Give Kids the World Village

One of the greatest things about our vacation was our week long stay at the Give Kids the World village. What an amazing place! This non-profit resort was founded by Henri Landwirth, a holocaust survivor who spent five years as a teenager in Auschwitz concentration camps.

When we arrived at the village, we were checked in and taken to our villa. The houses are so cute. Our house was yellow with cute white windmills on the roof. The sign said "Welcome Home Harpers" and the refrigerator was full of drinks and snack and the table was covered in toys for the kids. Each evening after returning from the parks, the kids would find new gifts on the table.

GKTW goes above and beyond to make every family's stay extra special.

You never know who you will see at the village. Jed was excited to meet Diego!

Jed had a blast in the evenings playing in the waterpark. We would order our food and sit poolside and watch the kids play and swim. It was the perfect way to end each busy day.

Jed loved riding the horses! We would participate in one activity each morning at the village after breakfast and before leaving for the parks. There was always something fun going on for the kids!

I believe Kendall and Jed rode this carousel close to one hundred times during our stay!!! It didn't matter if we were on our way to breakfast or dinner or to an evening activity, they would always jump on and take a ride!

The game room was a fun place to play. The kids could play pool or wii or a variety of fun games while Josh and I crashed on the leather couches from a long day in Florida!

Jed and Kendall made sure to play a few rounds of putt putt each night before bed.

One evening, the village hosted "Village Idol" where the kids perform and their siblings are the judges. We had so much fun! Jedidiah was contestant #3 and he sang "The Bear Necessities" from the Jungle Book.

He is listening to the comments from the judges!

Kendall meeting Ronald McDonald

Reagon could usually be found at the ice cream shop, texting or on facebook!

Kendall loved playing in the pool with all her new friends. Some were wish kids and some were siblings.

Jedidiah with one of the many ice cream cones. The ice cream is served from morning to night, all free, all day!

While Josh and Reagon played basketball one evening before dinner, Kendall and Jedidiah rode on a horse drawn buggy around the village.

I wish everyone could see how amazing this place is! The kids can run and play and the parents can sit and visit or just relax. The volunteers are so wonderful! They are constantly handing out balloons or cotton candy or making something fun for the kids.

The movie theater is on the left in this picture and the game room is under the large wooden soldier.

Reagon with Alvin and the Chimpmunks inside the movie theater. Kendall was too busy getting her popcorn and coke!

Every Thursday is Christmas in the village. Santa delivers all kinds of toys for the kids. Christmas music fills the village, there is cookie decorating and a parade!

Jed with his friends before the parade

Playing a game of pool before bedtime

Each child is asked to write their name on a gold star that is permanently placed on the ceiling in the Castle of Miracles.

The food in the village is delicious! We enjoyed a huge buffet of food for breakfast each morning, including big stacks of pancakes and waffles from Perkins. The food is completely free to the families in the village. We were served Boston Market meals every day and pizza delivered each night.

Jedidiah getting a spray on tattoo at the little spa in the village! Kendall enjoyed getting her nails and makeup done!

My little cowboy!

I just can't say enough good things about this village! We had such a great time staying here.

Jed loved the train rides!

Jed and Ava (our niece) both have stars on this ceiling now!

What a special place! Thank you Make-A-Wish and GKTW!

Up Up and Away!

After church on Sunday night, we drove to Little Rock to stay in a hotel near the airport since our flight left early on Monday morning. It's pretty safe to say that none of us slept very well that night. We were all too excited about our trip.

We arrived at our terminal two hours before departure. Kendall and Jed were both jumping up and down with excitement when they pulled our plane up near the window to load the luggage.  The pilot came over to us and visited for about twenty minutes before we boarded the plane. As he was walking off, he turned to Jed and said "meet me in the cockpit!"  I really didn't think much about it so about an hour later when we finally started boarding, the pilot met us at the door and took Jed into the cockpit for pictures!

After everyone was loaded and the flight attendants gave their safety instructions, the pilot came on the speakers to welcome us all and then he said "Today we have my little buddy Jedidiah with us on his way to Disney World for the first time".  Jed was sure excited to hear that!  What a nice pilot.

This was everyone's first time to fly except for me, I have flown before with my work.  Josh and Reagon were both nervous wrecks but Kendall and Jed couldn't have been more excited.

Josh did great. He was nervous only a few times but it didn't last long.

 Jed never batted an eye. He loved watching all the planes before us take off and couldn't wait for us to "rare up and go", as he called it!

 Reagon Brooke was so nervous she almost passed out and was sweating like a pig!!!! LOL

Kendall, on the other hand, would have been happy if the pilot had done a few flips and rolls in the air! She was having a blast!

I had to laugh at this picture. Not sure why Josh is smiling so big. He may be a bit delusional since he just finished paying $60 for lunch in the Memphis airport or because poor Reagon was still sweating bullets and trying to catch her breath.  I will say, by the time we made it home, she was a pro at flying! She said she even like it. A little bit.=)

 We had a long layover in Memphis waiting for our flight to Orlando. Jedidiah could barely keep his eyes open. As soon as the second plane took off, he was out like a light. The second pilot came over the speaker to announce to everyone that his little hero was on board...Jedidiah on his way to his make a wish trip...and the entire group of nearly 200 passengers started clapping. It was an emotional moment for our family.

(yes, the girls both have pink streaks in their hair. This is not their rebellious side coming out, it's for breast cancer awareness month)

We landed in Orlando and was met by the nicest couple, holding a sign from Make a Wish that said "Welcome Jedidiah Harper".  They helped us with our luggage and walked us to our rental car. We had finally arrived in Florida and the weather was so nice. We couldn't wait to get to our village and crash for the night.

Stay tuned.....

Make*A*Wish Party

A week before our trip, the wonderful people at Make-A-Wish threw Jed a surprise pizza party to announce his wish to go to Disney World was granted! I thought you all might like to see his sweet face when Minnie Mouse walked in with the exciting news!

The Make-A-Wish foundation is such a very special group. Their mission is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. If you are interested in making a donation to this wonderful foundation, you can easily donate at their website. midsouth.wish.org Our youth group is going to hold a bake sale fall fundraiser soon to help more children experience the joy of a granted wish.  If you all could just see the frightened faces at the clinic each week and then see the big smiles and laughs at the wish village, you would know what a difference a few dollars could make.

Jedidiah says "THANK YOU Make-A-Wish"!!!!!

and thank you to the sweet blog friend who made this shirt for Jed!