I Am Thankful For Brett

    When my children were little I taught them how to eat, use the restroom, ride a bike, tie their shoes, I helped them with homework, etc. That was one of my jobs as a mother. I never dreamed my children would be teaching me so much. I have been writing a lot about Brett and some of the hard things he has gone through. Believe me there is much more that has happened to Brett, but you may be tired of reading injury stories. I have always believed that we learn a lot from what happens to us and it shapes who we are. Our family has grown closer and we learned to really value, love and support each other because of the hard times our family has been through together.

This family has a lot of love for each other

     Brett could have easily felt bitter over all the illnesses and injuries that have happened to him. Instead, in one of his darkest moments, throwing up from severe pain and with tears running down his face he told me he had a lot to be thankful for. Brett has impressed me with his ability to not let anything keep him down and he will even joke about the bad things that happen to him. I do wish though that he wouldn't play dodge ball right after breaking his collarbone or sneak out and play soccer the day he gets his wisdom teeth out. So he still has a few things to learn. I am going to go through each of my children but these are just a few of the many ways Brett has touched my life.

    I don't know if compassion is just part of who Brett is or if he developed his love for people because of his life's experiences, but he has loved almost everybody and tried to find the good in everyone. His love for family, friends and strangers has deeply touched me many times.

    Brett really worried about a boy named John in his high school who looked lonely. He wanted John to be happy and have friends. He worked hard to be his friend at school and invited him to go places and do things with him outside of school. They had a lot of fun together. Sadly, after Brett left school, this boy took his own life. Brett wrote the most loving tribute I have ever read to John's family about all that they had done and about the amazing person John was. I wished everyone was like Brett, so this boy's family wouldn't have lost him and they would not be so sad. We should all be looking for lonely people and making a difference.

    I also remember a time when Brett befriended a boy who was being bullied. This made the bully turn on Brett and make his life very miserable. He would come home very upset because of how mean this bully was to him. He never once regretted helping this boy and he kept being his friend.

Brett and his friend Kevin

   














      Brett and his friend Kevin started their own little organization they called Sending Smiles Incorporated. They would pray over who needed to be cheered up and then they would leave presents and candy on someone's doorstep with a note from Sending Smiles Inc. The two of them spent a lot of time on their notes and presents and making sure they did not get caught. They wanted to remain anonymous. They were 19 years old and just wanted to make people happy.

    Brett chose to help out Ronald McDonald House as an eagle service project. Ronald McDonald House houses and feeds families of children who are seriously ill or injured, children who have cancer or who need transplants at Children's Hospital. We printed up and stapled together 1000 fliers asking for donations. Our family and Brett's friends helped us drop off fliers and pick up donations. It was a lot of work. We got so many donations we filled up a big truck and a van. We were taken on a tour when we dropped off donations and we were impressed with all this place does for these families. We were the most touched by a 7 year old Armenian boy we met and his mother, who had been in this country for over a year, away from their family. This boy had had over 50 surgeries to remove cancerous tumors that kept growing in his throat. He had a huge smile in spite of it all. It made us happy we were helping. One of our volunteers who went with us was born without a hip socket and Ronald McDonald House had housed her and her family while she had surgery, so this project also meant a lot to her. Brett loved doing this for people he didn't even know.

Stapling together the fliers to drop off at people's houses

Brett's friends who helped him out

We had donations all over the floor in 3 rooms of our house

At Ronald McDonald House

    At the age of 19 Brett left for a 2 year mission for our church. He wanted to go out and teach people about what makes him and our family so happy. He was called to serve in Brazil. He worked with a lot of very poor people in Brazil and again his compassion could not overlook those who needed him. He helped hand out wheelchairs (our church provided them) to people who were too poor to afford them and loved seeing how happy these people were to get one. He said one boy excitedly rode up and down the street in his, the first time in his life this boy knew the freedom of going wherever he wanted. One Christmas I asked Brett what he wanted me to send him for Christmas. All Brett wanted was for me to send him a lot of small toys that he could give to the children in Brazil. He said that a lot of these children came from very poor families who could not afford any Christmas presents. He loved handing out toys on Christmas, being like a Santa Claus. The kids loved him. He also asked me once if I would send a box to his companion, who never got any packages or letters at all from home. We had fun making him boxes. Brett also always shared what we sent him with the people there.

Brett was well loved in Brazil

Testing his luck eating the fruit

     I was happy Brett was so well loved because several times while he was in Brazil he had bad allergic reactions to the fruits and he swelled up pretty bad or he would throw up for days. The people over there helped him even though they have very little. The people of Brazil were amazing like that. They would want to feed him or give him medicine even if they had very little for their own families. I am very grateful for the big hearts in Brazil.

     Brett wanted to help the people so much in Brazil that sometimes he would help even when it made it so that he had to suffer. He met a man who would collect things at the dump to sell. That is the only way this man had of supporting his family. This man had to sleep at the dump with a gun to protect what he had found because other people would try to steal it from him. It would get very cold in the winter and this man didn't have warm clothes to protect him from the cold elements. We got a call from Brett's mission president saying that Brett needed a warm coat, that he was stuffing his clothes with newspaper trying to stay warm and it was bitter cold. We knew we had bought him a nice warm coat before he left. We found out he had given this man his coat because he felt like this man needed it worse than he did. After that he gave away a pair of shoes and gave away some of his clothes. He just couldn't help it. He felt like they needed his clothes more than he did. Before he left his mission he gave away a lot of his clothes. He figured he could get more clothes but they wouldn't be able to afford to buy clothes.

His friends in Brazil threw a birthday party for Brett

  There have been more than a few times people who have told me that Brett was a hero to their children or themselves. I have been touched many times by the way he lives his life. I keep thinking of more stories but I will save them for later.

Thank you Brett for all you have taught me. I feel very blessed to be your mother. 

When Brett got his eagle badge