An amazing fright....please read!

The last couple of weeks have been filled with a fair amount of stress as the hustle and bustle of getting our house ready to rent, packing for our move to Iowa City, and all of our other normal family obligations, have consumed our time, thoughts, and money. Through all of this we have felt an overwhelming urge to scream "can't we have a break?" or "are you serious?" when another thing goes wrong. But, luckily, we have been comforted and fueled by a knowledge that this will all end, that this will all be over soon, and that we have something so much bigger, so much more important, so exciting, and so....umm....amazingly frightening, coming up for our family.

In less than two weeks we will travel as a family to Madison, WI, where Beckham will compete (well, kiddie compete) in the Transplant Olympic Games, and where we will, for the first time, come face to face with the donor family of Beckham's heart, the Campbell's.

About a month ago I was able to speak to Holly - the donor mom of Beckham's heart - for the first time on the phone. I don't have the proper words to say how amazing and neat our conversation was, so the best word that I can use to describe it is "special." And boy was it special! Most of the conversation was filled with tears, which was to be expected (we are females!), but the best part was that Beckham was able to get on the phone and say a happy "hi Ha-wee (Holly)," and "hi Handy (Andy)," to both of the donor parents. It was awesome, to say the least!

Holly has been chosen to sing at the Opening Ceremonies for the Transplant Olympic Games, where they would like Beckham to be on stage while she does so (talk about a HUGE tear jerker). The song she has chosen is the last song that she sang to Jake before he was taken to give his precious life saving gifts, and a song that I used to sing to Beckham right after his transplant to comfort him through his pain episodes and drug withdrawals (we did not know before that we sang the same song to our sons). Please view the link to her video submission below. I hope it touches your heart as much as it has touched ours.

We can't wait to meet you, Campbell's! And while we know this is only the beginning of our personal meetings, I have come to a complete knowledge that our little family is so blessed and so changed to have your family as part of our lives, not only because you gave us the precious gift of Jake's heart that beats so strong in Beck's chest, but because you have given us a complete view of what this life is all about - love, endurance, acceptance, patience, and joy.