Celebrating a Miracle's Birthday!!!

Michelle, Logan, Walker, Hadlee,

Hudson and I headed to Austin

to spend a few days with Travis for

his 22nd Birthday!!!

My children have really experienced

a lot throughout this whole ordeal. My

prayer is that they will be more

empathetic and compassionate and KNOW

without a doubt the power of God and family. 

A little over five months

since the accident...

Logan has certainly changed for the positive...

except that he doesn't want to drive.  :(

We ate at this particular Chick-fil-a
numerous times on EACH visit!
It was the best one ever and

somewhere that made us all happy...

and the workers were so kind to always

ask about Superman and to pray for him!

That night we made posters for the BIG day...

January 5, 2011...

Trav's 22nd Birthday!!!!!!!!

Travis was having speech therapy

when we got there that morning.

This is JOY...we love her dearly!!!

After Speech, Travis went to physical therapy.

While he was gone,
we decorated his room! :)

Notice there is a little Superman Travis fan

taking a nap in somebody's bed! ;)

The first guests to come by were the REEDS!!!

All the way from Waco to celebrate

this special day...meant the WORLD to me!

Especially since it was also Lauren's

birthday!!!  Had to have a little

something for this most special

young lady!  Love her dearly

and love that she and Trav

share January 5th....

My little ones were thrilled to see the 3 L's...

As usual the Reeds came bearing sweet gifts for

Travis.  They have been INCREDIBLE since

day ONE of this journey to my entire family.

First and foremost with their FAITHFUL prayers

and then supporting us in more ways than I

could ever record.  Angels on Earth! 

I love you dearly, Robin!!!

Then some of Trav's friends arrived!:))) 

It was SUCH a special day in so many ways!!!

Friends (and family) have been the

BEST therapy for Travis. 

We were all so happy and SO WAS TRAV!  :)

Alyssa has been a very special

part of this journey.  She has been

amazing to Travis and our entire family.

  We love her like our very own now. 

Big Huds with some LOVE

for Travis....

I have such amazing new, young friends;)

Look at that smile on Trav's face...

it was one of the first real smiles we saw!

We all had such a great time

celebrating our superman that day!!!

22 years old...my how we should

never take anything for granted.

You just never know when your life

could be changed FOREVER. :(

SUPERMAN STRONG!!!

That morning a man came into Trav's room

and told me there was an article about

Superman in the paper.  I couldn't believe

 my eyes when I saw that this was on the

FRONT page of the Austin American Statesman

on Wednesday, January 22, 2011.

I mean, what are the odds?!?

God is so clever and funny!!!

I believe I celebrated this birthday of Trav's

as much as I did his actual birthday 22 years

ago.  I'll never forget this day or that day.

Lynna's blood pressure had sky rocketed

three weeks early and her doctor

was forced to induce her immediately.

My parents picked me up early from school

and we raced to Temple to be there

for the birth of baby boy or girl Bigham?!?

I will never forget when Scott walked out

of the delivery room HOLDING

this little baby???????

He told us that we had a BOY?

It's no secret that Aunt Mindy had

wanted a girl all along. ;)

Well, it took me about .5 seconds

to fall head over heels in love

with this precious little angel God

had blessed our lives with.

I knew true love right then and there.

I'll also never forget when Scott

pulled off the little hat on Trav's head and

I noticed that my baby nephew

had a conehead!!!  I was a mere 13

and had no clue why.  I

very clearly remember thinking,

"that's okay...I will still love him

forever!"  Imagine my surprise

when less than an hour later,

that conehead was GONE!!!;)

I had to leave later that afternoon

to rush back to play in a basketball

game.  My friends and team

cheered as I walked into the gym. 

EVERYONE celebrated the

birth of this baby boy.

He was SO very special

AND famous back then, too!!!

In the subsequent days, my parents

and I raced to Temple every day

to see and hold and love our

precious Travis (took a few days for

him to be named!  ha!).

I learned so much about

 being a mother, an aunt, a

grandmother, a babysitter.......really

just so much about love. 

That love has never waivered and it never will. 

Aunt Michelle and Hadlee were out

picking "beweees"!!!  (berries!)

I'm thinking this was when we all

realized Hudson's love for TRASH CANS.

He found this very clean, new trash can

in an empty office and became

obsessed with it.  We all got the biggest

kick out of this (especially Travis!!!)

and the nickname,

"Janitor Hudson" was born!!!

Jan...one of Trav's AWESOME physical

therapists at Texas Neuro. 

Thank God for people like her!

Walker loved to make Travis laugh by

running up this certain hill & tree and then 

rolling down.  Travis was always willing

for us to push him to the window to

watch this and we were always

guaranteed smiles.

Other times Walker was doing

stuff like this........;)

Walker & Travis have always had a great

relationship.  It kills me for Travis to be

going through this and for my sweet little

Walker to be taking it all in...

with such grace & character

at his young little age.  :(

Somebody's been sleeping in Superman's bed!;)

Roaming the halls of

Texas Neuro...

Hudson making himself at home in the lobby

at Texas Neuro;)

Just being Aunt Mindy:)

Sweet Aunt Michelle in action...

she is so caring and takes care of every

single need that Travis has. 

She should have been a nurse. 

Travis & Logan...

two of my three January babies!

Logan has amazed me during all of this.

He's been so mature and so open

with his emotions.  He's a really great guy.

We made a request on Caringbridge in the weeks

before Trav's birthday for people to send

him birthday cards.  He received SOOOOOOOOOO

many from people ALL over the world!!!
Family, friends, friends of friends, strangers......

it was so awesome and made Travis

feel so good!

Hudson thought the cards were REALLY cool, too!

That night Aunt Michelle treated

us to a hotel!!!  The kids were so excited!;)

And they all wore their

Superman jammies!!!

We even got to share Trav's story with

the pizza delivery guy.  Telling his

story also means sharing God's story.

Michelle & Logan were very, very

good to my WILD kids and me!;)

There were just so many birthday cards

and it was so amazing to read them

to Travis.  And I did just that!

All the while Hudson just kept opening

and closing the Superman themed song

card from Aunt Kitty & Uncle Ron!
We were ALL so touched by the

wonderful cards that were sent to Travis. 

Troy set up the iPad to be able to send/receive

text messages.  Travis couldn't quite text yet,

but he loved getting messages and then trying

to tell us how to respond for him.

Michelle & Logan have the sweetest hearts

and Travis loves them both so much!

You can see how Trav's facial features took

a long time to come around. 

The brain is not something to mess with...

it controls WAY more than I ever, EVER knew.  :(

God bless this guy's heart...

this was the day after his birthday and
I really think we had worn him out!  ;)

Look at those two kindred spirits...

My cup runneth over...

God is so good...

I don't even have adequate words...

it's just something to see. 

There is something so special about these

two and it makes my heart want to burst. 

Leaving Travis is THE hardest part. 

I've yet to leave him without crying.

We had to leave that night and Michelle

and I were so excited that a couple of

Trav's buddies were coming to hang

with him until Lynna got there later that night. 

This is Cody...he was the driver of the car

in the accident.  God bless his heart, too.

Both of their lives have been changed forever.

That week I kept reminding Travis that he would

 be having just this ONE birthday

under these circumstances.  I'd give anything

to hear his voice or see him eat cake

or for him to walk by the time his

23rd birthday rolls around. 

I would never have dreamed back on

July 25th that we would be celebrating

his 22nd birthday the way we were able to...

so you never know!!! 
Scott and Dana got Travis this awesome

Dallas Cowboy jersey for his birthday.

It has Trav's old football number

and then SUPERMAN on the back!

Travis LOVES it and

would wear it every single day if we'd let him!;)

I can't think of a birthday that I missed of Trav's.

Even in college I dragged my friends to his

skating party and Peter Piper parties!!!;)

We celebrated this birthday as much as

we did his actual BIRTHday.

Of course that day 22 years ago

was a miracle, but I believe this

celebration was an even 

GREATER one!

Thank you, Lord Jesus,

for the birth and miracle

of Travis!!!