I know it is hardly tomorrow, life just continues to march along, whether I am ready or not.   I had mentioned I would fill you in on Joel’s wish, so here is the story of how it came to be.

Several months ago, it might have been October or November, I was talking with some other parents at the hospital and they asked me, “What was Joel’s wish?”  At that point I wasn’t even 100% sure he qualified for one; I was assured that he did indeed qualify and the process was started.

As we began to ask Joel what his wish would be it was apparent that this might be more challenging then we first thought.  He wanted a chicken coop with chickens but they don’t grant animals as wishes as they can die and then your wish is not so special anymore.  Next he wanted a pool but again we had to tell him that was not a possibility.  We debated a travel wish but we knew Disney was out.  Joel does not do great in crowds, balance is still an issue with him and we felt it would be too overwhelming.  Joel did mention space travel,  and I believe once he mentioned going to China to see Pandas.

Our older kids had lots of ideas,  I think it is a hard concept for a 5 year old to grasp.  Often when we would talk to Joel about his wish he would talk about his birthday or Christmas.  Finally, we suggested a play structure and I googled play structure images.  Joel was looking at the different play structures when his eyes landed on the Monkey Mansion.  He instantly fell in love and wanted to know when Dave was going to build it for him.  I love that he thinks Daddy can do anything.

We submitted his wish and waited.  When we were contacted by Make A Wish they informed us that the cost of shipping the monkey mansion alone was more then their budget but not to worry they were prepared to work on coming up with something Joel loved.  It turned out that Joel had a very specific idea in his head (including a trap door and a blue steering wheel.) 

Just when it looked like it wasn’t going to work, a new chapter of Make A Wish took Joel’s wish on as their very first wish, and they made it happen within a month!!  They not only made an awesome play structure, they also gave our family a lovely 8 seater picnic table.

Finally, because they couldn’t give Joel his first wish of a chicken coop, they gave Joel a Play Mobile Farm. 

They brought balloons, cake, and ice cream. 

It was an incredible day filled with blessings.  We just don’t have the words to express our thanks and gratitude to Make A Wish and all the people that made last Saturday a reality.   So even though our words fail us, our ‘Thank You’ is heartfelt.