Fox & Friends Appearance

In April 2012, Fox & Friends flew Bob & I out to their live studio in NYC.  They put us up at "The Stay" on a Friday and we were at the studio at 6 am on Saturday.  Below are a few photos from the show:

The Skay Family Dart Vacation ~ After the Trip

Hello Westerfields! :o)

We hope you have all settled back into the “normal” routine well and that you had a safe trip home. We just wanted to take the opportunity to send an email to let you know how much your generosity and kindness meant to us. It’s hard to put into words how we feel about what your family did for ours. We had such a great time and it was amazing getting to know you and the kids. You are all such wonderful people and we feel like we have made friends for life. Because of your generosity we were able to take Dylan on a vacation that we would never have been able to provide for him on our own. He absolutely loved every minute of it and I know he will remember it always, as we will too! He’s come such a long way in a relatively short period of time and to share his amazing recovery with others makes us more thankful and happy every time we do it. He’s such an inspiration to us and we love to share his story with others. I know he’s thankful that he has met and made friends with all of you as well. Back when we first started talking via email and telephone we never would have dreamed that this experience would have turned out as fabulous as it did and there are no words for how much that has affected our family. We are truly better people for having met you. Your strong faith has inspired us to attend our church again, it has been a long time since we’ve been there, and we are really looking forward to getting back to our faith. We are also volunteering with a local church to help do the Sunday morning breakfast and prayer service for the local homeless. I think it will help us appreciate more what we have been blessed with and also provide much needed help to those who are less fortunate. We are very excited to start this “new” chapter in our lives and really have you all to thank for that!! Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Keri, Dan and Dylan :o)

Receiving this Thank You note was such a gift!

What a joy to read how God has used us to give this family a renewed hunger for Christ and service!

Their trip in review:

The Skay Family (Dan, Dylan & Keri Skay flew into Orlando on Thursday August 17th, 2012)

The Sheraton Vistana Villages (Orlando, Florida)

Epcot Center (Orlando, Florida)

The Animal Kingdom (Orlando, Florida)

The Magic Kingdom (Orlando, Florida)

                                                                              Swamp Boat Tour (Florida)

                                                             Daytona International Speedway (Daytona, Florida)

The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame (Florida)

On Sunday, August 20th 2012 our family met the Skays at a condo in Palm Coast, Florida.  

This was the view from our balcomy!   

We spent the first full day together at the beach.  What a blast watching Dylan get "therapy" standing in the waves as we helped hold him up!

On Tuesday, we all drove to Callahan and Hilliard, Florida (where the dart landed) to share with the Skay's what the Dart Vacation was all about.

At the old train depot we were given a grand welcome!  

On the drive to Hilliard, we had to stop and meet the Tow Mater!

This is one of my favorite photos ~ Elle and Dylan at the Mansion in Hilliard.

Hilliard was a great place!  We met up with a councilman and toured the city building.  He then set us up to tour the Federal Aviation center where we crossed high security (thus no photos) to see how our air space is controlled.  This center is a major employer in Hilliard and it was fascinating to spend time there!  We did our best to volunteer in Hilliard, but you have to take classes before volunteering.  Instead we plan to donate to a few of the recommended causes in Hilliard that they gave us information on.

We stopped in Fernandina Beach, Florida on our way back to Palm Coast for a lovely dinner.

A perfect day!  Complete with rides by Dylan!  The boys really love him!

Keri and I bonded as we discovered that we both had lost sons before they were born; Kaiden Skay (2008) and Tyler Westerfield (2012).  Blue butterflies are meaningful to us both.  With Dylan's diabetes that played a large role in us coming together in this way, this ornament at a Christmas Shop in Fernandina Beach was picture worthy to say the least.

Marineland (Palm Coast, Florida)

On our last night together we all walked down to the beach.  Dylan and I sat on the beach together for a long while.  I was so joyful for our time together.  Dylan is an amazing kid having endured so much!  I'm so excited to see the man he will become and the work he will do for the Lord.  He survived that lengthy coma for a purpose!  Jeremiah 29:11 

Dylan and I exchanged shells and promised to think of our wonderful vacation together whenever we see it.

We had an emotional goodbye in Daytona Beach, Florida

Until we meet again....