Patrick Family Update

Easter Report

The twins have had some ups and downs in the last ten days or so. Both girls have been sick and missed school. Abby has been the sickest, requiring an overnight stay in Vanderbilt Children's Hospital (Nashville). She is back at home today.

Shea had a swimming lesson and has made great progress since last summer.  Abby's high point was riding a horse for the first time at Open Gait Ranch, near Huntsville. We have been waiting for Abby to make this move for quite a while. We hope this will allow her to advance to the point where she can benefit from hippo-therapy. Shea does well on the horses, hunting Easter eggs on horseback. Both girls decorated eggs at the ranch.

Lisa, Arthur, Abby, Shea, Nana Peggy and Papa Ronald went to church on Easter Sunday. Papa stayed with Abby and Shea in Children's Church. The girls had an Easter egg hunt in their front yard, wearing their navy blue and white sailor dresses.

Lisa's good friend Jennifer came to eat supper with us and made a cake shaped like an Easter bunny which we all enjoyed after a wonderful meal prepared by Lisa and Peggy.

Long Overdue Update...April 9, 2009

This is Abigail and Shea's maternal grandfather, Ronald McCuiston, a.k.a. Papa. Due to computer problems, Arthur has not been able to post an update lately. Here is some news.

The twins are in the public school pre-K program, which they both love--perhaps Abby more than Shea. They have other activities such as church, soccer (Shea), day camps and horseback riding. Shea has taken to the riding very nicely. Eventually, Abby will warm up to the horses and will benefit from this form of therapy called hippotherapy. Abby has sat on the pony a couple of times.

Shea is like a fish in water and is now a swimmer. Abby also loves to be in a pool and receives pool therapy; she also has a tricycle which she is learning to ride at school.

They have a dog named Lucy, given to them by a next-door neighbor. The girls love her.

Abby and Shea have a lot of colds, coughs and 'viruses,' probably due to a lowered immune system. Just recently, Shea missed a couple of days of school. Now Abby has been sick. This episode caused her to miss an Angel Flight trip to St. Louis for an appointment with a C.P. specialist.

Arthur's mother, Lucy Patrick, continues to drive from Tuscaloosa to Huntsville to help with the girls. The twins also go to her home in Tuscaloosa when possible. We greatly appreciate all that she does.

Peggy and I drive to Huntsville from Pensacola about once a month. To be with Lisa, Arthur, Abby and Shea. We recently installed Web cameras on my and Lisa's computers so we can talk to and see them quite often. They are a joy to be with.

December 27 2008

Hello all! Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! The girls had a great Christmas and are now being royally entertained by Meemaw, Nana and Papa! Arthur and I are on a much needed respite break to Nashville. We are staying with friends tonight and heading home tomorrow.

My primary purpose of this post is to encourage everyone to go and see the movie "Seven Pounds", starring Will Smith. I (Lisa) had no idea what the movie was REALLY about until about halfway thru-when it hit me that this might not have been a good choice of movie for me to see-especially alone! Anyway, without giving anything away, the movie hit very close to home. I have never had such an emtional reaction to a movie-EVER!! Please go see it. And, add to your new years resolution list: sign your organ donor card, and /or discuss your wish to be an organ donor with your family. Look at www.donatelife.org or www.cota.org for more information.

December 10, 2008

I have added some new pictures of the girls from Halloween and a trip to the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.  We have had a fairly calm period since the last posting.  Shea did come down with a bacterial infection recently and it required a visit to the ER but she is ok now.  She had a very high fever (104) and had to have an IV at the hospital.  Both Abby and Shea have had a cough lately. 

We had a nice Halloween.  Shea dressed up as a mouse and Abby was a pumpkin.  We trick or treated in the old town area of Huntsville where all of the old homes are and got a lot of candy.  Shea is still working on her candy stash.

We all attended a charity fund raiser at the Vanderbilt University Children's Hospital in early December.  We were given a wooden model of the hospital logo to decorate and it was used in the fund raiser.  They also give models to celebrities to decorate and they auction those off to raise money for the hospital.  Ours was given to one of the sponsers of the charity event.  Our sponser was a Nashville bakery.  Lisa came up with the idea to put angels on our logo and it just so happened that the bakery uses an angel in their company logo.  I put a picture of the model on the photo page.  Since the fund raiser was in the evening, we spent the night with our friends Jim and Shirley, who live in Nashville.  The next day we took Abby and Shea to the Opryland Hotel to see all of the Christmas deocorations.  If have never seen or heard ot the hotel, it is huge and there is a maze of gardens with a flowing stream throughout the area and it is all under a glass roof.  They decorate the area up for Christmas.  The girls really enjoy it.

Lisa's parents, Ron and Peggy, came to Huntsville to have Thanksgiving with us.  We had a nice holiday.  I spent most of the holiday weekend raking up leaves.  Now we are gearing up for Christmas and both girls are exicited.  We went to a Christmas tree farm and cut a tree.  Shea really enjoyed that and also liked decorating it.  Neither girl has shown much interest in talking to Santa.  They are both scared of him. 

That is all for now.  Have a Merry Christmas.

October 30, 2008

I have added some photos from our trip to White Oak South Carolina to visit Patrick relatives, some pitures from the Salon Allure fund raiser, and some photos from our trip to the pumpkin farm.

October 27, 2008

We had a VERY successful fund raiser this weekend, thanks to Michelle McGough and her staff at the Salon Allure.  We also had a great weekend.  There were several news stories about our fund raiser and I have attached a link to a news report in the press releases.  As soon as I get some pictures down loaded, I will add new photographs.

October 24, 2008

I have added a link to an article that ran in the Huntsville Times newspaper.  The article is an update on the girls and is advertising our up-coming fund raiser on Saturday at Salon Allure.  There was a nice picture of the girls on the front page of the paper but this link does not include the picture.

October 20, 2008

Salon Allure, located in Huntsville, is hosting a fund raiser for our girls COTA fund.  COTA stands for the Children's Organ Transplant Organization.  The fund raiser will be held on October 25 from 1pm until 5pm.  Salon Allure is located at 821 Regal Drive and the phone number is 256-536-1220.  The salon will be offering free food and musical entertainment.  They will be offering $20 hair cuts from which all proceeds will go to COTA.  There will also be door prizes and raffle prizes.  The Alabama - Tennessee football game is not until 6:45 so you have no excuse not to drop by.

October 1, 2008

For anyone reading this in the Huntsville area, the Salon Allure (256-536-1220) which is located here in Huntsville will be having a fund raiser for our girls COTA fund on October 25.  The time is from 1-5 and they say they will have food and music provided.  When I get more specific information, I will post it.

Also, we have been notified that a story on our girls will be run in the British magazine "Chat".  I think that the magazine is a British version of People.  Hopefully, I can get a link to the story so that I can post it on our web site.  The story is suppose to be in their November 6 issue.

September 24, 2009

Since our last posting we took Abby to St. Louis to the St. Louis Children's Hospital to have a checkup at the CP clinic and to have some more botox injections.  We had a good visit.  Thanks to Angel Flight we were able to travel to and from St. Louis on the same day.  It was a long day though.  Both girls have been sick some point with a virous but all is well now.

Shea and Abby are in school now at Chapman Elemenatary which is just down the street from our house.  Lisa is finally getting some free time during the week now but she still keeps busy in the afternoons. 

We signed Shea up to play soccer in the Huntsville city recreation program.  She plays for the Purple Paws.  Shea hasn't exactly learned to play soccer much but she loves to play in the grass. 

Our next big event is a family trip to South Carolina to see some relatives on my father's side.  This will be our first big family trip other than our trips to Pensacola to see Lisa's parents.  Hopefully the gas prices will drop a bit before we head out.

I have added a few new photos to the picture list.