at all. Jillian wants to be here every second and is being disobedient. Please be praying for these special little ladies! Also, pray that we walk out of here with answers. OR better yet C is healed completely!

GOD is Good All the Time, Every Time...Believe It!

Christian's hospital bill is over half a million dollars. We have been working with a financial counselor since day three in the hospital trying to come up with ways to tackle this insurmountable amount. Originally, she was trying to cut the price in half...still inconceivable in my mind after looking at all those zeros. On Monday, the financial counselor, said she was presenting our case to a board of charities and going to recommend that we receive MORE than half assistance. I responded with a Great! and clenched teeth smile....because at that moment I truly believed we would pay the hospital off when I died and my family got my insurance money! Are you ready for it????....ONE MONTH OF JACK'S SALARY!! Stunned silence was all this poor women got after working so hard for our family. All I can say is GOD is faithful. I  read my bible and commit to memory all the promises GOD gives me...because at the beginning and in the end, that is all I have. However, during storms, doubt starts to creep in not about HIS existence but about HIS faithfulness and  HIS goodness. That is not the kind of faith I want. I want the faith to say HE is good every time, all the time and believe it. But....                 It has been a very hard road. For those of you who don't know, Christian, is not our first son. Our first born son, is Jackson. Born healthy and perfect. I laid him down for his afternoon nap on February 17th at 5 months 7 days and he never woke up. The coroner listed the cause of death as SIDS, which is fancy terminology for "we have no clue look why a healthy baby dies for no reason." After losing my sunshine, I set forth to rebuild and rewrite relationships and beliefs, from the ground up. I thought my faith had been restore and was more brilliant and stronger  than it was before...only to find another son almost non-responsive in his crib again. I screamed in my head, really?!?!? we are really gonna do this again?!?!? Just trying to acclimate and respond to the demands of having a chronically ill and disabled child seems to be enough. But the fact that my insurance will not cover his recovery (hospital bills, specialists, therapy, and equipment) seems cruel. I look up at GOD and scream INTERVENE....PLEASE! let something work...You promised. But our GOD is not a vending machine. Read the end of Job He will remind you what HE is capable of and that HE answers to no one. From Job 38:4 to 40:2 we may glance a sliver of GOD's mightiness. These are humbling passages, they make me ashamed. The blessing of being able to pay off Christian's hospital bill in my life time makes me ashamed. Because instead of sitting back and trusting GOD, I wrung my hands, fretted, and worried.  I agonize every week whether Christian is going to get the therapy he so urgently needs, it is so critical to his recovery and our insurance will not cover a single physical, occupational, or speech therapy. So people donate their services at a fraction of the cost. I sit and analyze every aspect... will we be able to keep up with the costs even though they are discounted? will so-in-so stop working with c? is this asking too much? when is this good favor going to run out?...I can see GOD looking down at me shaking HIS head saying..."oh yea, of little faith..." He is has never not provided what C has needed, not once. HE is just not providing it  the way I want...with security. If my insurance was not so ___________ (you fill in the blank) then I could call a rehab clinic and say my son needs these services and they would say ok bring him in! Then they would evaluate him and say he needs this, this, and this equipment and then he would get it. Instead God is providing one day at a time, one service at a time, one piece of equipment at a time. I can see HIM smirking at me; saying," Will you choose to believe Who I say I Am, now? "

Save the Date

We will be celebrating Christian’s 1^st Birthday with a Bash called Christian’s Big Top Benefit on August 6^th tentatively from 4-8!

Circus Fun, Good Food, and Live Music!

Save the date!

Desperately Candid

This will not be my typical post. My ability to be tactful and “glass half full” has been replaced with desperation.  This will be an influx of information and prayer requests.

This past Wednesday, C and I were able to meet with Doctor Lotze(Neurologist) and Doctor Schwabe(PMR).  I went armed with pages of questions; both doctors were patient and kind.

                Main Points of the Visits:

-There is a Transverse Myelitis Clinic in Maryland at the John Hopkins Hospital. I wanted to know if Doc. Lotze felt if it would be beneficial for us to travel there and receive a consult from them.  The first thing he said when he walked in was that John Hopkins would be here November 2^nd and he wanted them to meet C…what did I think???  I said YES!!! I showed him where I had written that very question; he said GREAT, free consult in your own backyard! PTL!

-The Overall Health Concerns for Christian:

                *Permanent Paralysis from waist down

                *Limited use of his Hands

                *Weak Trunk

*Kidney Complications: due to the fact that it is hard for C to urinate, he is at high risk of kidney infections, kidney damage, and kidney failure. We are adding a Urologists to his team of doctors.

*Pneumonia and Aspiration: due to his weakened respiratory system C cannot properly cough, sneeze, or swallow thin fluids (ie water or juice but milk is fine). We are adding a Pulmonologist to his team of doctors.

-The MRI and some of Christian’s symptoms don’t add up. Some of his symptoms say the brain is involved but his scans show a healthy brain. Thus begins the waiting and watching. There is evidence (C’s recent flare up and “brain” symptoms) that C has Multiple Sclerosis on top of his TM. Only time will tell.

-As it was explained to me the atrophy of the spinal cord is discouraging; however, Doc. Lotze is still hopeful C can regain use of his legs. The first six months is critical in recovery and we will see the most changes in this time frame. Still, we can expect subtle changes for up to two years. He told me after we hit the six month mark if C’s legs were still not working, then he would probably never recover the use of his legs.

-We got the news that the channels I was pursuing to get Christian on Medicaid were probably not going to work out. This is devastating. Our insurance is awful, to say the least. They barely cover anything and on top of that Christian is maxed out on his benefits…leaving us with NO medical coverage for the next 6 month. Having Christian’s diagnosis and health concerns is intimidating but knowing I don’t have the resources to get him the therapy, equipment, and specialist he needs is devastating. I am his mother…it is my job to take care of him. I need GOD to do one of two things either heal Christian completely so Medicaid is not needed or provide us with Medicaid.

Please be in prayer for the above information.

Rainbows

I know I am  way over due to update the blog.  Forgive me? There is so much to share. After returning home from the hospital it was harder getting back into the swing of things than the last time. It was shocking to have to go back into the hospital. C, the girls, and I are a bit burnt out! We have an appointment to see Doc. Lotze and Doc. Shwaube this Wednesday. I have two pages of questions already typed up for them! We are ready for this appointment. C had an episode a few weeks back where he was suddenly unresponsive for over 3 minutes. The girls and I were shaken to our core. This signals that something is occurring in C’s brain. The Bell’s Palsy of the face (drooping of the right side of his face) and pstosis of the eyes (drooping eyelids) have also indicated this. However, the MRI shows a healthy brain. This truly is befuddling. Please be praying that Doc. Lotze will know how to proceed with these contradictions. I am very interested to hear his expertise on C’s new MRI. Currently C has come down with bronchitis. The reason why this is a bit concerning is because he has a weak cough and sneeze; which makes him very susceptible to pneumonia.

OK OK…done with all Debi Downer junk…..

C has made amazing strides since coming home from the hospital! Christian Daniel is ARMY CRAWLING!!!  We are so proud of him, we beam! I wish each and every one of you could see him in action! He truly is inspiring! His perseverance and determination is a blessing to watch. One statement has been repeated over and over by C’s doctors, therapists, and supporters,”I expected worse from what I read (from either C’s medical charts or blog)”. After hearing this so much, I created a theory.  WARNING!! I am putting a disclaimer on this theory though; Christian is my son, so my opinion is SLIGHTY bias! HaHa! C has a way of wearing Transverse Myelitis that makes you believe anything is possible.  Who Christian is to the core out shines his TM, his disabilities. And I believe these things will always play second fiddle to this astonishing little guy! What the fallout is from his TM is written in black and white but C is more than that diagnosis. He keeps getting knocked down but he comes back every time hungry to adapt and overcome, adapt and overcome. C doesn’t just find a way to get what he wants, he MAKES a way. I pray that one day; I too, can rise to life’s challenges with such finesse.

I can see God’s promises ringing true in our daily life. The provisions he has provided, make every step not only possible but hopeful.  God is who is taking every step with C, cheering him on and reminding him all things are possible THRU HIM! God is providing C with his super hero endurance and strength. God is in all of C’s therapists, who treat and most importantly love him like their own child, instead of a client. God is in our church family, Crosby First Baptist, who when we got too tired to walk picked us up and carried us…and still does this very moment. God’s hands and feet are moving through every prayer, hug, donation, meal made, coffee break, phone call taken and made, care package given but mostly ya’lls presence alone have made the greatest impact in our life. With all that we are….Thank-You.