Wide Smiles

03/17/2022

Not sure if anyone is still a part of this group, but just wanted to share that my daughter (40 yo now and a nurse) is going to be a volunteer with Operation Smile in Brazil for a week in May. It's an awesome opportunity for her. She applied several years ago and finally got the email asking if she could come in May!!

09/01/2014

As promised -- update on the Green Family.... Jessica is now over 18 months Cancer Free. We relax more the longer she stays cancer free. She is comp;letely recovered from the spinal cord injury and, in nothing less than a miracle, she walks lwithout assistance and seems to be much stronger now than I am. LOL... SHE helps ME to walk when I need the help! Joey will soon be coming home - nine days as of today. He has spent the last 3 months in S. Korea, working in the same orphanage we adopted him out of. While there, he met his birth family who originally relinquished him in part becauiwe of his severe bilateral cleft. They were thrilled to meet him and to see what a fine, healthy, handsome, athletic young man he has grown up to be. I am so happy that they were able toi meet him. Jacob continues to work for Xerox, and I continue to hope for grandcildren. LOL.. he and his beautiful wife just celebrated their third wedding anniversary. Life is good at the Green house these dys.

09/01/2014

I understand we have a few new "Likers" on here, so I want to welcome everybody again. There are a few new developments to share.... First, September is being hailed as Craniofacial Awareness Month -- we have alwys thought of that as July, actually. I recommend a few different ways to acknowledge it. 1) grab your copy of Lippy the Lion (or purchase one from Amazon) and offer to read it at a local school or library reading time. Thumper works well too and gives you a chance to talk about bullying. 2) make a donation that will make a difference. Operation Smile or Smile Train both conduct free surgeries for kids with cleft in third world countries. ACPCA conducts cleft research. Wide Smiles, frankly, does not cost a lot to maintain, nor would any group that offers only a website and a list serv. 3) Put a picture of your lchild online both before and after -- with your child's consent, of course. Ok, in another post, I will update everyone on my family -- much has happened in the past ferw months, not all cleft related.... but isn't thwt what hs happened with out families? As they grew up we have become less cleft-related and more just family. :)

07/08/2013

Have you seen the movie The Lone Ranger? If so, did you see the villain's face? Was that an unrepaired cleft lip? My eyesight is poor, but that is what I thought I saw.... what do you all say?

07/03/2012

Let's all acknowledge Creaniofacial Awareness Month by publishing a picture of our cleft-affected child on our status. Let's let the whole world see how very beautiful and perfect our kids really are! Go ahead and post this along with a picture if you like. We have some pretty reat kids, and we'd like the world to know that!

02/05/2012

Odd thing tonight.. I was "window shopping" on ebay. Looking for a new traveling Lippy, actually. Just for grins, I input Lippy the Lion, and I found MY BOOK for sale on ebay. lol... NOT at a bargain-basement price, eitehr, but actually HIGHER than you would pay brand new from Amazon. So I input Thumper too... and there were SEVERAL of them...some as high as $28,00! (Amazon price is $15) These seem to be being sold by book peddlers and not people who bought the book and are ready now to sell it. Gee... wonder if it's some milestone for an author to find her books on ebay! lol (Though the seller of Lippy got my name wrong... grrrrr!)

09/23/2011

I remember many yrs ago on Cleft Talk, the question was. hving had a chid with a cleft, would you consider another( (and many of us went on to have others, some of us having others with cleft. Now the question to me is not about having (or dopting) another with cleft, but rather. gramdlods/ The probability is there, yes.. but I'm teling yu, I so look forward to grandkids -- and if they are born with cleft, i will be there to help my child and his wife deal with the issues. Anyone else geen there yet? Given it some thought? If so, does your answer differ now from what it once did?

08/27/2011

to alll our families who live alon the path of Irene as she washes her way up the Eastern coast, we are thinking of you and praying for you. We love you and want you to be safe. Please take whatever precautions you need to take to keep you and our family out of harm's way while nature kick her heels in our face.

08/17/2011

08/05/2011

Most of us here have been arouind a while. Our kids are through or mostly through the process. I want, though, to be of value here to newer parents as well. We have the benefit of perspective to offer them. Let me throw a question out there. When your child was new - what were your biggest fears, and how have they turned out for you?

07/30/2011

Today.. in just a few hours... Jessica is hosting her first wedding shower (with mom's help, of course) for her brother. Two weeks and one hour from this very moment, my eldest son will be exchanging vows with my brand new daughter-in-law. All is right in our world today.

07/27/2011

How many of us are back to school yet? My kids have all graduated, but Jessica is in a vocational program through the district, so it's a lot like school-with-a-job. I remember when our kids started preschool and kindergarten, we had lots of concerns,. How has it gone for most of you? Have your child's school experiences been good, bad, or a bit of both?