The Lewis girls: Summer Flashback: Good-bye Snow Cones

We decided to meet up with some of the girls' friends for snow cones before we moved, and T.R. had a special friend he invited too. T.R. went to Haiti two weeks after the earthquake in January of this year and spent two weeks doing surgery and taking care of surgical patients. He met a little boy named, Jean, while he was there. He had a crushed leg and was probably going to have to have it amputated. Before T.R. left, he heard that Jean was going to have the opportunity to come to the U.S. (Washington D.C.) to have his leg operated on and possibly saved. The day after returning from his two weeks in Haiti, someone from Shriner's Hospital in Kirkwood (were T.R. was a fellow) called and told him that Jean was coming to St. Louis! The next day he flew in and they brought him to Shriner's. Jean had no idea that T.R. lived there, and his face lit up with surprise and excitement when T.R. went up to visit him after he arrived. It made it a little easier for him to be away from his family and his country with a familiar face around. T.R. operated on Jean's leg and has been taking care of him for the 5 months that he has been in St. Louis.

The family with Jean. The girls had been going up to the hospital with T.R. to visit Jean on the weekends.

Visiting...T.R. gave Jean his Oklahoma City Redhawks baseball cap. Jean loves baseball (especially the Cardinals!).

T.R. with Jean

We didn't want our time to end, but it had to. T.R. helped get Jean into the car and gave him a big hug and said goodbye. I went next giving him a hug, and as I leaned into the car I saw that jean was crying. Now, that broke my heart. This was definitely the hardest goodbye we had to say. T.R. is going to St. Louis in a couple of weeks, and he is looking so forward to seeing Jean again. I am sure the goodbye won't be any easier though.

The girls wanted to see their friends one last time before we moved, so we made a snow cone date with them! This snow cone stand was around the corner from our apartment at the Farmer's Market. The line can get REALLY long, but the snow cones are worth it! We are so thankful for the friends that God provided while we were in Kirkwood. It was hard to say good bye, but we have a lot of wonderful memories and will always remember our sweet friends.