Announcement

The day finally arrived. May 18, 2010.

I woke Madison and told her that I had a day full of surprises for her! She begged me to let her sleep 5 for minutes. 10 minutes later she finally got up and seemed interested in what I was trying to tell her.

I let her keep her pajamas on while we drove to see our friend Kristen at the beauty parlor. I told Madison she was going to have a special day and she could choose any hairstyle that she wanted and Ms Kristen would fix her up. She surprised us all and chose a piggytail do. Kristen curled the ends and added two matching blue bows, one for each side.

Then I helped Madison put on her blue skirt and the important red "Champion" t-shirt that Children's Miracle Network had mailed a couple of weeks before. Madi thought that we were attending a fundraiser for the hospital and I told her that they requested that she wear this shirt. She easily complied.

We drove over to our church, I told Madison we had to stop and check on something before the fundraiser. I saw the huge Wal-Mart semi-truck parked across the way and asked Madi if she wanted to look at it a little closer- she shouted- 'Yeah'! I asked her if she wanted a chance to ride in a truck like that- she said- 'well yeah'! We walked a bit further to the back door of the church and saw the truck driver, a police officer, a newspaper reporter and photographer talking. The driver, Ricky, asked Madison if she wanted a ride. Her mouth dropped open and said YES! They chatted a bit longer and he told her that she had other surpries in store and he wanted to drive her over to Wal-Mart see what it was all about.

We walked over, climbed in and got buckled. There were 3 officers on motorcycles and one deputy sheriff to lead us. Once we got half-way to Wal-Mart 2 other officers on motorcyles showed. They stopped every car on the way- blocking every intersection and drove us on through each and every red light. I wish I could get that treatment everytime I wanted to go to Wal-Mart! WOW!

She shouted in glee the whole way there. She also told us some funny jokes. Ricky told her had some gifts for her later in the morning. She laughed and said she hoped it wasn't WORMS! We laughed about that- he told her she told a good joke. In response she told him- 'yeah, I am full of good jokes!'

We circled around the Sam's Club parking lot so that we could fit in front of the Market side door of Wal-Mart. As we got closer, Madison started recognizing some of her friends- I rolled the window down so that she could say hello and wave. The first person she saw was Derrick from the Multi Purpose Center (where I host my Duds for Doodlebugs sale). She screamed and waved at him- so excited! Ricky pulled right up to the front door and we saw others that we knew. Kelly and her Dad, Sara, Marye, Harold and Jennifer, Herbie, Jen, Tina, Keith, Malissa, Amy, Nellie, Sam and Thomas, Julie C, the church staff, Ken, Renee, Natalie, Anna, Uncle Dave, Glo and Donald, Davi and Isaac, Amy and Connor, Amanda H., Denise and Tony, our Children's Miracle Network/ Batson Hospital friends- John, Tena, Jennifer, and lots of others. (I hope I am not leaving anyone out!)

I opened the door so that Madison could climb down- she made it to the top step and then jumped down! Ryan, the photographer at the Hattiesburg American was lucky enough to get that shot- with her little skirt acting as a parachute. I love that shot.


She jumped down and ran to Daddy to give him a giant bear hug. He presented her with a bouquet of daisies that he picked out. (Those flowers were pretty for at least 10 days! We displayed them in a special vase on our kitchen counter.)

Madison was encouraged to lead the way inside and have everyone follow. Since she wasn't sure where to go she walked in to the produce section until she saw a HUGE cake. That thing must have been 3' x 2' sheet cake! She stared at it for several seconds until Tena called us over for the big announcement.

To be continued...

getting closer!

Found out today that our announcement will be Tuesday, May 18th at 10am at the Oak Grove Wal-Mart.

I am getting so excited! I can't believe I have known this for 6 months and haven't told her. You know I am no good at keeping secrets from her!

She has guessed that we are going to DC but she doesn't know why or when... and she definitely does not know about the Disney trip.

Just 8 more days and we can start talking about it with her!