Jessie Kimberly T. - Quilt Finished in 2005
Born: September 25, 1996
Illness: Congenital Birth Anomalies
A Thank you from Jessie Kimberly's Family!
Written October 15, 2005
Cathy, how do we ever thank Love Quilts and ALL the talented stitchers for the beautiful love quilts my children were gifted with today. Thank you also for sharing your family and delivering these in person as this was an extra special gift to our family. I am still in awe this evening as I looked at each individual square and can't imagine the patience of each quilter as they so lovingly labored to make these masterpieces for our kiddos. I am the world's most uncrafty person and couldn't sew a seam let alone create what you brought today. Thank you ALL from the bottom of my heart for the special gifts for 3 of our children. I know they will cherish them for the rest of their lives. As the mom to many special needs children YOU HAVE ALL TOUCHED MY HEART IN A WAY YOU WILL NEVER KNOW. LQ and Stitchers will forever hold a special spot in my heart as I watch 3 of our 10 children daily lavish in the love and warmth given so generously and unconditionally. Thank you and God bless each and every one of you.
Love, Sue T. mom to Brent, Kim and Sean T. amongst our earthly angels.
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On October 15, 2005 my family and I were able to hand deliver Kim, Brent and Sean's quilts to them. The following was written when I got home that night. I will post this on all 3 kids sites. Cathy - LQ Founder
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Hi all, I am bushed (so keep that in mind as I write this rambling post! LOL), but thought I would come online quickly and let you all know how my day went.
Today we drove about 85 miles into the "thumb" of Michigan to hand deliver Brent, Sean and Kim's (Jessie Kimberly) quilts! We left here about noon, drove and picked up hubby at work as it was on the way and off we went. All who went were... me (of course!), my hubby Jeff, my son Curt, my daughter Kayte, Kayte's friend Taylor and my mom! What a "herd" coming in we were, but with a house full of 10 adopted children, many many cats and kittens, 5 dogs (2 are saint bernards!), outside was rabbits, pigs, goats, ponies... I am sure they didn't even wonder when 6 people piled out of the car in their driveway!
Anyway, we arrived and met everyone. How wonderful everyone was and it was so nice to finally meet them all. Right after we got there and before the kids got their quilts Brent treated us by singing two songs (and later a third), he has a wonderful voice. Brent is totally blind and to barely meet all of us and then sing for us... well, it was amazing and we all had tears in our eyes.
Kim was the first to open her quilt. She hugged and looked at her pillow and then her quilt. With two other siblings waiting to open theirs she didn't spend much time looking at it then, but later, as we were talking, she spread it on the floor and looked at every square.
Sean opened his quilt next. Sean is 5 years old and is very shy and didn't quite know what to make of everything. Although I know he loved his quilt and I am sure will look at it and enjoy it when he is comfortable and alone, we didn't push him too far at the time as you could tell he was very uncomfortable with everyone all watching him. I know he will love it though.
Brent opened his last and could hardly contain himself. He spent a lot of time trying to read the braille beads that were on the pillow and was just beaming when we told him it said "proud american". He fingered his quilt for the longest time and asked if he could put it on his bed. Later he sang the song "proud to be an american" (my hubby thinks it is by Lee Greenwood, but he isn't sure) and it was beautiful!
We all talked and looked at pictures, went downstairs to see their 7 day old kittens, then outside to the barn to look at all the animals. It was a very nice day, one that we all wont forget for a very long time. We took the long way home (ended up going about 220 miles today) to check out some state campgrounds we might want to visit with our new camper next summer. It was a long day, but well worth the trip. They are a wonderful family and we all enjoyed everyone so much!
Take Care, Cathy - Love Quilts
Jessie Kimberly T.'s Story
written by mom Sue
Jessie Kimberly Therese was born September 25th, 1996 (sharing her birthday with her maternal grandfather who passed away just 3 days after her homecoming). Poppa waited for you to come home safely :) Kim (as she is called) was born in Texas and received her first love and care from a wonderful, committed, caring, and loving foster mother who has formed her into what she is today with the hands of Our Father. Her name is after her maternal grandmother, her birth name and her former foster mother.
Kim is one of 10 special needs children adopted by my husband and I since 1999. She is a very special little girl who may be small in stature but has a heart the size of Texas where she was born.
Kim was born with several anomalies. She does not have the lower mandible (jaw) and does not have a tongue. She also does not have both hands (from the elbow down) and one leg from just above the knee. She has the other leg, but her foot is narrow and only has 2 toes (basically a half of a foot).
At 2 years of age, Kim entered foster care due to parental medical neglect. She stayed in the same foster home until adopted by us at age 5. Just before she turned 5, Kim had her first surgery to try and reconstruct a lower jaw in Texas. The doctors took one of her ribs and placed it with a rod where the jaw should have been. She had external pins that had to be turned twice daily just a millimeter at a time.
Kim has endured many medical detours along her journey called life. She has an artificial leg and also a myoelectric hand. She refuses to use her hand as she is very adept using her stumps, doing anything anyone else is capable of doing with hands. Kim’s all time favorite activities are riding her two wheeler with training wheels, playing outside with her siblings and helping dad feed our animals. Kim loves horses in anyway shape and/or size from books, videos, toy to the real thing and we do have 3 miniature ponies on our farm. Her all time favorite is “Spirit”.
On April 20th, 2004 Kim became one step closer to realizing her biggest dream: “Having a mouth like mommy's”. Doctors at the University of Michigan performed distraction osteogenesis (placing pins on each side of her jaw area externally that will need to be turned 1 mm twice daily). Kim was inpatient for just a couple of days but will have at least a month of visits every 4 days back and forth to the hospital (a 3 hour one way drive for us).
Kim is a precious little girl who has gone through a lot at such a young age that most of us as adults never have to deal with, from teasing because of her physical differences, to many major surgeries. She is the brightness of our days and the moonbeam of our nights.
We are a BIG family of 12 adopted children and 5 biological girls that are all grown up already, married and with children of their own. We call the ranch where we live, "The Acre of Angels".
Written by Jessie Kimberly's mom Sue
