Extreme Makeover: Home Edition--The Tom Family

I am not one to sit and be glued to the TV for two hours, but I somehow found myself doing just that last night.

I hardly watch the show anymore, even though there was an episode filmed in Fresno a few months back. But the opening of this particular episode really caught my attention. It started out talking about a woman who had adopted several special-needs children, and one had just passed away. As some of you know, I have been considering adoption for several years now. I'll write more about that in a separate post, but I've felt really led to adopt from Russia. A couple of the girls on the show last night were adopted from Russia, and what was more, they were born without legs and walked on their hands.

What struck me about this family wasn't all the obvious disabilites (or different abilities) and physical features. It was their overall attitude. It was a house full of girls, a family still reeling from the loss of their older brother just before Christmas 2004. But their attitude was what really struck me. They were all happy, cheerful and positive. It was hard for the girls to get around, and they had to climb the stairs on their hands. But none of them were bitter, none were depressed. They had an amazing aura about them.

Of course, the TV show sent them someplace fun. In this case, it was Disney World. They then set about completely demo-ing the old 70's house. In its place they built a beautiful, Craftsman-era, three story home!

First of all, when you're from California, you're used to one or two story ranch, stucco homes. A three story home is unheard of, which is probably one reason why it was so exciting! They also built this beautiful, classic-looking, but completely modern home. They even included an elevator, which was great for the wheelchair-users, and the others who still had trouble getting around.

And of course, when you're from California, what do you need more in your backyard than a pool? The crew even put in a pool, complete with cool water fountains.

In the end, the house was just completely amazing. Of course, the family just loved it. Each bedroom was perfectly tailored to their needs and tastes. Two of the girls in wheelchairs (the ones from Russia) got to claim the entire third story as their own little "apartment." What teenage girls wouldn't want that!?

What struck me the most was really everyone's attitudes. No one whined, no one complained, and no one felt sorry for themselves. It really put into perspective how I've been feeling. For over a year, I've been suffering with chronic headaches and sinus pain. The pain never really completely goes away, and though I try to maintain a positive outlook, it does get me down. It's a struggle to even get to the laptop on days like today. But seeing how these kids deal with what's been given to them--things that are much more challenging than pain--has really opened my eyes.

The whole show was really moving for us both to watch. I've never, ever seen JD cry, so that was a big deal. If you get a chance, see if you can find some of it to watch online. If you're interested, here's a link to some more information.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/04/NBG8FFF0TP1.DTL

Information about special needs adoption:

http://special-needs.adoption.com/

http://www.adopting.org/Family_Builders.html