Flat Stanley

It became apparent early on in my Osteogenesis Imperfecta journey that I would not be able to rely on the medical profession for the answers to my many questions. After all it is a rare genetically transmitted (most of the time) disorder that not many people in the world have so you really can't expect answers from every physician. There are experts...few of them...located in Montreal and Omaha...yep...that's about it. So I learned from my research which began in 2000 that the best source of information was a support group of parents begun by Amy Phelps. I was blessed to "stumble" across her story in my research and became an active participant in 2001. It saved my sanity.

I have met many of the group members over the years in person having attended the National Conferences held every two years and spontaneous OI get together's around the US. Ronit from Hawaii. Amy from California. Dr. Mary from North Carolina. Melissa and her 3 Pretty Girls. I've had the good fortune to befriend via computer moms and dads from Greece, Denmark and England to name a few countries. We are a close, tight knit, group from all walks of life with one common goal. We want what's best for out kids with OI. It's that simple.

Dr. Mary began an OI Flat Stanley campaign and we were the proud representative of Stanley this week. We are supposed to photograph our children with OI in front of something that is representative of our state. I thought about this while awaiting Flat Stanley's arrival and decided what better place than our own back yard? We live in a small subdivision that joins a 400 acre state park that is the epitome of old Florida. Lazy streams. Gators. Turtles. Storks. Cranes. Roseate Spoonbills. And Spanish Moss which is neither Spanish or a moss. Of course getting the boy to stand still for a project he deemed "STUPID" wasn't easy. I did inform him if he dropped Flat Stanley in the river I would...well, never mind...it involved gators...boy snacks...and Dr. Mary. No one wants to mess with Dr. Mary...

Ok you two birds...Look at the camera...

Hey! Y'all! The Camera???

Hello, bird! Just where do you think you are going?

Ok! That's what I'm talking about!

Could it get any prettier than this?

Thank you Flat Stanley!