Sunday, October 31, 2010

Spencer Word Book-Finally! (picture heavy)

Here is the book I made in honor of our sweet little Spencer, I am going to give it to his mom as soon as possible. This little guy has been in and out of hospitals his whole life and he is such a miracle. We know God has some big plans for Spencer!


 I made this book in Design Studio. The base of each page was made using George and the font is from Lyrical Letters using the "jumbo" font. Each page in this book was designed individually, I really had no rhythm or reason to it other than it had to capture Spencer and who he is. I only did one or two pages at a time, then I would put the book away. I didn't want to rush this and I know that I start loosing creativity when I work on something too long.
 This is Spencer and my daughter way back not too long after she started watching him. He has married her many, many times and we think it is so sweet!
This is a pocket and a tag I knew had to be in this book. The tag pulls out and a poem my daughter wrote for and about Spencer is attached. The pocket had to be pop-dotted because the poem ended up being pretty thick once it was folded. Becky wrote him this poem about 3 or so years ago.


This picture was taken last November when we got to go visit Spencer and his family out at the Ranch they moved to. This is one of my favorite pictures ever! The adoring look Spencer has on his face is priceless, he was so excited to see "his" Becky again!

Ok, to know Spencer and his mom, Kimberly, you know that he is her EVERYTHING, that is what inspired the key to my heart here. The cover lifts up here and you see Spencer and his mom. This picture was taken about 3 years ago when Spencer spent the entire summer being treated at MD Anderson in Houston for his brain tumor. His family spent so much time driving back an forth and even had to rent an apartment there because Spencer had to be in treatment almost every day. It was a very hard time for everyone, but Spencer being the trooper he is, came through it with so much grace. He is amazing!

This picture was two years ago almost to the day! I don't remember what happened to send Spencer back to the Children's Hospital, but he ended up being very very sick. We came to see him one day and let him hug on his Becky. About 2 weeks after this Spencer was readmitted back here and ended up having a bone marrow transplant just before Christmas. Once again he was so strong. He had to be in complete isolation with his mom for at least 2 months. Kimberly was allowed to stay in his room with him and didn't leave his side the whole time! Again we came to visit him on New Year's Day, he was very weak and couldn't talk much, but do you know what he did? He sang "I Can Only Imagine" to his mom and to all his visitors on the other side of his glass wall. He said it was his song! Makes me cry just thinking about it. He is one special guy!
This book is obviously not in chronological order at all, this is one of Spencer's great loves, horses! This was taken out on the Ranch with his new miniature horse. I'm sorry I don't remember his name. Spencer was so thrilled to get his own horse finally!

This picture was right after we first meet Spencer, Becky had just started watching Spencer then. They became fast friends and the rest is history!
My husband and his friends love flying radio controlled (RC) helicopters and airplanes, well Spencer thought that was the neatest thing ever! He was always asking Mike to fly for him. Once when Mike had his flying buddy over they got out the helicopters for Spencer. Spencer's eye sight is very bad, so he touches everything and is very tactile. Greg was so nice and let Spencer touch and feel the helicopter, it was so awesome! (that's a big deal because the guys don't let anyone touch their "toys.")

This picture is from the same summer I mentioned above but this was the happy time. Make A Wish sent Spencer and his family to Disneyland and Lego Land in CA. Mind you none of them have been to the West Coast ever! Spencer had such an amazing time, he especially loved Lego Land. He is all about the Legos! Because he can feel them, he builds amazing things! Unfortunately I didn't have a picture of him playing with his legos, not sure why,I don't have access to the pictures from his trip right now.  He also loves trains, so I put a train full of legos on this page for him.

This picture is from this past June when Spencer finally got to come visit us in our new home. He was so excited and had such a great time, of course he got his Becky hugs in. He even got to go visit her at work and tell her manager how much he loves Becky-it was so cute! He is Becky's Prince Charming!

These pictures are from way back too. Spencer just adored my hubby, probably because Mike is just a kid in a grown up body. Every time Spencer saw him he'd say "Swing me Mr. Mike!" It was their thing. So here he is having a swing!
The front picture lifts up and you see the second one...
Finally, again back out at the Ranch. Spencer seems to be holding court on his ATV (left picture). He knows how to socialize with people and entertain too, he's been around so many in all the hospitals. On the right he's greeting guests and introducing people, what a cutie!
Well there you have it! Whew! Now I need to figure out when we can see Spencer and Kimberly again so we can give them this book.

Hope you all have a very blessed day! (Kimberly's favorite thing to say!)


5 comments:

Susan said...

Oh wow, Connie!! It turned out so beautiful and special!! They are going to really love it.....what a special tribute. I know you put so much of your heart into this book, and it really shows. Awesome job!!

Connie said...

Thank you Susan! I think this was the most meaningful project I've ever done.

Stacy said...

Connie,
First off, congrats to Spencer, way to go! You showed them who was the boss. :)
Second, this book is amazing. It brought tears to my eyes knowing the story of the little boy you made it for. (My brother had Leukemia at the age of 3, now age 30 and doing great), so I have a soft spot for any little one that has to fight this so hard.
I am saving all these pics to my pc, I absoutely love it
Many hugs to you and to Spencer
Stacy

Connie said...

Thank you Stacy! I'm so glad to hear your brother is doing great. Spencer has been so close to death so many times, he is a very very special little guy for sure!

Brenda said...

WOW amazing
hugs
Brenda