Torie's Highlight of the Month

This morning we woke up to the announcement that Darius Rucker, the cast from Army Wive's and various football stars from the Falcons team were going to be in the Children's Atrium making purses with the children in the hospital. The celebration was part of Fashion Week in Charleston.

Torie is a huge fan of Darius Rucker (I'm embarrassed to say I had no idea who he was. Keeping me up with the media is one of the benefits of having a 19 year old daughter.) Daris Rucker is the newest country western sensation and was formerly the lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish.

When we walked in the atrium it was mobbed with literally 100's of children, parents and media. Normally there are about 6-10 people in the entire atrium. Isabelle's eyes just got huge and then Torie's eyes got even bigger when they picked us to go sit with Darius and the editor of Charleston Magazine, Darcy Shankland.

Darcy helped us pick up a purse and the embellishments to put on it. Then Darius proceeded to glue the decorations on the purse under the watchful eye of Darcy and Isabelle. We spent about 30 minutes with them. They were both SO gracious and down to earth.

Diversions like this are wonderful for the children in MUSC who face extended stays in the hospital (and their big sisters:). We see other families who are facing much greater obstacles than ours...children who are burn victims, cancer patients, etc. The day was a great encouragement to all who attended.

You can see by the photo (below) that Isabelle was just a bit overwhelmed by the entire morning.


Darcy Shankland, Editor of Charleston Magazine, and Darius Rucker, newest sensation on the country-western scene and former lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish with Torie and Isabelle at MUSC.

On a medical note: Please pray for successful removal of Isabelle's chest tube tomorrow. They will be doing an echo on her heart and an x-ray on her lungs both tomorrow and Friday. If no fluid builds up, we will be released. You have NO idea how thrilled I'll be to hear those words.

And another prayer request: Many of you may remember that we were blessed to help organize a Summer of Hope-Ethiopia visit for 18 Ethiopian orphans last summer. We're thrilled that 10 of them now have waiting adoptive families and 5 of those are in our church family. We got news this week that the first family, Mike and Iris Wallace, will be traveling to pick up Zelalem, their 9 year old son, this weekend. That news absolutely brightened my entire week. Please pray for safe travel and a smooth reunion with their son. And also pray for the other families that are waiting for court dates and travel assignments to pick up their children.