Thanks for all the continued Prayers. We are expecting our fourth child in the next few days or weeks. We don't know the gender, but we are happy and excited. I almost caved last week during an ultrasound, but Susan reminded me that WE decided WE would not find out--and yes, I turned in my man card a few years ago. If we have another girl, then I most likely will be moving into my closet for the next 18 years. Please keep us in your prayers.
Rebecca is almost three and her condition has not changed much. She has developed some new seizures and we are giving her a new medicine. We thank God each day for our great doctors who are watching over her. We rely more on God each day to guide us and He continues to give us the troubled grace that we need to get through each day. Enough anesthetic that we don't feel the full pain, but no so much that we cannot feel the pain and draw closer to him as a result of it.
Katherine recently wrote a non-fiction essay that won a regional competition. She qualified for the State Young Authors Contest. Many of you have said that God would use our experience to help others, and this story seems to show that. It is amazing how God has used this to help our fourth grader share something that is so close to her heart, to write unassisted and convey a deep feeling. I wish I could say I helped her, but we didn't. Here it is:
My Sister, Rebecca By Katherine Gatti
Before I tell my story, I want to say that this story shouldn’t make you cry, it should make you happy.
People look at SpecialEd kids different. Why, because they’re in a wheelchair? Do people treat you different because of your skin color? Did you choose your skin color? No. Do people get to choose if they have a brain injury? No. So why do people treat them different? But those people have feelings just like we do, and they should be treated equally. So, here is my story.
My family was in the hospital waiting for my new little sister. I was so excited, interviewing everybody with a video camera! It was getting late so my mom’s friend took care of us at home that night. The best surprise was right around the corner the next morning! Our dad was waiting for us, and we were anxious to find out if mom had the baby yet. We found out her name was Rebecca Leigh Gatti. We kept throwing questions at him like, “Who would get to hold her first?”
Then came the bomb. My dad said, ”Girls, your little sister has something wrong with her brain. They had to cut open mommy’s stomach to get the baby out. Mommy and Rebecca will have to stay in the hospital for a while. Rebecca is going to be sick when she comes home. But don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” Neither my sister nor I really understood, we thought, ”Hey, she has a cold, no big deal. She’ll get over it.”
Then my dad asked if we wanted to go to see Mom and Rebecca, and we sure did. You know when a kid asks every couple of minutes, ”Are we there yet? How much longer?“ That was exactly what my sister and I were doing.
We got to meet Rebecca at the hospital. It was love at first sight. What I realized as I spent more time with her was how beautiful and wonderful she is. She can’t really control her muscles that tighten up and has more seizures than you can count. Rebecca is blind and will not be able to walk. She had surgery to place a feeding tube in her stomach so she doesn’t have to take medicine through her mouth anymore.
Everyone says Rebecca likes me the most. She lets me do things to her that she won’t let anyone else do. She could be screaming bloody murder in my dad’s arms and be showing off her dimples the second she’s in mine. I dance around with her in my arms and we touch noses.
I love Rebecca with all my heart, and I don’t know what I’d do without her. You should appreciate that you have a working brain and the ability to use it. So why don’t you? I hope you treat people better and judge them by their characteristics instead of what they look and sound like. You can make a difference.
Welcome
