The Ava Stocking Project

The Ava Stocking Project

I met baby Ava only a few days after she was born.  She was beautiful from head to toe!  I had been communicating by email with her Mommy for months before she was born.  We were planning her newborn photo session and I couldn't wait to meet her and take pictures of her.  I was heartbroken when I received the phone call that baby Ava was in NICU at Miam Children's Hospital and was not expected to survive.  I spoke with Ava's Mom and she asked if I could come to the hospital and take pictures of her beautiful baby girl.  I felt blessed that I was able to meet Ava, and her parents, and I was able to take pictures of this precious baby girl.

The following is a letter written by Jake and Kristin ~ baby Ava's parents.

I hope that we can spread the news about The Ava Stocking Project around the world and make our world a better place to live.  I believe baby Ava will touch the world, and kindness will be spread in her name. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this Blog and please take a moment to be a part of The Ava Stocking Project.

Thank you!

The Ava Stocking Project

Unfortunately, this holiday season will be a little bit different for us. We were anxiously awaiting to spend this Christmas with our sweet baby girl, Ava Catherine. Little did we know that God had greater plans for her.  As we rapidly enter the holiday season we especially want to keep her memory alive.  Jake and I have been trying to find ways to honor Ava and bring beauty from the pain of losing her.  We wanted to find a way to be able to still give her Christmas “gifts” (as this was going to be something I was especially looking forward to do with Ava).

 Through searching online we have come up with an annual idea, The Ava Stocking Project.  Jake and I would like to invite you to join us in doing something nice for someone else.  A random act of kindness in memory of our daughter. Below you will find inspiring ways to achieve this during the holiday season.  Please feel free to use one or come up with your own idea.  We are planning on getting Ava her own special Christmas stocking. As you participate in The Ava Stocking Project would you please send us a letter or write us an email sharing what you’ve done.  As we collect the responses we will keep the letters sealed and emails unread.  We will continue to fill Ava’s stocking with people’s emails and letters until Christmas. On Christmas morning we will open up all the letters and emails and read aloud all the beautiful things done in memory of our precious little Ava and admire what a difference she continues to make in people’s lives!

                                                                                Merry Christmas,

                                                                                                                Jake and Kristin

You can send your responses to:

Home Address:  4211 Centurian Circle          *Please specify that it is for The Ava Stocking Project.                                          Greenacres, Fl  33463

Email: avarhodes108@yahoo.com                  *Please do not send responses via facebook.

Leave wipes and diapers in a public restroom.                     Leave a generous tip for your waiter.

Share your umbrella.                                                      Visit someone who is lonely.

          Put gas in someone’s car.              Leave quarters at a laundry mat.

Help change a tire.                                 Donate books to a library.

Give elderly the gift of music or the playing of checkers.

                                                Leave crayons and coloring books at a doctor’s office.

Give away your parking spot.                               Visit someone who is lonely.

                             Donate to your local food pantry.

Send a friend a vase of flowers.                                      Talk with your sales clerk.

                   Pay the tab for someone behind you at a fast food drive thru.

Offer free babysitting.             Visit Ava at the cemetery.               Give someone a hug.

Help someone whose car has broken down.

                              Help your neighbor with yard work.

Tape a quarter to a pay phone.                                               Visit someone who is sick.

                        Leave a bouquet of flowers for ANOTHER child’s grave at a cemetery. Leave change in a vending machine.                         Buy a child, at your local hospital, a toy.

                                                Shower people with compliments.

'Always a Rainbow after the Storm'

Thank You!

I want this post to be an inspiration to anyone who is going through a difficult time in their life.  My hope is that you will believe that everything really does happen for a reason. I hope you will also believe that there is a light at the end of  those very dark, and long black tunnels, we sometimes have to travel through in life.  I mostly want everyone, who reads this post, to realize that we need to cherish every precious moment of our lives, because in the blink of an eye things can change.

I also wanted to write this post to thank all of the amazing people I have been blessed to have in my life.  Thank you to all of my friends for all of the amazing cards, prayers, phone calls, visits, flowers, cookies, fruit baskets, teddy bears, scented lotions and body sprays, candies, magazines, and support!  I can never thank you all enough!!!

Today - July 22, 2011 - is my 2nd Anniversary of becoming very ill with Swine Flu, double pneumonia, and ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome).  http://www.ards.org/learnaboutards/whatisards/brochure/

Two years ago today, I had just finished a fun-filled vacation visiting with friends and family all throughout north Florida.  We ended our 10 day vacation with a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida (I'm still not over that Simpson's Ride...!!!  It's one of those virtual rides that makes you feel like your stomach is coming out of your mouth even though you are barely moving!!!  A lot of fun though!).

I was pretty exhausted, but thought nothing of it when I noticed a strange rash all over my legs.  Thought nothing of it the next day, upon returning home, when my daughter asked me what was wrong.  She told me I looked ill, but I felt fine.  The following day, I made a mani/pedi appointment and was starting to get myself mentally prepared for the next school year.  I was a 4th grade teacher and I would be returning to work in 3 short weeks!  :) 

Well, a few hours after making that mani/pedi appointment ~ I was calling the salon to cancel ~ telling Tina that I had just come down with the flu, had 103 temperature, but I would see her as soon as I recovered. (That reminds me, I haven't seen her since and I really should make that appointment again!  :)  This day began a journey that changed my life forever.

I spent a week on the couch, nursing my fever.  I went to the ER at one point during that week only to be told I had the flu, given a Z-Pac and sent home.  Even went to my family Dr because I KNEW (always go with your gut) that I was sicker than I had ever been in my life!  I told my Dr that I felt like I was dying!!!... and he sent me home (since I was on the Z-Pac!)  He told me to return in 3 days.  Well, 3 days later I was in the hospital, diagnosed with double pneumonia and on life support.  I was so ill the Dr's had to put me into a medically induced coma (where I stayed for 14 days) and I had to be intubated (tube down the throat to breathe).  I remember looking at all of my family members, standing around my bed, with such concerned faces.  I knew I was sick, but I didn't realize how sick I was at that moment.

Fast foward 14 days later...I remember the Dr's and nurses removing the tube (I thought I had a big tooth stuck in my throat!!! LOL!!!)  I had come out of the coma to have Dr's and nurses pulling something (IT FELT REALLY BIG) out of my mouth.  They kept saying 'you have a tube down your throat' (I thought they were saying 'TOOTH down your throat! LOL!!!).  I also thought I had just arrived at the hospital.  I thought it was July 28th (the day I entered the hospital) but in reality it was August 10th.  No one told me it was August 10th, so I was confused when I saw my family ~ especially my husband.  He looked so stressed and he looked like he had lost a lot of weight!  (He had lost 9 pounds in the two weeks...why do men lose weight so easily and quickly...not fair! :) Two days later, on August 12th, when I found out the date I felt like

 Rip Van Winkle the man who slept for 20 years!

Why I wasn't totally freaked out when I realized I was completely paralyzed, I will never know.  All I could do was move was my head.  My family informed me that the dr's had to induce paralysis, because I would not stay calm and I kept trying to pull the respirator out of my throat.  So, there I laid in my hospital bed - not being able to move - and I had a strange sense of peace in my heart.  I was told that my nurse, Martine, (I will Love her Forever!!!...my Angel on Earth) sat with me and read the bible daily and asked God to save my life. What an amazing person she is!  My family told me that there were prayers being said at every church (every denomination imaginable) and Synagogues from South FL to NY (family in NY).  My Dr's told me over and over that I was a miracle and that they were so happy that I had survived.  (I must say I'm HAPPY, too!) 

So, the journey to becoming healthy again began.  I spent one month in ICU with daily intense physical therapy and occupational therapy (THANK YOU Teva, Robin, John, Jason, and all of the other wonderful therapists who pushed me and made my body whole again!  You are my Guardian Angels, too!  Amazing, dedicated people you are!!!).  Who would think at the age of 49 years old, I would have to learn how to wash my face, write my name, wave hello/good-bye, sit up (yes, we all take these simple tasks for granted!  I was placed in a chair and had to learn how to sit and stand-up all over again - took weeks to accomplish!...I had to crawl (no kidding, on the floor on all fours!) before I could walk again.  Teva and John moved my legs while I layed in the bed and Robin worked out my arms.  Who would have ever imagined that arms and legs could feel so heavy!!!  I'll never forget the first time I got to stand up again!  I'm 5' 9" and I kept saying I felt like a towering tree in the forest!  I had been in bed for such a long time, so I had forgotten what it felt like to stand up!  It was 5 weeks after entereing the hospital (I was now at a rehabilitation center for 3 weeks) and Jason, my physical therapist, put me in a machine that held me upright so I could just stand!  I can't tell you how excited I was to be standing!!!  That's all I could do was stand - strapped and buckled into this machine - but I was grinning from ear to ear and oh so happy! 

I was given a wheel chair and I had to be lifted out of my bed by my nurses just to sit in it.  The hours alone in my room were sometimes difficult.  I would take a look at myself in that wheelchair - with legs that I did not recognize (skinny, skinny legs, with no muscle tone at all!) - and legs that would not move at all - and my mind would wonder how this all happened to me.  I dropped my cell phone to the floor and just sat and looked at it only inches away from my wheel chair!  Something so minor as my phone on the floor became a major problem for me!  I could not, for the life of me, bend over and just pick up my phone!!!  Oh, how we take so many of the little things in life for granted.   My lungs were weak (I coughed constantly...don't know how my family and friends put up with that!!!  I remember my friend Charlene (love you Char) came to visit me and she started having sympthathy coughs and coughed along with me!!!  LOL!!!  I guess like the song says "That's what friends are for..."  One of the most important lessons I learned through all of this was, the physical body does not make up who we are.  I was paralyzed, but I was still me!  I coudn't do anything for myself, but I was still me.  I was weak, but I was determined to live, to walk, and to get my life back.

I finally returned home on September 11, 2009!  I had been gone for 7 weeks and I can still remember what it felt like to walk into my home.  We all complain about our homes...we all want to replace the furniture, paint those walls, get new flooring!  Well, let me tell you that HOME never looked so good to me!  I was like a little kid taking it all in.  I missed my dogs so very much!  I enjoyed their kisses like I had never enjoyed them before!  My first night sleeping in my comfy bed, next to my husband, was like pure heaven!  I continued out patient therapy for 3 more weeks and was finally able to drive my car in November ~ four long months after becoming sick!!!  I was never so happy to go to the grocery store and buy a gallon of milk, some bread, and some eggs!  I said I'd never complain about running to the store ever again...(hate to admit it, but I'm back to not wanting to run to the store...some things never change).

It was the end of November and I was slowly getting my life back, when all of a sudden my hair started to fall out!  The Dr's said it was from the stress my body was under, and from all the medicines I was on while I was in the hospital.  So, Thanksgiving Day 2009, Matt (my husband - hairdresser for the day!) cut off the last of my 'Donald Trump' comb-over!!! THANK YOU, Matt!!!  I now had an army buzz cut!!!  I was petrified to look in the mirror.  But, you know what I found out?  I had spent so many hours, daily, trying to get my DARN hair to look good and now all I had to do was 'wash and go'.  It was very freeing and liberating.  I'm not gonna lie - I was scared to death to go out in public, but let me tell you I got more compliments with my 'buzz' cut then I'd ever gotten with my $40, $50, $60 hair cuts!  I will admit, I bought a couple of wigs, because I did miss my hair - but, I gave them up because I kept adjusting my hair in public (I'm sure I scared a few people along the way) and it was just too hot, uncomfortable, and not me!

It took one whole year for me to recover and feel somewhat like myself again.  I sometimes feel as though I was given a mandatory year off from doing anything!  It gave me a lot of time to think about life, appreciate life, and study photography!  As John Lennon once said “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."





To my husband Matt...I don't know where I can begin to THANK YOU for all that you have done for me over the past two years!  I know it hasn't been easy for you and I appreciate you more than you will ever know.  Matt and I had been together for 7 yrs, finally decided to get married, and then one year later I was terribly ill.  Thank you for taking your vows "in sickness and in health" seriously.  Thank you for spending endless hours with me at the hospital and the rehab.  Thank you for rushing to the hospital at 11 PM (two days after I came out of my coma) and staying with me until 3 AM (even though you had to go to work in the morning) because I was so afraid and felt so ill.  Thank you for supporting me and fighting for me when I couldn't do it for myself.  If I could, I would say one trillion thank you's to you!  Thank you for loving me with and without my hair!  I owe you BIG TIME!  I LOVE YOU!!! xoxoxoxoxo




                                                                                            


I LOVE YOU Jenna (my daughter).  Thank you for being so strong and supporting me while I was sick.  Thank you for taking me to out patient therapy when Grandma or Aunt Joanie couldn't make it!  Thank you for making me laugh when I was feeling down!  You've always been good at that!!!  xoxoxo


To my son Jimmy.  I wish I had a picture of you and I together!  Now do you see why I get so upset when you won't take pictures with me!!!  :)  Anyway, I can still tell you that I love you and thank you for being there for me when I needed you!  I'm still thinking about that cute girlfriend of yours (you know...the one I dreamed about while I was sick! LOL).  I LOVE YOU Jimmy!!!


Thank you to my mother who sat next to me, held my hand, and prayed to God that I would survive.  She told me many times about the power of intention.  She never, not even for a moment, let her mind think that I would not survive!  Thank you for bringing me my first coke and chips (my favorite) and thank you for driving me to my out patient therapy sessions 3 times a week!  You kept me strong!!!  I love you!!!  xoxoxo



Thank you to my mother in law Barbara, and my sister in law Penny, for all of the prayers.  I really thank you both  for driving 6 hours to see me when I was in a coma and didn't even know you were there!  I love you!!!   I thank all of my wonderful in laws for the prayers and support!  I love you all!!! David, Barb, Dave, Bob, Johnny, Anthony, Amanda. xoxoxo

Thank you to my sister Doreen and Wolf for always being there for me!!!  Thank you for your prayers...Thank you for checking on me daily...Thank you for everything you do!!!  I love you both very much!!!  xoxoxo

To  my baby sister, Joanie!  Thank you for taking care of Matt while I was sick (you were his stand-in wife LOL!!!)  Thank you for all the prayers, love, and for driving all the way from Miami just to help me out when I needed to get to physical therapy!!!  I love you for everything you do for all of us!!!  (...and that goes for Dave, too!)  xoxoxo



This was like my 'coming out' day!  It was Thanksgiving Day 2009 and Matt had just shaved my head to get rid of the few strands that were left!!!  I know I scared of few of you that day with my new-do!!! :)
My Family!!!  Thank you for all of your LOVE and SUPPORT through the most difficult time in my life!  I love you all very much!!!  My Mom, my twin sister Doreen, and my neice Caitlin are missing from this picture, but you all know I love you very much!!!  xoxoxo



Back Row L to R:  my stepson Eric, my son Jimmy, friend Rafael
Sitting L to R: friend Albee, nephew Jake, sister Joanie, Me, daugher Jenna, brother in law David
and sitting front and center - my husband Matt! 
Thanksgiving Day ~ Celebrating my new hair-do and the fact that I was alive and out of the hospital and rehab!!!



It was Matt's idea for me to go out and purchase a wig (or two)!  I must admit that it did lift my spiritis to have some hair to brush again...however, after a few weeks of feeling like I had a helmet on my head, I went back to my 'buzz cut'!





My hair begins to grow!  Thank you Matt for standing by me and supporting me through the most difficult challenge of my life!!! Thank you for fighting for me when I couldn't do it for myself!  Thank you for being there for me when I was scared out of my mind!  Thank you for everything!!!  I LOVE YOU!!! 



Six months after getting out of the hospital/rehab ~ I'm out enjoying a Bon Jovi Concert with Matt and friends Charlie and Helene!!!  I remembering still feeling so weak, but singing my lungs out!!!  I LOVE BON JOVI!!!  :) (Still sporting that short hair-do!)

 

Then, when my hair started to grow back in ~ it grew in REALLY curly!!!  That was quite the adjustment!  Wont even show you the pics of it trying to grow in (I had the afro look!!!  very scary time for me!!! heehee)

So in the end, I learned many valuable lessons from becoming so ill.  I learned...

• Miracles do happen ~ and God does answer prayers
• life is fragile and uncertain and to appreciate eveyone in my life and cherish each moment in life
• no matter how difficult a situation is ~ it will pass and life will get better
• our outer bodies are just a shell...being paralyzed and having to learn how to do everything all over again taught me that lesson.  I was still 'ME' even though I couldn't do anything for myself
• That I had more friends, love, support than I ever knew!!!
• that there are so many wonderful people in the world (my nurses and doctors who saved my life-just to mention a few!)
• hair is just hair!!!
• just like the book says "Don't sweat the small stuff" (I'm still trying to master this one!  :)
• When one door closes - another opens...I was a 4th grade teacher, was severely depressed because I couldn't return to work.  I then spent one year recovering and studying photography!  Little did I know that I would fall in-love with photography and start a whole new career that I LOVE!!!
• Everything happens for a reason.  I found so many good things came from being so ill and almost losing my life.  It's up to us to take a bad moment and turn it into something good! 

Thank you to my entire family, all of my friends, my Dr's, nurses, therapists, and all of the people who prayed for my recovery (some of the people I don't even know).  I thank God for allowing me more time to enjoy life!!!

Thank you to all of my family and friends who chipped in and made my car payments for me while I was out of work!  Thank you to all of my teacher friends who came to visit me and brought me magazines, gifts, cookies, etc!!!

Thank you to my students, and their parents, for the cards - gifts - and for visiting me!!!

THANK YOU...  THANK YOU...  THANK YOU!!!

I could go on and on thanking everyone in my life forever!!!  I appreciate each and everyone of you and I appreciate all that everyone did for me while I was sick.






'Watch Me Grow' with Jaxon

 Watch Me Grow

with Jaxon



I LOVE taking pictures of babies, kids, and their families!  I feel especially lucky when I get to photograph a baby during his or her first year of life.  This photo session was for adorable baby boy Jaxon's 6 month session.  I first met Jaxon three short months ago when he was only 3 months old.  Oh, how quickly they grow and change!!!  Jaxon is now sitting up, scooting across the floor, and showing more of his sweet personality!  He is surrounded by love from his adoring big sister Savannah, his very proud Daddy, and his Mommy who is totally in-love with him (can't blame her...check out his gorgeous eyes and beautiful smile!)  He is one happy baby-boy!. 

This was also a special session because Jaxon's Grandpa was visiting from up North and would be returning home the next day, so we captured some very special moments of Grandpa and Jaxon!  I also had the opportunity to capture some tender moments with Jaxon and his big cousin Shelby who would be moving up North the following day.  It makes me happy to think that they will have pictures from their childhood's to look back on and cherish the moments together.

I look forward to taking pictures of Jaxon in three months when he will be 9 months old!  I'm sure he will just get cuter and cuter and more charming than ever!!! 

 



Every Picture Tells a Story...

Every Picture Tells a Story...

Don't you love it when you meet a person and you have that instant connection?   You say 'hello' and it's as if you are old friends meeting again.  That is how I felt when I first said 'hello' to Wally and her husband Jonathan!  I felt as if they were old friends that I hadn't seen in ages! 

We celebrated our first year anniversary on Facebook by having a Big Gift-Give-Away!  Wally was our lucky winner, and I was the lucky photographer who got the chance to photograph her family.  I was more than touched to think that Wally, her husband, and  their three kids piled in the car and headed from the  North West Coast of Florida all the way down to the Southeast Coast (a 4-5 HOUR DRIVE) just to have their pictures taken by ME!  I am honored!!!

The funny thing is that Wally had planned on bringing her family to us months ago for a photo session, but unfortunately the kids got sick and they had to post-pone the trip.  At that time, Wally and I got to know each other a little bit through emails.  She informed me that she had an 8 year old daughter (beautiful Alannis) and twin 5 year old  (adorable) boys who have Autism.  The boys are non-verbal (learning sign language - which I think is FANTASTIC!). 

We made plans to meet on Delray Beach for a fun picnic photo session.  Wally arrived dressed in a pretty white sundress with a dainty white flower in her hair - great contrast to her dark hair, olive complexion, and gorgeous brown eyes!  I love that her family was dressed in bright red t-shirts and jeans - great look for the pictures.  (Make sure to notice the Autism Puzzle piece pins they all wore to bring awarness to Autism). 

From the moment we began the photo session, Nicky and Seby (the twins) were on the go.  They were smiling, running, jumping, and keeping Mom and Dad on their toes!!!  I joked with Dad as he dashed across the sand (more times than I could count) after his excited twin boys!  They took one look at that ocean and that's where they wanted to be!  We did distract them for a few minutes, by bringing out a blanket with a basket of red juicy apples to enjoy.  A moment later, and off ran Nicky (or was it Seby?).  Dad sprinted into high gear as Mom sprinted in the other direction after the brother!  Sweet Alannis, big sister to Nicky and Seby, just smiled and posed for a few pics for me.  The boys made the decision for all of us... we would now be doing this session fully clothed int the water! The fun was about to begin!  So off they all went into the water...splashing, laughing, jumping, smiling!  I joked with Jonathan (Dad) that he didn't need to join a gym ~ he was getting quite the work-out out tossing two boys in the water and running and jumping non-stop!  He agreed!

Our session only lasted approximately 45 minutes, but I believe I captured the love, and the tenderness, that I saw in this family.  I can honestly say that I don't know if I have ever met a more patient and loving couple in my life!  They did not get upset when the kids went in a different direction than was planned, they laughed at things that other's might get upset by ~ they just had a sense of calm that truly impressed me.  At the end of the shoot, Jonathan realized that he went swimming with is cell phone in his pocket!  I cringed and thought 'YIKES...here comes the explosion!  He's gonna be furious!!!"  But instead, he laughed - said 'Oh well, I wanted to get a new phone anyway."  I laughed and thought, that's how I want to look at life.  Don't sweat the small things in life.  Jonathan, and his family, will remember their mini-trip to a South Florida Beach for a photo session in the sun and no one will remember that Daddy went swimming with his phone in his pocket (unless Wally reminds him :)

In the end, I hope I captured moments that this family will teasure forever!  I packed up my car, waved good-bye to an amazing family, and drove away thinking about the saying 'God only gives you what He thinks you can handle'.  He chose the perfect family for these 3 beautiful children!  It was an absolute pleasure meeting Wally, Jonathan, Alannis, Nicky, and Seby!  I hope I will have the opportunity to take your pictures again! 

Wally's Family...