Sophia

I met Sophia and her mom Seena last year at the Ronald McDonald House in Dallas.   I do a little kids cooking class there every 2nd Tuesday night of the month.  The Tuesday night Sophie came we made cinnamon rolls (recipe is on here under Refrigerator Yeast Rolls)!  A couple of weeks later I saw them again and they mentioned they had made the cinnamon rolls when they were at home.  We began to talk and I learned Sophia was going to be having a bone marrow transplant. I told them I was at Children's alot because I volunteer there and then our group Creating Heartstrings visits kids there also so I would stop by each time to check on them.  The dates kept changing for them but finally on December 15th Sophie had her transplant.

This was in November when I met Sophia and her Mom Seena..she was helping make cinnamon rolls!

I am part of a group called Creating Heartstrings and we visit kids who are in the hospital here in Dallas.  Most of the kids we visit are here for months at a time.  Alot of these families live hours away so they are kinda just stuck in this big city.  We have met families from as far as Ethiopia to California to East Texas. 

Sophia is from Little Rock, Arkansas.  She is 14 yrs old and she LOVES purple, she has the coolest purple leather Nike tennis shoes!  I am not even a tennis shoe wearer but I might just have to get me a pair!  You can read Sophie's story here  http://www.rmhdallas.org/what-we-do/our-families/   it will direct  you to it on the Ronald McDonald House website.  She has a great story!

Jason, Seena and Sophia

Sophie (sorry I keep going back and forth with saying Sophie and Sophia but I do that in person too:), was admitted to Children's Hospital in November and had her transplant on December 15th.  She was in the hospital for Christmas and New Years! After having a bone marrow transplant there are many side effects that come with it and Sophia had them.  I would go up and visit her and leave there thinking what a fighter she was and how any problem I ever thought I had was nothing!  She endured months of pain and side effects but through it all she was a true example of a fighter!

Creating Heartstrings made Sophie this "purple" blanket  

Can I tell you what a GREAT hospital Children's Medical Center is!  I have been volunteering there for 14 yrs and I do not intend to stop!  As long as I live in the area and as long as I can walk I will forever volunteer at Children's.  You just leave there a different person each time you go.  You have such gratitude for life.  Doesn't matter how much you are going through those kids, families and staff have a way of changing you!  You realize your problems are nothing compared to what so many of these kids go through.  Sophie was featured on Children's Med (such a great show), here is a link for the first episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLSuECp9TtA and she is in the second episode also that will be an option to click on after viewing the first one.


Sophia's goal was to get out of the hospital and move totally into The Ronald McDonald House in Dallas, they have transplant apartments for families.The Ronald McDonald House is a remarkable place, truly amazing!   Sophie would have to be there for 100 days then would be able to go home!  Sophie's 100 day mark was March 24th! Yeah!!!  She gets to officially go home March 27th which is tomorrow!!  She would have gone home on the 100th day but you can't go home on a weekend and so she has clinicals on Monday then they will release to go home.  They will pull out on Tuesday morning sometime and since they have been here so long they now are having to rent a uhaul for the "extra" stuff !  Sophia and her mom will be in their car and her step dad Jason will be following along in the uhaul. He said last night I hope I can keep up because Sophia will be saying let's get out of here as fast as we can!  She is so ready to be home!


I just want to add what a great family Sophia has!  Her dad, sisters, brothers, family and friends came down to visit quite often.  Her Mom and Step Dad both quit their jobs to be right there with her all the way.  Every time I visited her I was amazed at the love and care they gave to her.  They are now both going to be looking for jobs again, Seena is a nurse and Jason is a computer guy!  Let's pray they find something quickly because they are remarkable people!  One day I was leaving and Seena said her Mom and Dad where coming to visit and they would be there any minute.  As I was walking on the sky bridge I see this couple walking in towards me on the other side, the grandpa had on a razorback hat, as I was passing them I stopped and said are you Sophia's Grandparents?  They said yep, wonder what give it away!  lol

While she was in the hospital her mom Seena and I were talking and she said we are going to use this 100 days to cook together.  Seena has had to cook everything Sophia eats, she could have NO outside food (doctor's order) like from a Restaurant or the meals that The Ronald McDonald House so graciously provides.  So a few days after she said that a light bulb went off and I thought I can take them a recipe or two weekly with the ingredients for them to make!  So we started it the first week of her 100 day stay.

I took them recipes and ingredients for the following recipes on this blog; Smothered Chicken, oh my gosh this has so much flavor - Angel - 7-up Biscuits - the best biscuit recipe I have found (Seena said she has made these over and over again), - Italian Chicken Soup, such a great soup, Seena said she has made this several times, Cheese-and-onion-Enchiladas with Tex-Mex Gravy Chili. I love these ;), Kung Pao Chicken, I need to post this one day soon, great recipe, Seena said they made it more than once, Cornbread, one of the best recipes I have ever found for cornbread, Seena said they made it many times, Calzones-Pizza, using Sam's Club pizza dough from the Cafe, great find!!! New York Style Cheesecake, Sophia loves cheesecake, Enchilada Casserole, one of my childhood favorites, Sopapilla Cheesecake, my friend Stephanie brought the stuff for this and they loved it!  I need to post recipe one day soon!  Cinnamon Rolls of course which the link is at the top of post. There were a few more but I'm blank!

They invited me last night to have dinner since they would be leaving on Tuesday.  So Sophia cut up the veggies, I grated the cheese and washed the lettuce,Seena browned the meat and made some beans for our delicious Taco Salad and Jason ate, lol!  Sophie cut her finger...but kept going! 

Just a little cut, didnt' get her down!  She got a band aid then moved onto the green onions!

Cutting Green Onions

Seena & Sophia cutting up lettuce

They are my kind of peeps, they grate their own cheese too ;)

Seasoned ground beef....very tasty

Yum

Seena, Sophie and me

I keep asking Sophia "what is the first thing you are going to do when you get home"?  She finally said " I'm going to sit down on the couch and soak it all in"!! 

What a great future Sophia has in front of her!  What a inspiration she has been to so many!  What a joy she is and what a testimony she has!  I'm going to miss that little purple Nike tennis shoe girl but I'm going to see her soon!  Her next doctors appointment is in June and since she can now eat out, I have some great places in mind to take her!  If you haven't seen my Favorites Restaurants click on my favorite places and it will take you to the link and believe you me we will go to one of those tasty places!