My absolutely amazing son.

My son has to be one of the most amazing 12 year olds I have ever met. I know your thinking "ya we all think our 12 year olds are amazing" (and I give you that we all do), but I have never met one quite like mine. I am a little biased...as we all are when it comes to our kids. But when you watch this video of my son testifying to his church you'll see why I think my boy is amazing. For a kid who didn't grow up in the church (we stopped going when he was about 2) he has the most amazing relationship with the Lord. I am often in awe of his love and belief and understanding of his God. He started reading the bible when he was about 4. I don't mean just looking thru playing with the Good Book. He actually read it! He would ask me all kinds of questions that I never had the answers to. We kept saying we were going to get him back into the church since he had such a love for it, but it never happened.

 A couple years ago he was playing pop-warner football and his coach was big believer in church and God and all that. He would hold prayer before practice for those who wanted to join in. And after practice on Wednesdays he would take some of the kids to youth group. Zach immediatly took to the coach and would go with him to youth group. He was in heaven. Then Zach met Pastor Bob, the youth pastor.( Bob is the big man you see at the beginning of the video). He is an amazing man who does so much for the kids in our community. Bob has often told me how amazed he is of Zach. Within a year of meeting Bob we moved...and where did we move...right across the street from him! If was pure coincidence, but it was GREAT. Immediatly he started telling Zach about Word Of Life camp. So Zach had to go. His first trip to camp was nerve wrecking for me. With all his health conditions I was a mess, but I knew I had to let him go. When he came back a week later he was so excited. He went on and on about how he was saved. He was baptized 2 weeks later.

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This year was his 3rd year going up to Word Of Life camp. It is his favorite time of year. He LOVES camp. He meets people from all over the country, and some from other countries. This is one time during the year that I think he actually feels like he fits in. He gets off the bus when they come home physically worn out, but spiratually excited.

 Today he told his testimony in front of the congregation of the church he calls home. It brought tears to my eyes for him to stand in front of all those people and talk about God. He knows so much more than I think most 12 year olds do. I really wish I would have continued taping after he was done talking, so you could see the church's reaction and the Pastor's reaction to him. Bob has always told me what an amazing child I have, but when the head Pastor of the church grabs my son and hugs him and then tells the congregation he can now retire because he has found his replacement...there are just no words for it. Pastor Bob went on to tell us how just before they loaded the buses to come home from camp, Zach had all 85 kids from our community gathered around him as he spoke of God, the bible and what he had learned there. AND THEY WERE ALL ENTHRALLED WITH HIM!



Zach is hoping to further his religious experience. When he is old enough he wants to spend 8 weeks at a time up at Word of Life to be a leader/teacher. And he has already decided he wants to do missionary work. To say I am proud of him is an understatement.

Surfing for a cause

On May 15th, 2013 Zach and his sister took part in the main event for Pipeline to a Cure. Them and 13 other CF kids and their siblings enjoyed a day of surf lessons at New Smyrna Beach in Florida. The lessons were free to our CF kids and siblings with a donation of $30 for anyone else who wished to participate. The money raised benefited the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and their race towards a cure.  Each child was given a rash guard, yellow was for the CF kids and blue for the rest. This was a great way for the volunteers to know what kids has CF so they could follow all the precautions necessary to keep our kids healthy.

 The surf instructors were all people who volunteered their time to help teach our CF kids the joys of the ocean and surfing. These people don't realize what it means to these kids for someone to take such and active interesting in teaching them something fun that is also so beneficial to them. They are true God-sends. Both of our instructors were wonderful Godly people. They both shared with us how important it is to them to help out in multiple charitable events for a number of causes.


 Ki'a's instructor, Holly, was new to surfing herself. She was a wonderful instructor. Ki'a fell in love with her and she fell in love with Ki'a.

Zach's instructor, Tim, has been surfing for a long time. I must say, when I first laid eyes on the man I was happy Zach chose him. He reminded me of my Uncle. He had two wonderful daughters that he brought with him to the event. 



For 5 hours these people took control of our children, had them in the water and on the beach just having a ton of fun. My kids didn't want to spend anytime away from their instructors! And even though Zach and Ki'a have both been on surf boards for months before this event, they learned a TON from the one on one they received.

They both caught some awesome waves. Both on the surf boards and on boogey boards that Tim had brought with him. As you can see my little man is loving "hanging 10" in the water. 

The event had some AWESOME sponsors, who provided gifts for the kids as well as raffle items for the silent raffle that took place (also to benefit CFF). Some of our sponsors included UnderArmour, Sun Bum, Ron Jon Surf Shop, and so many more.


 We had lunch provided by Chick-fil-a and FireHouse BBQ....DELISH!  By the time 2 o'clock rolled around my kids were plum worn out from being in the water and sun all day.

We enjoyed participating in Pipeline To  Cure so much that we plan on doing it every year....Even if it means traveling from NY to FL to do it!