Declaring His Wish

Matthew was introduced to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Utah yesterday. I blogged last week about how he got his key in the mail. He carried it everywhere with him for days. He slept with it, ate with it, and lost it at least 3 times, which launched full scale search and rescue missions in our house. He was so excited to go make his wish, he could barely stand the wait.

We asked his wonderful volunteer preschool teacher, Miss Caroline, to come along with us to take pictures. She is comfortable with Make-A-Wish, because she used to volunteer for them. Also, she has given so much to him through this dark time. We're really glad she got to be a part of it.

Can you see the love between them? It brings tears to my eyes.

When we arrived at the building, we could see Matthew's volunteer Wish Granters inside, along with one of the Make-A-Wish employees and Miss Caroline. There was a poster board in the door on a stand with balloons that welcomed him by name.

In the entryway, we learned a little bit about the history of Make-A-Wish, which began with one boy's wish to be a police officer. He got a real uniform and a badge. Make-A-Wish came to Utah when one girl wished to see the snow. For many years, the foundation was run by employees and volunteers completely out of their own homes and the homes of the Wish Kids' families. Finally, and I can't remember how long ago - maybe ten years? - they built a building in Utah, called The Wishing Place. When they built this building, they got lots of input from the children who had already made their wishes. They wanted to know what would make it magical for the kids who would make wishes in The Wishing Place. They came up with a party room with a stage, a ceiling full of stars with Wish Kids' names on them, a board game to help identify the wish, and a wishing room inside of a magical tower.

We toured the facility and saw the stars with Wish Kids' names in the ceiling of the lobby.



And pictures of some other Wish Kids, along with a short description of what their wish was. I saw a go kart, a white horse, lots of wishes to meet celebrities, and lots of trips to Disney World. (This one's a tad blurry, but I kind of like it that way, to protect the kids' indentities.)


Then we went upstairs, of course in the elevator and Matthew got to push the buttons. We played The Wishing Game.


With Matthew on steroids, we had a hard time getting him to pay attention to the game, but I think he liked it anyway. And I think everyone else did, too.


This is Matthew with one of his Wish Granters, Kris.


And both Wish Granters here, Kris on the left and Nadia on the right. You can see the Wish Kids' stars in the background.

After the game, Kris helped Matthew write down his three favorite wishes.

He chose:
1- A toy (I was SO worried he'd do this, because he doesn't understand the scope of his wish!)
2- To meet Mickey Mouse
3- To see Mickey's castle

Whew! What a relief. On steroids, it's hard to predict what could have happened! For all I know, he could have wished for a lifetime supply of bacon!

Here's Matthew and Kris writing down the wishes. I wish I could figure out how to rotate the pictures! But they're still cute.


And here, Nadia and Kris are laughing with him. Probably because he wished for a toy! Right next to his hand, you can see the copper tube he put it in - that's important later.


He rolled up the paper with the wishes written on it.

And put it in the copper tube, then twisted it shut.



Then we went to the Wishing Room in the magical tower. He got to use his key to unlock the door.



The Wishing Room is surrounded in color, and magical sounds, with a water fountain in the middle of it. Before he started, they asked us go to around and say what we each wish for Matthew. It was beautiful. We all wished him things like good health, a long life, and getting through his cancer without any scars - inside or out. I cried. I always cry.


In the center of the room was a cone without its top. It had an empty circle in the center of it.


He had to search the room for the top of the cone.

Then he fit the copper tube into it.


And fit that on top of the bigger cone.

The minute it all came together, magical sounds and music started playing all throughout the room. Kris explained to him that he had just sent his wish off to the Wish Wizard. The Wish Wizard will look at his wishes and let us know if he can grant them. Being the logical child that he is, Matthew wanted to see the Wish Wizard, and he kept looking for him the rest of the night.





Then, we went back out and took some pictures of us all together.


Then we went downstairs to have some fresh-baked cookies while Kris helped Justin and I fill out the necessary paperwork.


Since he was on steroids, Matthew's attention couldn't be held by anything for very long. Soon enough, he got bored, and started checking out the rest of the room. It didn't take him long to discover a podium with a microphone - his favorite thing in the world! When he was little, in Primary, he would ask me if he could "talk on the talkie talk," then he'd yell into the microphone and pound on the podium. He was so funny. So, with full permission to play around the podium and microphone, he put on a little show for us while we finished the paperwork. Kris helped us with the paperwork, and Nadia played with Matthew and Mikey.




Sweet Miss Caroline kept taking pictures the whole time.




It was truly a magical night, and I'm glad I found the time to write about it today while the details were fresh. They asked us what dates we wanted to go to Florida, and we chose any week in June except the first week, which will be a steroid week for Matthew.

They said that when they send kids to Disney World, they always stay in a resort within Disney World called Give Kids the World. It's a whole town dedicated to kids who are there through programs like Make-A-Wish. It's made with sick kids in mind. There are all sorts of foods available around the clock. The mayor of the town is a Rabbit, who comes and tucks the kids in at night. There's a swimming pool that looks like a beach. Each family gets their own villa with a washer and dryer and a kitchen.

They give you passes to Disney World, Sea World, and Universal Studios, and you can ride the light rail train, but they also give you a rental car.

It's a seven day, six night trip, so we'll have plenty of time to check out all three parks, and we may take a day to go to the beach.

When I think of all that Matthew has been through this year, it sometimes weighs really heavy on my heart. He's never going to be the same. He's faced his own mortality, and he understands that on some sort of a basic level. All of my kids have had this thrust into their lives, and all four of them are changed. It's an awful lot of cold, hard reality for any kid to deal with. I'm really glad that they will get to step outside of their "normal" for a week and just play, and pretend. I think it will lift each one of their spirits. Justin and me, too.

I will never be able to express how deeply touched I am by the gift the Make-A-Wish is going to give to us. I am filled with gratitude for all of the volunteers and donors who will make this trip happen for us. Now, we have something to look forward to.