III ThE JoUrNeY BeFoRe ThE JoUrNeY

If you’re not familiar with Lourdes, France it is this grotto where Our Mother Mary appeared to St. Bernadette and ever since people started drinking and washing in the spring they have been miraculously healed.

(Oh and if you haven't realized yet, I am Catholic.)

I heard of Make A Wish Foundation and wanted to wish to go to Lourdes. I found out that Make A Wish wasn’t booking any international flights for at least another year. I was back at square one. So if Lourdes was not an option Disney World would be a good alternative.

That June our family stayed in this enchanting villa called Give Kids the World. It was created by an Auschwitz survivor who wanted to give to kids with any kind of illness what he didn’t have growing up.

At Give Kids the World everything that is in the villa is donated and everyone who works there volunteers. Every Thursday they have Christmas because some kids who visit will not get to have a Christmas. Santa comes and all the kids and their siblings get to pick out a present. There is a huge Ginger Bread House you can go for lunch and breakfast. An Ice Cream Parlor is just a few feet away where you can get ice cream any time of day. It’s Kid heaven.

We stayed in Florida for a week. Visited the Disney theme park, Sea World, Universal Studios & Animal Kingdom. Had the time of our lives! Though I’ve never felt so sweaty, the whole experience was amazing with just how much one person can do for so many others.

One day I would love to go back down to Florida and volunteer at Give Kids the World. Maybe next year!


When we returned home the word of me wanting to go to Lourdes got out. My parents didn’t know how they were going to get me over there. They thought they’d send my dad and I and then they thought of just sending my parents and I.

All of a sudden and all at once~ family, friends and people I didn’t even know started fundraising and donating money so our whole family of seven could go to France!

My aunts made TEAM GABBIE t-shirts to build awareness. Dad’s co-workers donated all seven tickets!  Our parish put on a huge dinner with the help of the knights of Columbus and the Home School group. Not to mention my girls Danielle and Elizabeth who performed eye watering ASL songs. We raised so much money(over $12,000!) throughout the night that helped tremendously to fulfill my wish.

I can’t tell you how much love and thought was put into our build up for the trip. So many prayers were said. Father Auve offered mass for us while we were gone. The Parish of the Holy Spirit is so incredibly amazing! We don’t know how blessed we are to have such strong priests, supportive youth ministers and not to mention a close knit church family!

Right before we went on our pilgrimage I asked Father Auve if I could be confirmed. He had to go to Bishop Carlos and ask special permission. We explained my situation and where we were going. The Bishop accepted our request and I was confirmed before we left. I took the name St. Bernadette. She’s always been a favorite of mine even before any of this happened and then for us traveling to where she lived sealed the deal.