Janice
Adoption: A Family Choice
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Extreme Home Makeover in Corvallis, Oregon
July 12, 2007
A family in our state was chosen to get a total "Extreme Home Makeover." We heard about them on the TV, and was so excited for them. They have 3 children, one with Autism, and the youngest is 8 year old "Boey" who is a delightful little girl who happens to have cancer.
We decided to pile the kids in the car and make the drive to Corvallis to see the house in progress. We arrived on a hot day, a Thursday. The EHM team had arrived the previous Monday, and they were planning on having the house done by Saturday!!
Janice is singing a song that we recorded about 3 years ago.
The Family's church was the "staging" area, so we drove there and parked. We weren't sure we would even be able to see the house, but quickly found out that they had school buses providing shuttles the the family home worksite. Unfortunetely, the first two buses didn't have a wheelchair lift, and I had Mariah (13 years old and uses a wheelchair). I was hoping that since it was a folding wheelchair, we could just help her onto the bus and fold up the wheelchair, but that could possibly be dangerous. They said I could drive up to the site, drop off Moriah, and have someone wait with her while I reparked the car. That would have worked, but I didn't have any adults to wait with her. A lady on the bus was going to help us out, by staying with Moriah while I reparked the car. Then, a bus driver said they could call a smaller bus with a lift for us. Wow, that would be great.
I/Mom is the one to the left, as if you couldn't tell, LOL.
We waited in the shade...a lady from the volunteer area brought us bottles of water. The bus soon came, and we went the 1 mile to the site, by bus. When we got there, it was amazing...there was this absolutely beautiful home, with lots of windows, a drive through garage, etc. It was almost finished!! People were digging trenches, I guess for the underground sprinklers, piles of turf lay rolled up, and a truck was "spitting" out bark-o-mulch on the front yard. There must be about 2 acres, and the area is so beautiful. There weren't many spectators at the time, so we were able to see clearly.
A lady said that Michael Moloney, one of the EHM TV "stars," was shaking hands with people. "Right over there," she excitedly told me. We walked over there, with Mariah, 13 (in her wheelchair), holding Markus (2). I also had Jay who is 26 and has Down Syndrome, Rita, 12, Roger, 11, Sandy, 10, Joel, 8, Mark, 14, and Kathy, 5. We waited, back aways, for others who were getting him to sign their shirts, take pictures with him, etc. I was so impressed that he was taking his time to let people talk with him, get pictures, etc. A lady in front of us, made sure that we all got to meet him. I got all the kids in front of Michael and took a picture. I then said, "Janice would like to sing you a song she wrote." He said okay. Janice again mentioned that she had written the song, and sang it acapella. Wow, she did soooo good. It was fun watching Michael listen and smile as she sang. I think he was pretty impressed. Everyone broke out in loud applause. He then asked if they were all my kids, and when I said yes, he said, "Can I shake your hand? I so appreciate what you are doing." I was so shocked, and shook his hand and thanked him for all he is doing for families.
Here is a picture of Janice while she was singing to Michael Moloney, from the Extreme Home Makeover team:
