Eli's Journey

Our little girl is doing a lot of performing these days. Here are two videos, the first from her recent Veterans Day program at her elementary school, and the second just last night with her Jenks Dance Academy class. Sophia is in the Superstars class, which means she sang the music she was dancing to! (To which she was dancing...) Some of you already know the story of how Sophia saw "Wicked" last week. The week before, she went to see her voice teacher, Miss Missy, to show off her performance of "Popular" from the musical "Wicked." Missy asked if Sophia was going to the Tulsa PAC to see the show, and I regretted to inform that the tickets were just too expensive and none left close to the stage. Missy told me how another student of hers won a lottery before the performance, and that they might be holding one again. I called the box office the night of the first performance, and they told me to be at the coat check window at 5:00. I arrived, put my name i...

Pray for Elijah on Monday, Nov. 22 as we head back to Oklahoma City to get fitted with even more advanced prosthetic limbs. We are working with Jonathan Day, the only prostheticist in the state who has any experience with bi-lateral amputees, and he is the very nicest guy. We're getting stronger glasses for a newfound astigmatism, but we kind of suspected that would happen eventually. In the meantime, we were please to see how well his eyes are tracking, and anyone who spends time with him knows he's seeing so much these days. The dentist also gave both kids thumbs-up on their oral health, and I'm pretty sure all four of us are done (for the moment) with sinus and ear infections. But do please keep praying for the Ramirezes. Now for some HALLOWEEN PICS! Look for: Sophia as the Red Queen Elijah as a Puppy Dog The Grandkids with Great-Grammie Eli meets Thomas the Tank Engine!

BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT... 1. Elijah Makes Strides Here's video of Eli arriving at feeding therapy. Miss Tara is helping him "walk-walk" from the car to the front door, and he wants so badly to succeed. Tara has moved on to another home due to scheduling changes, but she was with us for over a year, and we appreciate everything she did for little Eli. Best of luck, Tara, and God bless you. 2. Eat, Elijah, Eat! (3 videos) We're having great success with Kathy at Therapy Works, as we slowly learn to eat by mouth. Elijah is practicing how to ask for different flavors, how to put the food in his mouth with both his fingers and a spoon, and how to close his lips around food so he can swallow it. For the first three years, any kind of intrusion into Eli's mouth past the teeth made him gag, so even the small progress we've made is amazing. And also... DRUMROLL PLEASE! I actually witnessed him put a Cheerio in his mouth, chew it and swallow it last week, for the firs...

Halloween came and went, but Eli isn't walking. We did have a really good time though. Since our last post, we have found a new prostheticist who will help Eli learn to walk. We are expecting a new set of legs pretty soon. Eli, for the first time in his life, pulled himself up on his legs. We are thrilled. I expect he will be walking on his own legs before he learns to use the prosthetic ones, which is fine. Eli has had a cold since before the cold temps even set in. He has an ear infection now. Winters are hard on Elijah. Thanks for your prayers! Love, Melissa