Abrielle Neff Foundation

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Storm Damage

Everything is reparable and/or replaceable, but some things will never be as they once were. The one thing we lost during the storm that did affect me was the playground. I have so many memories of pushing Abby on the swings or catching her as she flew down the slide. Since she was small, she would literally catch air as she went over the hump of the slide. Her last day we spent the evening swinging. I will be sad to see it all replaced with new.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Donation Given

With the combining of the elementary and high school buildings for Northeast Nodaway, the school was in need of playground equipment at the new building. With the old equipment not being able to be moved without a lot of work and expense, they were looking for help to purchase new equipment up to current safety requirements. The Foundation was able to donate $2500 towards the purchase of the equipment for the kids to play on at recess.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tomorrow Is The Day

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the girls which is always a mentally challenging day for me, but to keep myself occupied, I will be catching things up on here. I want to thank everyone for still checking in as I spent time enjoying the summer months with my girls. I have felt truly blessed to be able to stay home and enjoy all the little things together with them. From catching frogs with Elly (outside and inside), to playing at the pool, to jumping on the trampoline, to making art projects, and baking, I have loved the laid back playtime of the summer which I have not been able to do before with them.

Friday, June 10, 2011

4 + 4 = 8

A simple math equation meant more than that yesterday as our angel would have celebrated her 8th birthday. She was on my mind all day yesterday even though I didn't get anything posted here. I had a little snuggler in bed yesterday morning and here is the conversation we had ~
Mommy, why are there tears coming down?
Because today is Abby's birthday.
But she's not here to eat cake.
No she's not.
I miss Abby.
I miss her too.
But she is in "kevin".
Yes. She is in Heaven.
She is with Daddy's Dad. And Wendy. And Granny. Who else is in "kevin"?

We went on to talk about who we know in Heaven playing with Abby.

Friday, June 3, 2011

New Celebration Games

Here's another look at some new games.

Pork Chop Speedway

Pick your piggy, turn him on, and let the races begin! Will your pig be the winner?

Tip-A-Troll
Tip A Troll Carnival Game

It's as easy as tossing the bean bag and knocking down the trolls.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

New Celebration Games

We have some fun new games planned for the Celebration this year! Here's a look at two of the new games.

Wacky Trikes

These are big sized trikes that will have to be negotiated around a course and to make it more fun, the rider will be wearing "goofy goggles". These are the same that the highway patrol uses to simulate the feeling of being drunk (so there may be some learning by the kiddos on this one too). We will have smaller trikes for littler kids to ride around the course too.

Boom Blaster

Get ready to race your friends to see who can be the first to inflate their balloon enough to pop it!

Keep watching for more new games.....

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

New Rides

We will be having two new rides this year at the Celebration that the kids should love. First is a barrel train ride and it is just as it sounds, a train made from barrels. The second is a carnival ride called Tubs of Fun.

Our Story...

Abrielle came into this world in a hurry to get started, which gave us our first glimpse at her personality. Not waiting on Dr Jane to put on gloves, only a towel to catch her with, she weighed in at six pounds fifteen ounces. From the beginning Abby had reflux, but there seemed to more than just that as she failed to gain weight. At four months we were sent to draw all kinds of labs, hoping for a solution, but all was normal. By six months of age, the vomiting became worse, almost nightly. We were keeping records of every calorie she ate, every dirty diaper, and every time she vomited. By this time Abby was refusing to eat supper most nights and would throw up her undigested lunch after bathtime at 8:00. Her food was just sitting in her tummy all day. Dr Watson sent us to Omaha Childrens Hospital to Dr Zapata a pediatric gastroenterologist to help diagnois the problem. There, over the next year and a half of her life, Abby underwent testing, treatments, and outpatient procedures. During every procedure she was given a stuffed animal to hold for comfort, even though she had Blankie with her.
To make a long story short, after the accident we discovered St Francis Hospital did not have a program like this for kids and Abby's Hugs was born.

That Tragic Day...

Thursday, March 29, 2007, began like any other school day in our household with the only exception being that it was Abby's sharing day at preschool. We had a rule that if the sharing item was not picked out the night before (which it usually wasn't), Abby had to be ready for school before she could find something to take. This morning was just like most ... nothing was picked out the night before. She hurried faster than usual that way she would have time to find something. After brushing her teeth, she ran to her room to find some clothes. I always tried to give Abby choices, but she was down to her last clean pair of capris. I gave her the option of wearing those, a pair of Gymboree Fruit Punch capris with a bright yellow shirt or jeans and a purple kitty shirt. She decided on the capri outfit which she had actually rejected every other day that week. After getting dressed, she went into Sissy's room and was playing with her LeapPad when I found her. I asked her how she wanted her hair fixed and she said "little pony". (Not that she was going to leave it in anyway) I helped her onto the sink and she dug through her basket of hair things until she found a yellow one. We went into the living room so I could sit down to brush her hair. Since sitting on my lap was now impossible, Abby stood in front of me as I pulled her hair up with the little yellow hair tie. She ran to her room and began looking for something to bring for sharing. She came out with her Little People's Noah's Ark set stuffed full of extra toys. Being a mean Mommy, I said, You can only bring one toy. Aww, was the response as she took the ark back to her room to look for something else. I went on about my routine of making my lunch and everything else to be ready to leave for work. Mady and I headed out to the Expedition and Abby was not following behind. I went back inside to find her and Marc on their way from her room with her big "bobbycat" (bobcat skidloader) for sharing. They had been looking for the scoop that attaches to the front but ran out of time. They decided that just the bobbycat would work. Marc helped buckle Abby in her car seat. Because she was so small we still used the 5-point harness and not just the seatbelt so she required some help. As we left the house, Marc pulled out ahead of the girls and I onto the gravel road. Just around the first set of curves past our house, I slowed down so we could watch the turkeys fly across the road. I am not sure if Abby saw them or not, but she said she did. We continued on, oblivious to our fate that lie ahead.

last added to 10/29 ...this I will add to as I am able ...thanks for understanding.

The Sentence

On June 25, 2008, Ryan C Sundermann was sentenced to 6 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on charges of involuntary manslaughter. Sundermann wrecklessly caused the death of Abrielle Neff in a motor vehicle collision on March 29, 2007. Sundermann was charged with failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway and operated a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol.
Sundermann was previously convicted of Driving While Intoxicated and Failure to Drive on the Right Half of the Roadway on April 25, 2006 and sentenced to 2 years probation, 12 days in jail, and a $300 fine. On December 19, 2006, Sundermann was again convicted of Excessive Blood Alcohol Content-Prior Offender which he received a Suspended Execution of Sentence of 180 days, was continued on 2 years probation and received a fine.