Walking for Kyle

We are walking.

I know it's late notice.

I know it's all the way in Houston.

I just don't ever want to forget...

I wanted to walk in the woodlands this year and that is for sure where we will be next year. So much was going on this year -

a little update:

Kyle is 4 now - and he is amazing! God's healing is evident everyday. I feel like MOD snuck up on me this year! My focus has really been on therapy lately. We are starting to see some struggle in the fine motor and attention/focus areas. ...I remember being in the NICU and wondering why the doctors cared so much about these things - all I wanted was for him to live. Well... now I see why these things are so important! But we are not taking no for an answer - we are working hard everyday and everyday Kyle sees success! He is such a hard worker! and just for an update we got kyle into a school that can take him all the way to 6th grade. They believe in 2 teachers per classroom so the highest ratio will be 8 students to 1 teacher! They use the same fine motor curriculum that Kyle's OT uses and its the best out there! Also they have gross motor and motor planning toys on their play ground and best of all they will let kyle move at the pace that is best for him. We can delay kindergarten if need be and he can learn to read and write at his own pace. I am so thankful and so excited!

... but I digress - THE WALK! MARCH FOR BABIES! All that update to say - Kyle is amazing and we have been very focused with lots going on - so even though this year snuck up on us and even though we are not walking in The Woodlands...

WE ARE WALKING!! I just can't not walk. I always want to REMEMBER what God has done in Kyle.... a less than 1% chance of survival. It is easy to look at kyle now and forget that he is the less than 1%... then the grade 3 bleed... they said 0% chance of life without profound mental and physical disabilities.

Kyle is a miracle. I never want to forget what God has done.

So first we will raise funds: You can buy this year's team kyle T-shirt for $20. They are REALLY great shirts! (you know... the super soft hip kind!). We are getting a great deal from Push Productions - so with each shirt you buy you donate $9 to March of Dimes!

And second we will walk: to walk just email me at kellysherrill@mac.com and let me know!

Thank you for loving Kyle. and Thank you for supporting March of Dimes.

Here's the shirt!

COME WALK WITH ME! --KYLE

Kyle is in the March of Dimes Promo Video!

2011 March of Dimes - Walk with Team Kyle!

Well it's that time of year again! We are so excited to be walking with March of Dimes this year AGAIN! and I am hoping that we can come together this year (even if you didn't make it last year!) and celebrate another year of Kyle's miracle life! OH... and raise money for March of Dimes too! 
It is hard to believe and sometimes overwhelming that kyle was that tiny one pound baby with a 1% chance to live. and today... so full of life and joy.

Last year's walk was amazing. It is hard to put into words what it felt like to walk beside so many of you in honor of what the Lord has done for our family! - it was overwhelming. and to know how many more of you sponsored and donated in honor of Kyle. He is amazing and each day our family is grateful to all of you. Joyfully grateful is how I feel.
Again this year we are joining the March of Dimes - March for Babies Walk on Sunday May 1st.

Please join Kyle's team. walk with us; donate as we walk; walk with us & have others sponsor you as you walk - You can do all three or any combination! To be involved click HERE to get to my personal March of Dimes page where you can:

1. click on DONATE NOW which is sponsoring me as I walk! - don't forget to leave a message on my page when you do!

OR

2. WALK WITH ME which is joining Team Kyle and walking with us on May 1st! If you choose this option March of Dimes will have you set up your own fund raising paige. You will be linked to TEAM KYLE and will be able to get others to sponsor you as you walk. Don't be intimidated by this - it is all for a great cause and raising even $10 is a huge step toward the future of children born too early!

OR... You can click this TEAM KYLE link to visit the Team Kyle page - you can donate or sign up from here too. You can also view the Team Kyle roster and our total donations! I will be in contact with everyone on TEAM KYLE to let you know details soon!

THE WALK is 5 miles - however if you want to be a part of TEAM KYLE and don't feel like you can make the 5 miles - don't worry you can come and see us off and welcome us back and hang out under the family teams tent! You can also walk as far as you can and stop at a check point and one of the volunteers will give you a ride back to the finish area! also - wheel chairs are welcome!

There will be lots going this day - food, fun for the kids - it is really a whole day family event! So come and have fun!

www.sherrillfamily.tumblr.com

the sherrill family has moved!

...not physically but I have decided to move my blog. Several of my preemie mom friends have already done this and now I am too. Prayforkyle started as a place to beg people to ... well... pray for kyle. and a place to update everyone on all that was going on with Kyle. The words on these mean so much to me. They are at times my only memory of such a huge portion of my life. the most terrifying, the most beautiful - hard to know - maybe both.

So I have moved the chronicles of the sherrill family to a new page. One that is about today, each day really. I guess that is if I can remember to write it down! So for a sherrill update just click here.

Kyles prayer

Kyles bed time routine holds much of kyles sensory diet and bc of that our 30 minutes before bed is always the same! So part of this is praying. I pray and then he prays. And it is so amazing to me how even Kyle at 2 picks up on how we pray. I don't do cutsie prayers with my kids at bed time... I pray over them... I speak to God from my heart and let them listen in. And even still my Kyle has picked up on how I usual begin by thanking god. Then I give him my todo list, then always close by recapping the most important...

So this was kyles prayer last night.

"dear god thank you healing my brain, thank you go to mcDonalds tomorrow for breakfast, don't let my dreams get me"

.... We did go to mcdonalds this am! Who could resist that!

Peter

Was it ever really about the disciples being used by Jesus? Or was it about them being intimate, following him, loving him...

I heard last night about someone hearing God say.. " you know you don't help me right?"

The way my 2 year old unloading the dishes doesn't really "help me!" but what qualifies me to follow him is that I want to help.

Been reading Peter's story... And heard the ending last night. I know... Preachers wife and I don't know peters story... ( funny how easy it is to seem like you know a lot in today's Christianity..) anyway the part where christ returns... And Peter thinking he is out of chances realizes it is him and doesn't try again to walk on water but jumps in and swims to him!

Oh my heart!!!! It's not about the chance but about his great mercy and how much I can see he loved Peter.

That is my heart lord.

Kings candy Galveston TX

Jadon and his wax lips! These children have never seen so much candy!

Summer Vacation

Probably one of the things I look forward to most all year! This year was 1/2 Galveston and 1/2 San Antonio!

So far one down and we are on out way to part 2.

This was the boys first time at the beach... And they were so pumped! On the other hand... After seeing Mexico and Florida... It is just hard to enjoy the dirty water and dead fish at your feet. The first time in the water Jadon was concerned about the "oil" getting on him... Jack woke up the second morning and wanted to know if we were going back to the muddy water..... Kyle was fascinated by stairs at the beach house.

We played put put, found shells, went swimming each day, ate junk food, played games and of course had our fill of the wii. Great couple of days.

San Antonio here we come!

March of Dimes Photos & Update

Our grand total for fundraising for March of Dimes was $4013! Can you believe that! There we just over 100 people involved and over 60 that walked that day! What a success!

Here is a link to some amazing photos of the day...

2010 CMHH - Team Kyle at March of Dimes

March of Dimes Recap 1

So it took me a week - so what! hahahaha! really I did mean to update sooner! But for all of those that have been waiting to hear about March of Dimes - let this be a lesson to you - next year you must particiapte! Except you Natalie - I owe you an apology! You were an AMAZING team member and I should have emailed you sooner! But I have things to send you so don't worry!

first I must say I LOVE YOU ALL! Thank you for all you did for MARCH OF DIMES! are you ready for this?

Just under 100 TEAM MEMBERS on Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital TEAM KYLE! some of you walked, some of you fund raised, and some of you did both! Thank you Thank you Thank you! and are you ready for MORE....

We raised almost $4000 for March of Dimes. and this is just year one guys! Do you know that March of Dimes funded the researcher in the 1980s that came up with artificial surfactant? That is what they put in kyle's lungs that worked to get them to pop open! Thank you Thank you Thank you for helping us help them to keep the research going!

Here is a pic of almost all of our walkers and I will post more soon! This was at the beginning so not quite all of us where there yet!

TEAM KYLE T-Shirts

Here they are! Our team shirts for our first year at March Of Dimes - Team Kyle. This year we are honored to be a part of Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital - Team Kyle. So awesome that this year we could support them as well!

For those of you that are local you can come pick up your shirt! Otherwise I will bring your shirt to the walk. The shirts are $10 each so please click the button over to the side of the site and that will allow you to pay for your shirt. If you have more than one shirt to pay for please just go through the process more than once.

As an additional fund raiser for March of Dimes I wanted to offer this T-shirt to those even if they are not walking! So many out there have been on Kyle's Team even if you can not come and walk this weekend! So order away - they are $10 and after we pay the cost per shirt we will donate the rest to March of Dimes! Just use the link on the side of the site and I'll get them mailed out asap!

Thanks everyone for all you are doing to support the AMAZING cause of March of Dimes!

going to bed...

After the adorable pics of kyle I posted the other day I figured I should put up an audio of the 2 hour ordeal of going to bed... OMG I am so over this "not obeying at bedtime" stuff! :) and just kidding about the upload. I didn't record it.

Happy Happy Boy!

It doesn't get much better than this! pure dirt and pure joy!

Even with an injured nose! he is still happy.

"E IDES EGGS IN MY ARD"

This is what my 4 year old (Jack) said tonight when I asked him what easter was all about. Now you might be wondering why he was missing so many consonants... his mouth was stuffed with more candy than I have ever seen and as he spoke drool was spilling out every corner and if you know jack - he would not want any of the candy juice to spill out!

my 7 year old just walked up to me and said.. "the sherrill story!!" (that's the name of this blog). and looks at me and says "your ruining my life!" I thought he meant that I was embarrassing him... but no.. he informed me that if I put his name all over facebook someone would steal him! He is so black and white, HONEST and rules oriented! Amazing kid! in fact he won the HONESTY award at his elementary school - the do a pillar of character a month. I was so proud of his integrity and character that was shining through!

so back to tonight..... so i'm a bit dis heartened that the 4 year old believes the true meaning of easter is the bunny and the candy.... but then at bedtime Jack tells jadon there is a shadow in his room and he wanted him to come take care of it. so by the time I get in there Jadon has his arm around jack and is praying with him and "dismissing" the darkness and "inviting the glory of God" into the room. and letting jack know that the power that "conquered the grave - lives in him" when I walked in Jadon looked up at me and says - "mom, i'm going to cry - this is just so powerful!"

WOW! jadon's name mean's God has heard - God is so evident in his life.

and ANOTHER jadon story - there is a sign in my office right now that just showed up one night in jadon's hand writing and it says...

"Family: for His name: You have a plan for me and my family!"

this kid is amazing. and to all of those that are worried about jack... he knows 8 bible verses by heart and is fascinated by God - "the good guy" and Satan "God's bad guy." it is all just still over shadowed by candy.. :)

Kyle Singing "Zaccheus the wee little man"

forgive the iphone quality - maybe i'm not doing it right but the quality seems a little rough in this video. However the talent is amazing! Kyle really latched on to this song when he learned it at school - now, believe it or not it has to be one of our night night songs. Notice the amazing dramatic interpretation he gives in the voice! I LOVE IT!

COME WALK WITH US! April 25th in Houston, TX!

or

CLICK HERE TO VISIT KYLE'S TEAM PAGE!

It has been over 2 years since Kyle was born too soon. Could you ever have imagined we would go from this 545 gram baby with just an ounce of hope....

.... to this amazing little man...

...with a world of hope and so much more! and so many of you have been there every step of the way. If it wasn't physically I know it was in prayer, in thoughts and in LOVE.

God has done the unimaginable, the indescribable, the unbelievable and He has and is healing Kyle. Will you come celebrate with us and support an organization that helped kyle and all of us every step of the way. The March of Dimes is an organization that exists to help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. They also bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care. This information was priceless to us when Kyle was in the NICU.

Please join Kyle's team. walk with us; donate as we walk; walk with us & have others sponsor you as you walk - You can do all three or any combination! To be involved click above on the March of Dimes link and it will take you to my personal March of Dimes page where you can:

1. click on DONATE NOW which is sponsoring me as I walk! - don't forget to leave a message on my page when you do!

OR

2. WALK WITH ME which is joining Team Kyle and walking with us on April 25th! If you choose this option March of Dimes will have you set up your own fund raising paige. You will be linked to TEAM KYLE and will be able to get others to sponsor you as you walk. Don't be intimidated by this - it is all for a great cause and raising even $10 is a huge step toward the future of children born too early!

You can also click the TEAM KYLE link at the top of this post or HERE to visit the Team Kyle page - you can donate or sign up from here too. You can also view the Team Kyle roster and our total donations! I will be in contact with everyone on TEAM KYLE to let you know details soon!

THE WALK is 5 miles - however if you want to be a part of TEAM KYLE and don't feel like you can make the 5 miles - don't worry you can come and see us off and welcome us back and hang out under the family teams tent! You can also walk as far as you can and stop at a check point and one of the volunteers will give you a ride back to the finish area! also - wheel chairs are welcome!

There will be lots going this day - food, fun for the kids - it is really a whole day family event! So come and have fun!

More than anything - for my own heart - to stand shoulder to shoulder and walk the March of Dimes walk with those that walked Kyle's journey with me - I can not imagine any picture more beautiful. Please come join us!

Thank you for fighting with us to rescue other little guys like Kyle.

(OH! and if you register to walk - don't forget to put in your T-shirt size!!! We are going to print great T-shirts to give you to wear at the walk! If you donate but you can't walk with us and you still want a shirt - just let me know!)

What Joy...

God has restored my joy. for two years I grieved - grieved what? many would ask that question and I guess I have asked it too. I didn't grieve any one thing - I can see now that I just walked the path the Lord set me on. and then one day (much more detailed story than I am writing now) someone approached me and asked me to pray - I did and God restored my joy. I have been sitting in that, living in that, loving in that. the days have not been without trials but Joy is there. When I realized that if God's love - which I knew to be true - could take a child from it's mother; to allow a mother's heart to be torn in that way... then that is a love I will never understand. A love that will never have a definition that make sense to me. It, LOVE, GOD will never fit in any box I could make. But even so a love i get to receive. and LOVE I want to receive.

There is a song by addison road. a song I'm sure so many have heard. I had heard the song but never the lyrics. so one day on my way to my new job (after being out of work for 2 1/2 months - like i said, not without trials) I am listening to some music and I hear this - the second verse of the song...

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

I thought I knew who God was - I had created a version of him that I could live with, that suited my style of worship, service and so on. I truly loved God - loved his ministry - loved people... and then kyle was born, and then I watched him suffer and I watched him get worse and I watched mother's lose their children, and I watched tiny, tiny, babies suffer - I watched my own son suffer - this is when I caught a glimpse of who he might be. A God that is not contained in a box. A God that is still a mystery - I had been kidding myself to think I had figured it out - I was kidding myself in my comfort - in my stories that I had learned to talk about. and the next line of the song almost made me have to pull the car over. the slightest glimpse of Him brought me down to my knees. .... just the slightest glimpse - just one little baby - one little family - one little hospital - one small set of 116 days - I was destroyed - I fell to my knees and had no choice but to follow God down a road of Faith. I will never know all of who he is. He is mysterious and He is all. He is everything. I can't wrap my head around it. But Faith has been given to me and I sit here now with a smile on my face as God teaches me and grows me and increases my faith, my joy, my peace, my desire to know him more.

another song I just heard from one of our worship leaders at our church - What Joy What Joy for those who's hope is in the name of the Lord. what peace what peace for those whose confidence is him alone.

and wow - what joy- what peace I have.

I have been studying the old testament lately and it is so clear that we are God's people and he LOVES us and this love comes with a huge plan that is for God's glory and we may never know. but know or not - we will serve the Lord.

Update on EEG

I got a phone call from Kyle's Neurologist the other night. He explained a little bit what the results of Kyle's EEG were - we have an appt in December so I am sure we will discuss it more then. The findings of the EEG were abnormal - which in my book isn't so bad b/c we have been told it will always be abnormal - b/c he will be compared to other kids his age and his brian developed 1/2 out of the womb which just plain makes things different. His connections and electrical activity is expected to be different. So that didn't sound so bad. The main finding we discussed was that his background activity was slow and spread out. well to a mom that sounds pretty rough - but Dr. Clark assured me that this statement is referring to the electrical activity in the brain... not kyle's cognitive ability. Well - so does generally slow and spread out electrical activity affect kyle's cognitive ability? Theoretically the answer is yes - it does and it will. the clinical answer is "we shall see". and as of right now - kyle's brain looks immature and kyle looks immature - so that matches. but kyle is progressing in learning and concepts - and so there is not a reason to think (even according to the neurologist!) that this would stop. So I obviously felt much better after speaking to him. Slow is just not the word you want to work with when they are talking about your child's brain!

So here is my take - I don't like the punches that feel like they come out of no where. They are hard to swallow and feel like they knock me back to standing in the NICU. that sickening feeling of not knowing. but here is how I will look at it. Kyle has to fight harder and I will help him. I do believe the Lord is healing him. He will be able to sort shapes and do puzzles - it might just take more work. So work we will do! I will use this as a reminder that Kyle needs to work hard and that means me working hard! I guess as moms we all need that reminder sometimes. Thanks for praying - I could not have a better group of friends that keep me focused during moments of stumbling. I love you all!

EEG Results

I was having a perfectly normal day. Kyle had picture day at school today. I got a call about Kyle's EEG results and they were not what I expected at all. So in my head I start scrambling for a verse that makes it make sense. A scripture that makes it okay or that reminds me that this is not about me or about Kyle. ... ... can't think of one.

I'll keep trying.

obviously I didn't the results we wanted. didn't get the results that I was expecting.

on a positive note - a good reminder to stop slacking on therapy. It is so easy to listen to everyone comment on how "normal" he seems and how their child did that same thing and they are "normal". and I fight all of those thoughts but somehow they do creep in and make me feel okay if I miss one infant massage or one 30 min session or one time wearing ankle weights. Kyle is doing so much more then anyone ever thought he would. I believe he is being healed and is so amazing. He deserves to be fought for!

I should know more details from the doctor in a few days and I'll update more then.