Nany, the kids, and I all braved the pass and drove over to and from Seattle in one day to enjoy...
watching this little angel strut her stuff at the Festival of Trees at the beautiful Olympic Hotel. Daddy had to stay home and work which was a bummer. But Maddie's cardiologist, Dr. Vernon and her family, were there and what a treat it was to see them! We were also lucky to have Aunt Lesa, Uncle Mike, Savanna and Braydon as well as Maddie's great-aunt Janet S. there enjoying the evening with us too!
Cousins Braydon and Savanna standing by Maddie's tree & looking very sharp for the fun evening!
The patients wore red ribboned bells while the siblings wore green necklaced bells. The big brothers were very proud of their sissy's tree although Cade kept wondering where his was. I'm sure he was envisioning a spider-man themed tree.
Maddie and Jackson...another tree honoree. We all live in the same little town, he's Mrs. Becky's son (the boy's preschool teacher) and is currently undergoing chemo at Seattle Children's. He's a great young man and his family is wonderful. Maddie wasn't thrilled with taking any pictures at this point though, even with this handsome boy.
The beautiful tree in Maddie's honor..."Sophisticated Snow Ladies" and very elegant it was. There were over 20 different trees throughout the hotel lobby, all fully decorated with their own theme. Some are still up for auction if you're interested!
And Miss Maddie was not a fan of Santa. The boys loved him. Cade was speechless with a perma-grin while Jace talked his leg off, rattling off all of his wishes. Maybe next year she'll give Santa a chance?
What an honor it was for Maddie and for our family to be given this opportunity. My eyes welled up with tears many times throughout the evening...realizing the reason we were there and also feeling so fortunate with how things have turned out for Maddie thus far. In the opening ceremony of the tree lighting, the speaker mentioned that his life has been touched forever by the children at Seattle Children's and he's reminded of the saying, "but for the grace of God, there go I" when he sees the children and the families this wonderful hospital serves. I learned this saying at a young age from my grandma Nany and when the master of ceremonies said that, I realized that some may think this of our situation. But I don't look at it this way, it's by His grace that we have Maddie. We have been blessed beyond words with our little girl. Her heart has both softened and strengthened all of ours and we have so much to be grateful for.