It all started a few weeks ago with Jon's shoulder surgery approaching. We were contemplating rescheduling Jon's surgery because Drew's football team won their conference championship a week earlier and advanced to regional playoffs. They had to win one more game and they would head to Disney World to compete in the National playoffs. This team had been undefeated all.season.long.so.far. Crazy, right?? Jon and I had a serious talk about the possibility of heading to Disney World with him only being 8 days post op and unable to help me at all! We decided to go ahead with it b/c the pros outweighed the cons and surely the boys wouldn't win, right??? I mean, that would just be insane...what are they, rock stars???
So he had the surgery the day before Thanksgiving. Everything went as planned. He had a large tear in his shoulder, which the doctor described in reference to a clock. He said his tear was from 2:00 to 9:00. Ouch! They placed 3 screws in there with permanent sutures to hold it in place and he was sent home in a sling with strict orders of no use of his left arm for one solid month. We also had to use this neat machine called a polar pack to ice his shoulder for 20 minutes every hour. EVERY hour. Did you read that??? The first few days were tough for him (and me!) but he was a trooper. Jon's parents helped out with the kids the day and evening of his surgery which was awesome. The day after his surgery, my mom came to my rescue. She knew how exhausted I was, so she and my dad came and got the kids on Thanksgiving day and kept them all day! We were so unbelievably blessed by our friends who, even on Thanksgiving, provided meals for us that first week. It was all I could do to get a shower each day between taking care of Jon and the kids so it was such a blessing to have these meals. You all know who you are, so THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I can't say that enough!
Saturday (4 days after Jon's surgery) was the BIG GAME. It was held at Wakefield High School. I was so nervous for Jon as this was his first time out and it was in a crowd! Let me explain the magnitude of this game. We had a 50% chance and winning and heading to Disney World the following week. Obviously I had very mixed emotions for numerous reasons! Our team scored a touchdown in the first quarter, making it 8-0.
And guess what happened after that?
Yep, they won. No more points were scored the entire game by either team.
And so it was...we were headed to Disney World in 5 days. I grinned ear to ear on the outside and quietly FREAKED OUT and cried on the inside! How would we ever pull this off!?! It felt like there were so many factors working against us, so all I could do was take a deep breath and laugh. And you know what? It all worked out. Of course it did. God is in control and He knew we would be okay the entire time!
I had 5 days to prepare for a week away and get everything ready, plus work as much as possible so I wouldn't have to use as much vacation time. It was the busiest 5 days I have had in a very long time, but it all got done! A big thanks to Hannah who helped me out with Emma a lot so I could do what I needed to do. She rocks!
A few days before we left another dear friend of mine recognized my stress level :) and said she wanted to do something to help us. I was floored when she said they wanted to use their card points to get us a hotel room for the drive down. What an amazing blessing! Not only did she do that, but she mailed me directions, and all the Cracker Barrel's along the route, with a gift card to stop and eat there!!! AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! I immediately felt better about things and again, so blessed and reminded that God was in control! Thank you sweet, sweet friend. You know who you are!
Drew needed to be there a day early so he rode with another family from the team so Jon and I could work an extra day and leave on Friday. This family was also a blessing! They would not take any money for Drew and insisted on it (even though I sent it with him anyway). He was their kid for almost 48 hours! Thank you sweet family for all your help!
So, off we went... Jon, Emma and I.
Pretty sure this is what we looked like driving down the road!
We drove about 6.5 hours and stopped at the hotel for the night, after chowing down on some delicious Cracker Barrel of course! ;) Emma did AMAZING! Seriously. She had her dvd player and went to town, disassembling her entire dvd collection all over the backseat but hey, it kept her occupied! Really, it couldn't have gone any better.
We got up Saturday am and drove the addition 2.5 hours and got there right in time for the first game at ESPN Wide World of Sports. What a wonderful place!
The deal was this: the team had one game Saturday and one game Tuesday. They had to win BOTH games in order to play in the National championship the following Friday. There were teams from all over the US there. It was an unbelievable experience.
Game one, team was from Rhode Island:
Drew (on the ground) recovers a fumble from the other team and we get the ball!
Get em' Drew!
He's going down!
These boys played their hearts out!
And it showed! Game one- BULLDOGS!
After that we had two free days to visit the parks. I have not had the chance to upload all my pics yet so I will do a separate post on the Disney Parks but it was all incredible! Overall visiting the parks went great! Drew was so helpful and really stepped up where Jon was unable to help. I can't wait to post more on this part of our trip!
Here is one sneak preview though:
Emma and Goofy!
Tuesday was game two. This team was from Pennsylvania. It was streamed live on espn3.com and the boys were stoked about that! Our friends and family could watch it live at home, which was amazing!
Get your game faces on!
Great catch Drew!
You know the drill...
Game two- BULLDOGS!
Apparently our team is made of machines. Seriously, they were unstoppable! We won both games so our stay was extended until the National championship Friday.
GAME THREE: NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, also streamed live on espn3.com
We had a lot of family and friends watching it live again and it felt like they were all right there with us. The ambiance was indescribable. It was a moment, for sure.
The team we played was from Florida (how ironic). I don't have a ton of pics uploaded from this yet but...
These boys came to play! Our opponents were really big too. The game was a nail biter.
Game three: BULLDOGS!
THEY WON!!! We won 16-14.
1st place Pop Warner Superbowl Champions!!!! Great job Bulldogs!
And one VERY happy boy!
This was truly an experience Drew will never forget. He had the time of his life, played his heart out and made tons of memories. This team went undefeated all season and post season, won their conference, their bowl game, regional playoffs, CFF playoffs and the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! #1 in the country! Can you tell I'm just a little excited for them? :)
Jon is healing well and we made it back safely from Florida (despite hitting a large bird, an entire cup of spilled coffee in the car at 2am and a very restless car ride home, finally arriving at 3:45am!). When we drove up, we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us! Jon's whole family had decorated the outside of the house for Drew. He LOVED it. We took pics the next morning.
What a nice welcome home!
Part two coming soon...
Thank you for sharing! We are delighted you had this amazing experience. Tina Burrows
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