Ezra's Team- We did it! 69 Flights of Stairs! And over $8,000 in donations!

Yesterday was the Big Climb!  37 of Ezra's brave and fearless friends signed up to climb 69 flights of stairs at the Columbia Tower.  We climbed in Ezra's honor, many of us wearing pink with stickers proudly stating that we were climbing for Ezra!! and earned money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Thank you to all who joined us in person and in spirit!  And thank you to everyone who so generously donated money to Ezra's Team!  Many of the teams climbing were organized months ago.  Ezra's team was organized only last month, not long after Ezra went to heaven. After our family signed up for the climb a few weeks ago, Milo in particular has enjoyed watching our team pledges grow.  He was especially delighted to find that people were pledging him.  His excitement grew as his pledges grew.  When his pledges surpassed his team members he became even more excited, he carefully raised his goal every so often.  Finally he felt comfortable to raise his goal to $1000.  When he got home tonight he checked his pledge level - currently at $958!  Then he checked our team $8,341!  And then he checked the home page - bigclimb.org - where they list the top 10 fundraising teams.  Keep in mind there are hundreds of teams and 6,000 participants.  Milo let out a whoop of pure joy when he found our team listed as #9!  This is our first time in the top 10 since we signed up.  And with several more weeks to go, we could still fall out of the top 10, but it was still exciting to see "Ezra's Team" on the list :)  So thank you everyone.  If you still want to donate, feel free -  up until April 10th.  As our climb is likely to become a yearly event, please think about joining us next year - everyone is welcome and it really wasn't as scary as you might think.  Most of the kids scurried up the steps in about 15 to 20 minutes.  And most of the adults finished pretty quickly behind them.  On the 52nd floor, in the stairwell, there was a poster of Ezra, pictured with his dog Beckley wearing his "Guide Puppy in Training" vest from a few short months ago.  Seeing Ezra's picture reminded us why we were huffing and puffing and gave us that extra push to finish the remaining steps.

Ezra's Team for the Big Climb in Seattle

Hi friends, the Big Climb is an event to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Ezra's 3rd and 4th grader teacher - Maria Breuder - has organized a team to climb in Ezra's honor on Sunday, March 22, 2009.   The event will be held at the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle.  Participants will climb 69 flights of stairs, that's 1311 steps, 788 feet of elevation.  

Our family signed up to join "Ezra's Team" today, we would like everyone who thinks this sounds fun to join us.  If you would like to join or pledge Ezra's Team please go to www.bigclimb.org  Once at the site you can click on either donate and follow the prompts or join a team and follow those prompts.  key word to search for a team is Ezra (password needed to join is ezrasherman).  Our start time for the climb is 2:30pm.  Sounding fun????

Also, as many of you know we set up a memorial fund for Ezra at Bank of America, this is under Ryan Sherman/Ezra Sherman Memorial Fund. 

No pressure, but we know many of you are interested in getting involved, so these are things that we are currently doing to honor Ezra's memory.  Ezra was such an active boy, so we are trying to keep active too!  (photo shown above is our family, summer 2007, after climbing Beacon Rock in the Columbia Gorge, the world's 2nd largest freestanding monolith, elevation 848 feet.  Photo at right is the Columbia Tower in Seattle).

A Snowy Burial Day: February 26, 2009

Although snow is usually rare here in beautiful Seattle, we woke up to yet another snowy day this morning.  I love the way the world looks when it is covered in a white blanket and I always think there is something magical about this white stuff that falls from heaven (I grew up in southern California if that explains anything).  Anyways, I have lost count of how many snow days we have had since December, but we've had many more than any other year since Ryan and I moved here 16 years ago. 

Our house was quiet and still until Milo jumped out of bed screaming, "It's snowing!"  With a 2 hour school delay we had plenty of time to head out for a walk.  We stopped by our neighbor Heath's house and convinced her and the kids to join us on a snowy adventure.  It all felt very much like our snow days in December, except that we were missing Ezra.  We made snowy happy faces on some of the cars in his honor - he did this to dozens of cars during our winter snow days - and we made snow prints and snow angels all the way to Jacob's house where the kids played and made more snow people.  It was a peaceful morning.

At noon, Ryan, Luka, Milo and I headed to Lake View Cemetery.  We were the only ones there for the burial, just as we planned.  We each took a handle and carried Ezra's casket from the suburban - not a hearse - to the burial plot.  Ryan said a prayer to dedicate and protect the grave and I read some favorite scriptures about the resurrection of Jesus.  We talked about how Ezra's spirit is now in heaven and only his body is in that casket and that when the time comes for his resurrection his spirit will rejoin his body which will be safe and protected until that time comes.  When the casket was lowered into the grave, we placed some of the strings of origami cranes over it - made by his loving classmates and dropped rose petals and little love notes over the top as we said our goodbyes.

The cemetery looked lovely in the snow.  We felt good about the location.  We liked Lake View Cemetery because this is where we always took a walk with the kids on Memorial Day, so it feels familiar, even though we don't know anyone personally who is buried here.  Plus it is only 5 minutes away, so that is a bonus (especially since we made about 30+ trips there last week (it took us all awhile to find just the right grave site that we all felt good about). Lake View is adjacent to Volunteer Park and was founded in 1872, it is a non-profit cemetery. Also buried here are Chief Sealth (Seattle)'s daughter Princess Angeline, early pioneers of Seattle - the Mercers, Dennys, Yeslers, etc., J.J. McGilvra (namesake of Ezra's hundred year old Elementary School), and Bruce Lee and his son Brandon. 

Ezra's grave is not marked yet - still more decisions about designing the marker and choosing the materials, etc.  It is on the west side of the cemetary with a view of the Puget Sound in the distance as well as the Space Needle.  

Ezra's casket was made by his dad.  He worked on it in our dining room and on the back deck over the last week.  It is made entirely of pine and fastened with wooden pegs. Milo wrote Ezra's name in cursive on the top, Luka painted over this and then Ryan waxed over the top.  

Ezra's Obituary

Here is a link to Ezra's obituary in the Seattle Times.

Ezra's Obituary

O Happy Day - by Ezra's dad

Yesterday at about this time we were arriving at the chapel for Ezra's service. It was to be a sad day, the day that Ezra's friends would officially say goodbye and one of many for me to do the same. I was expecting to be sad... the funeral for our son. I'm typically a happy guy. I've done neat things in my life...been to neat places, made neat things, and I have a neat family. What I wasn't expecting was that the funeral of my son would be the proudest moment of my life, and while certainly hard, perhaps the happiest as well. Yesterday, I sat in the third pew from the front and listened and watched in awe as Randy and Greg spoke of our boy Ezra and helped me realize the ten years of miracles that was and is Ezra. We heard songs that we played at home, at the ranch, in school, and in church. These songs were sung by his friends, his cousins, his classmates, and his sister and brother. Music was played on piano, guitar, banjo, and cello, by true friends, who happened to be Ezra's music teachers, theater associates, friends, and family. After a few songs, I realized that although I had tears streaming down my cheeks, my face had the biggest smile on it that I have ever had (my cheeks are honestly sore today from smiling yesterday).

While it was the funeral for our boy Ezra, I had the pleasure to be in the midst of about 500 people singing together, listening together, and laughing together as we rejoiced in the life of a special boy who brought so much to those around him. Sitting next to my amazing wife Kandice, I again realized that it has been a true honor for us to be his parents for the nearly eleven years of his earthly life.

Yesterday was the funeral of my son and I was the happiest one there. I am emboldened by the knowledge that I raised a special boy who spent his days bringing joy and life to those around him during his time on Earth, and I know that Ezra will continue to be a beacon of faith and hope for many during the years to come.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Yesterday was Ezra's funeral - or more appropriately - our celebration of Ezra's life and the goodness that he inspired in others. It was just what Ryan and I had hoped it would be - a celebration, mostly thru song, but also thru some inspirational remarks and scriptures. What an awe inspiring experience for us - Ezra's family - to be surrounded by so many of our friends who loved us and were touched by the life of our sweet boy Ezra. Many thanks to all who participated on the program, to all who helped us pull the program together, to all who were able to attend, and to all those who had wanted to be there but were unable - we still felt your love from afar! It was a beautiful, perfect celebration and we felt truly blessed to be there celebrating with all of you.

As always, our sincere thanks to all of our friends and family who are supporting us and strengthening us during this period of loss and sadness. You are helping us to get through this difficult journey and we love you.

Ezra's Funeral Services - Thursday February 12, 2009

Dear friends, please join us to celebrate the life of Ezra Sherman.  

Services will be held at 10:30am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  5701 8th Avenue NE 98105   The church is located in the U-District just off the 5 FWY at 50th Street Exit.

We hope that all of Ezra's friends will join us - from McGilvra, our neighborhood, Broadway Bound, Seattle Guide Puppies, church, etc.  This location is large enough to accommodate all of us.  There is a large parking lot behind the church, but we will still encourage you to carpool if possible.  The service will be pretty light and kid friendly.  It will include mostly musical numbers, including a song or two from Ezra and Milo's 5th grade classmates.  I would guess the service will last pretty close to an hour.

Following the service there will be a social.  If you would like to bring a small plate of something yummy to share, you are welcome to do so.  I have a feeling there will be plenty of food, so don't stress about this.  Socials were always a favorite of Ezra's and I hope there will be many of his friends there following his tradition of filling a plate with a cookie or two, a brownie, a cupcake, and maybe one lone carrot stick.  You get the picture.  

As far as dress goes, men and boys - if you want to wear a suit feel free, but something more casual is fine too.  I would tell my own son not to wear anything sloppy, I am guessing Milo will wear a suit.  Ladies & girls - dresses/skirts/nice pants.  Please don't wear black (unless your suit or coat is black of course!),  keep in mind Ezra was a kid that liked bright colors - and as most of you know, his favorite color was pink. If he were attending, he would wear his suit, with his pink shirt and one of his pink ties:)