There is an amazing organization called Inheritance of Hope. Their mission is “Every Family Deserves a Legacy”. They are an organization that sends families where a parent has a life threatening illness on memory making trips. I had sent in an application for us during all the radiation and gotten a note saying we were on the wait lists for this year. About a week later I get a call and there has been an opening to go on a retreat to Disney about three weeks later in June! I cried. We went. Sadly my husband couldn’t join us due to circumstances at work but my mom went with us. They also extended our airline tickets a few days and with some help from some other family we were able to go down early and go to SeaWorld and Universal, neither of which I had ever been too. I LOVED SeaWorld! We all did.
My Dad and younger brother ended up driving down and going with us those first few days due to some miscommunication I had about getting help with the kids, SO we spent three days with Grandpa and Uncle, they left, Grandma came and we spent almost four days with her! It was a great trip. My family once again was awesome and we are still so blessed.
Inheritance of Hope and their volunteers were amazing. Jessica was with us and I mean with us. She went on rides, made sure we had our tickets, our disabled information so we didn’t have to wait in line, helped with food, the kids, everything. The organization made sure I had an electric scooter rental so I could get around, they provided all our meals during the retreat days and had Mickey come to dinner with us the first night and all the kids got to meet him.
We get home from that trip, sufficiently exhausted and had about ten days at home to recoup before we were off with family again. My fabulous sister rented a seven bedroom home on Pensacola Beach complete with its own pool and across the street from the beach itself. She arranged for the family from here to drive down (about 11-12 hours) and also for some of the family from Texas to drive over (about same drive) and 17 of us holed up in a house on a beach for a week. The kids (six of them aged five to fourteen), the cousins (three and two spouses) and the parents (the other six). Overall we did pretty well, there is always drama with that many people especially relatives but it was great!
We had some amazing food. Fortunately I seem to be from a family of good cooks. We had Bbq Ribs, Chicken and 40 Cloves of Garlic, Pork Roast and we did go out a bit. The parents went out one night and the cousins took the kids to Landshark Landing (a Buffet Restaurant on the beach). The next night the cousins went to dinner to Hemingway’s and had a trigger fish special with artichoke hearts and spinach with garlic mashed potatoes that was really good.
My sister and her partner brought down a sailboat, a Hobiecat they recently purchased. Between weather and a mishap it didn’t get quite as much use as I think they would have liked. I didn’t ever get out on it, neither did my son and I don’t think one of the other kids but it really is okay, everyone had a fabulous time regardless. There was a huge pod of dolphins that went past one morning and that is always cool to see, especially for kids.
Mom and I flew, I could never have done a car ride that long, it would have been painful and exhausting. The last night they took us to a hotel near the airport – everyone was leaving really early and no one had room in their car the next day. Our flight wasn’t until the afternoon that day so we got the opportunity to see even some other cousins.
The family we were with during the week is my Dad’s side. The cousins we saw on Saturday before we left was from my Mom’s side of the family. My mom has a brother and he has three sons raised in Alabama and Pensacola. His middle son is in the Army and leaving for Korea in several months and got married recently. He is home from Arizona right now and wanted to show his new bride beachesw on the East coast as she was raised on the West coast. His mom lives in Alabama and they were visiting her so they drove to the beach and and happened to be staying close by. So my cousin came over and we got to see him for the first time in years – he is such a man now – and meet his wife and see his mom who we also haven’t seen in years. It was very nice, we didn’t manage to get in touch with some other people nearby it would have been good to see but it was a busy week and I can’t wait to go back!
I cannot believe how close school is, my daughter still has a week a long camp, we have passes to many local attractions and I’m looking forward to using those. We have a lot we want to do but I need to pace it.
I did come home and have scans this past Monday, mostly better, treating some new things on the back of my neck but I’ll elaborate on that next time.
Wow, and wow. You kind of lost me in all the relation/connections but one thing I picked up, and agree with… Sea World is my favorite of the parks as well – the ‘fish’, the landscaping/gardens, I love that place!!!
Ashley,
I am so happy for you that you were able to see so many relatives and enjoy each others company and do the many things you did. Doing what you and your family did is what life is really all about. I also glad to hear you had some positive news on your health as well. May God continue to bless you and your family and I will continue to offer you up to the Lord in my prayers for your healing.
Bless you Ashley. My family went on the January 2011 Inheritance of Hope Disney World trip and were also able to go a few days early to see Sea World and Universal Studios. I am battling heart and kidney failure. They are a wonderful organization and I’m so glad that you were also able to make some wonderful memories. I miss many of the volunteers and my oldest daughter plans on volunteering with them in the near future. I belong to CMLM (PTA) and think of you often…God Bless.
What a great post! And what a fantastic summer. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately! I hope this finds you super well.