A Dream Come True

       So much has happened since our last post that I don't know where to begin, but as they say there's nowhere like the beginning. After leaving St. Jude with no brain surgery, we went home for a month, which was the longest period of time we have spent at one place since leaving for Jacksonville last year. The little things in life constantly become interrupted by the need to leave for the hospital. Anyone who has had a sick child can relate that it's three days here, four days there, one night at a hotel, and so forth and so on. Needless to say, things were becoming routine again. I went to work; Rachel cleaned and home schooled, the boy's bickered. Ahhhh, the simple life. We could tell how many people were standing with us because Tzadok has done really great since leaving St. Jude last March. He has had very few headaches, and aside from the struggle to make sure he eats somewhat healthy all has been quite that is...until our Make-a-Wish trip.

       How do you describe a dream come true for a child? Insert Disney World, two limo rides, two plane rides, Give Kids the World Village, Sea World, Medieval Times, Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studios, and I think you'd be right on track. This vacation for our family was filled with so much awe and splendor that we still have a hard time comprehending everything we saw and experienced. For once, we were away from home and we wanted to stay gone. I can't possible detail everything we did on our trip, but I'll at least try to hit the highlights. I know over the next few days we will be posting some pictures on the Facebook page that will tell the story far better than the words on this computer screen can.

      So, we started out at Demos' in Lebanon, TN on Tuesday evening, which for those not familiar with Demos' is an Italian restaurant (Tzadok's favorite food). This going away party was held by the local branch of the Make-a-Wish foundation, and it was such a sweet time. Each boy was given a goody bag to help pass the time on the flight, and Tzadok received some extra special love from some volunteers namely a Buzz Lightyear cake, two awesome Buzz Lightyear shirts, and a handmade Buzz Lightyear crown. Everything from the meal to Tzadok's cake was completed and done by volunteers. The next afternoon our surprise limo picked us up and took us to the airport where we all got to fly for the first time.

Aside from the pat down I received for taking some apple juice on the airplane, the process was pretty smooth. Flying on the airplane was really as big of a deal as the rest of trip since none of us had flown before. Tzadok especially liked the experience.

     It was around 7 Wednesday evening when we finally arrived at
Give Kids the World, which was as awesome as a DisneyWorld resort
only without the crowds. The villa was fully furnished and the best
part was free ice cream, pizza, and Boston Market sandwiches. Oh, did I mention the ice cream! There were small rides for the boy's to enjoy, and we learned a little bit about the founder of Give Kids the World who was a survivor from the Nazi concentration camps.

He said that children should never lose their childhood as he had, and his vision was realized with our five boys for sure. We thought we were tired that night, but in a few days we would know what tired was. Thursday morning we found our way to Hollywood Studios in Disney World because a very special Buzz Lightyear was waiting for a private meeting with Tzadok. We got some special time with Buzz and it's something Tzadok will always remember. As awesome as Buzz was my personal favorite was Tigger and Pooh; however, Tzadok trumps me.

 Disney does so much for Make-a-Wish families that we were constantly running from attraction to attraction trying in vain to see all the four massive parks had to offer. Friday, we traveled to Magic Kingdom under the impression we would leave early and get some free dinner at the Villa, but we spent the entire day traversing the kingdom from corner to corner.

It was truly great and Tzadok liked the race cars best. Overall, Magic Kingdom was our absolute favorite, and Tzadok could have ridden the cars and the Buzz Light Year ride all day. Don't worry, we got back to the village in time to order pizza at the villa. Just imagine free pizza being delivered to your villa every night.

Yeah it was awesome!









On Saturday we slept in and rested most of the day. We ate breakfast and lunch at GKTW  and followed it with  ice cream of course. Then we did something Tzadok had been wanting to do since we got there. SWIM! We got the swimming trunks on and had a blast in the really awesome pool! The pool was 6 in to 3.5 feet. We played, jumped, and laughed for hours. Baby Zephaniah loved being able to wade and splash. They also had a cool splash pad that the boys played at before we left for the day. This was also the day when the boys got to make their pillows and Tzadok got to put his star on the ceiling at the castle.

He joined 130,000 other children who have been there and their isn't a picture I could get to describe how sparkly the ceiling and walls were. It's sad to think how many stars were there and how many children have suffered. We certainly are not alone. Tzadok's star has a bar code and every time we go and visit we can locate his star with the bar code.

After all the fun at the village, we then went on to Sea World. It was much later in the day and we just hit a few highlights there. One of the greatest things we did was let Tzadok pet the dolphin. He loved it!!! He smiled and loved being splashed by the friendly porpoises.  After feeding the rays and sharks and catching a few of the thrill rides, we headed back to the village. We got back to the village and of course ordered pizza and got tucked in by Mayor Clayton. Mayor Clayton is the mascot of the village and he's a sweet big rabbit. The boys loved it. We were all kinda iffy about it, especially Ebenezer. He didn't want that bunny (man in costume) to come in his house. I got in the bed and threw the covers over his head. Mayor Clayton was so funny and the boys laughed so hard. He spent extra time with Ebenezer, and he loved it! When it was all over, Ebenezer was so glad that Mayor Clayton came, and of course all the boys really enjoyed it! Sunday morning we got up early and went back to Magic Kingdom to relive all of Tzadok's favorites before heading to Epcot. We were so exhausted by the time we got to Epcot we just meandered around taking pictures and riding a couple rides. We didn't even get to half of the park. Oh, well we'll have to plan a return trip someday.

Monday dawned and we couldn't believe our trip was almost over. We had ice cream for breakfast and lounged around GKTW for most of the day before heading to Islands of Adventure. We wanted to go there for the Jurassic Park ride, which was an absolute blast. After spending some time at the Dr. Seuss splash area, we left Islands of Adventure for the highlight of our trip.

Medieval Times dinner theater was a two hour action packed adventure for the boys. Knights jousting, sword fighting, and eating a complete meal with nothing but your hands.

Interestingly enough, the knight we were to cheer for was the warrior priest, which scripturaly is where the name Tzadok came from. A warrior priest!!

Needless to say this vacation was a blessed time of renewal for everyone, and we can't thank the teams at Make-a-Wish and Give Kids the World enough for the hard work and sacrifice they make each and every day to make families like ours feel special and loved.