Our Make-A-Wish trip to Florida took place over Spring Break, and IT WAS AWESOME!! On Wednesday afternoon, March 11, Susan and I gave a "Bon Voyage" party for Ashley and Justin. They were each allowed to invite a certain number of friends, and we had cake and ice cream and played games.

At about 5:45 PM, a white stretch limousine pulled into the parking lot, and the driver, dressed in fancy duds and a cowboy hat, came inside and announced, "I'm looking for Ashley and Justin O'Rear. I'm Scott from Cowboy Limousine Service, and your limousine has arrived!" Ashley and Justin didn't know about the limousine, so this was a nice surprise.

We told everyone goodbye, got into the limo, and were whisked off to Dallas in style! We had already loaded all our luggage into our mini van, and my brother Clint drove it up to Dallas behind the limo. Make-A-Wish had made arrangements for us to stay Wednesday night at the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel near D/FW Airport. The limo ride and the hotel were both awesome.

PRE-TRIP SCARE

That night, Ashley gave us a scare that we thought might cancel the trip. After we got all settled into the hotel and were getting ready for bed, Susan took Ashley's temperature and it was 102 degrees. We decided to go on to bed and see if her fever would go down during the night. The way I figured it, if we had taken her to the hospital right then, they would have probably admitted her for fever, and there goes the trip down the drain! I figured we at least had a little bit of a chance if we gave it until morning. Maybe the fever would subside and everything would be OK. We went to sleep, hoping for the best.

About 1:00 AM, Susan woke up and checked on Ashley. Ashley's feeding button was leaking profusely, and we couldn't get it to stop. Now we had a real problem on our hands. There was no way we could go to Florida with her button leaking like that. We had to do something. We called up to Children's and talked to one of the nurses on the 6th Floor (the cancer floor). She arranged for us to bring Ashley in to the emergency room and have them look at her button, with the idea that they might be able to just change the button and replace it with a new one, sending us on our way.

We arrived at the emergency room at about 1:30 AM, and were taken right in. To make a long story short, they changed her button and put in a new one and the leaking stopped. While the doctors were changing the button, one of Ashley's doctors from clinic (who was on his way home when we came in) called in a prescription for an antibiotic to help with infection at her button site. Justin and I left the hospital and drove a few miles to a 24-hour Eckerd Drug Store to pick up the prescription. We spent about an hour waiting to get a prescription filled. After finally getting the medicine, we drove back to the hospital, picked up Susan and Ashley (by that time, they had successfully replaced the button), and then returned to the hotel. It was 4:30 AM when we arrived back at the hotel, and we were scheduled to get up at 5:30 to load our luggage and leave for the airport! We made it, and even on time!!

ORLANDO, HERE WE COME!

Our plane flew out of D/FW at about nine o'clock Thursday morning, and arrived early that afternoon in Orlando. Susan and Ashley got to ride in First Class, because our Make-A-Wish volunteer (nurse Carmen from Children's) was able to get two of our tickets upgraded.

When we arrived in Orlando, we were met by volunteers from Give Kids The World Village, the incredible place where we stayed during our trip. We collected our luggage, and then proceeded to the rental car counter. Make-A-Wish had made arrangements for us to have a rental car to use during our stay in Florida -- a Mecury Grand Marquis, no less! We loaded our luggage into the car, and off we went on our magical adventure.

You'll never guess the first place we stopped after leaving the airport. Wal-Mart! We picked up a few souvenirs, a few essentials, and I got a really cool Panama Jack khaki-colored golfer's hat. Just down the road from Wal-Mart was our next stop, Give Kids The World Village. This is where we would be staying for the next several days. We entered through the security gate, and checked in at the front office.

GIVE KIDS THE WORLD

Give Kids The World Village is really a neat place where kids who have life-threatening illnesses can come and stay while they fulfill their dream of visiting Walt Disney World! The accommodations are incredible. We stayed in a two-bedroom, two-bath duplex, complete with kitchen and living room. Just outside our house was a swimming pool and a small lake. Down the road from our house was a Gingerbread House cafeteria, and the Castle of Miracles, complete with a carousel and arcade.