Louisiana bound baby!!!

This has started out as a very busy day and continued that way. When we got up and going this morning we made a trip across to the hospital to say some final goodbyes. One of favorite nurses, Stacy, had requested that come say goodbye for hitting the road to go home. We had gone to the A3 North floor yesterday and caught some of our other favorites like Kayla and Beth. I just want to take a minute to say what a excellent staff they had A3 North. I don't think Bart and I had a nurse we didn't like, they all were incredible. But just like anything else you have some you get closer to than others especially when you have them multiple times over 15 days. Anyway on with our day after visiting Stacy and few other nurses we went back to RMH to pack the car up. I don't know how we managed to fit what we did in that car but it happened. The sad thing is that we shipped to massive 2 ft X 3 ft boxes home completely crammed with stuff home, LOL! It is amazing what you accumulate over a 7 weeks. Then we had a agreed to do an interview for RMH with Proctor and Gamble. Proctor and Gamble is based in Cincinnati, it is a massive company. If you don't know what P & G makes look on you diapers, shampoo or a cleaning supply and they probably are listed on the back as the manufacturer. They donate all the cleaning supplies and clothes detergent that is used by RMH. We had such a great experience staying a Ronald McDonald we couldn't help but take an hour our of day to help them out on this project, especially if it is going to help them get more funding from P & G. They asked all kinds of questions about Gabrielle, us, what brought us to Cincinnati, how clean was the RMH, etc. We also had to say goodbye to a few families that we had talked to during our stay in RMH. By 10 am we were on the road!! YAY!!!! I can't believe we are headed home.



This is the board at RMH that shows every family, what room, home town & state/country, and whether you are in the building or not. During our stay there were people from Arizona to Syria.



This is the our final time to move our heart from in to out.

 Ronald McDonald house is an amazing place to stay. Bart and I met so many families with children of all ages from newborns having heart surgery to 20 year olds having heart transplants. You become something to each other there. It is like an enlarged family that come home and share your day with, you vent and sometimes you might even cry. The Ronald McDonald house is funded completely on donations from large companies and small alike. Cincinnati RMH has 60 hired employees and 350 volunteers that come in and out through the day to make the day easier for the people that stay there. It is asked that you donate up to $25/day for your family to stay but no one is turned away for not being able to pay. All of their meals are prepared by volunteers and served by volunteers. Cincinnati RMH have all kinds of volunteers people come in to give haircuts, massages, activities for the kids, ice cream socials, snack times, whatever you can think of. I urge you if you are looking for a charity to help this is it. I know most of the people that follow our blog are in Louisiana there is an RMH in New Orleans and I believe there is one in Monroe also. If you don't have the time to voluteer simply donate. Different houses have different needs so make a call and see what they might be in need of at the time it may be diapers it may be toys to give to the children that stay there. Also they cash in the tabs off of aluminum cans so you could start collecting those and drop them off at your local RMH house. I'm sorry to run on about this but it was such an incredible help to us both finacially (40 days at RMH was cheaper than 7 days at a hotel) and mentally. Please think about donating to this wonderful organization.

Our family pic with Ronald himself :) we had been waiting until Gabby had her fixator off.

We made it to just outside of  Birmingham, AL tonight. We would've like to driven the whole way today but the girls where starting to get fussy and it is very cramped in the car with all the stuff. But we are right around 1/2 way home and be back on the road in the morning hopefully by about 7 am.

Thank you everyone that has taken this journey with us through reading this blog. Your kind words, cards and prayers have been appreciated more than you will ever know. We love you all!