Opened Our Hearts: Building Our Extended Family

By Julienne Lentz

Opened Our Hearts will bring a tear to your eyes and a warm feeling in your heart. Julienne Lentz creates a feel good story you cant put down.

Marci Shimoff, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Womans Soul

Opened Our Hearts is a must-read for anyone who has faced any obstacles or disappointments. Julienne Lentz shares a couples difficult journey by turning heartache into something meaningful and fulfilling for themselves and others. Bravo!

Cynthia Kersey, author of Unstoppable

I will recommend Opened Our Hearts to all people who love children. Sometimes on the way to a dream you get lost and find a better one Julienne and Ron did. Their dream to love children came true as they granted my sons wish. Now I hold another priceless treasure; through my sons illness, he became the wish granter. Thanks Julienne!

Chrissy L. Nelson, author of Eagle Doctor, Stories of Stephen, and My Child with Special Needs, founder of Stephens Hope Foundation

Your heart will rejoice as you meet true heroes, children, and parents granted a dream experience by Make-A-Wish. Julienne Lentz beautifully shares with readers the joys and challenges of working with youngsters facing life-threatening illnesses and all the individuals who see to it that these dreams come true.

Dick Wainwright, nationally recognized author of various works for children and adults

Opened Our Hearts is recommended reading for all who love childrenold or young, single or married. Julienne Lentzs story of how [she and her husband] turned a problem of their own into a blessing for others is inspiring. As a parent of one of their children, I felt an immediate bond with the other parents, as we have all been touched by their gracious charity, encouraged by their hope, and blessed by their love.

Marianne Patrevito, Vincents mother

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512722536

Julienne Lentz

Julienne Lentz is a wish-granter, speaker, fundraiser, and Mrs. Claus for Make-A-Wish. The Foundation has presented her with the Stellar Achievement Award and North Star Award. Julienne has previously been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hooked on Hockey and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Catholic Faith, and Living by Faith.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 Julienne Lentz.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The models in photos were the author and her husband. All cover photos were taken in Bora Bora at the St. Regis in 2015 with their camera and iPhone.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2254-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2255-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-2253-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015919897

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/12/2016

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

First Impression

Sharing Secrets

Our Best Shot

Blessed with Options

Hesitation Arises

Ready or Not

Worth the Wait

A Kind Gesture

Testing Our Theory

Gratifying, yet Bittersweet

Angels Amongst Us

Missing Important Event

More Than One Winner

Celebrating Friendship

A Christmas to Remember

Following in Family's Footsteps

A Bump in the Road

Paying It Forward

Meant to Be

A True Blessing

Our Extended Family

Coming Together

Author's Note

About the Author

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Presented to:

From:

__________________________________

To Ron

I dedicate this book to you: my rock, my backbone, my wish granting partner, the Santa to my Mrs. Claus, my best friend, and husband. Your encouragement and support has meant the world to me. Without you, my heart would never have opened so wide. You are my biggest fan and I---yours. I am blessed and thankful for each precious day together. You are my sunshine and the love of my life.

Acknowledgements

Writing this book has truly been a spiritual journey and a major undertaking. I would like to offer a heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported and assisted me in anyway to see this book come to fruition. I am blessed to have so many wonderful people that God has made part of my life.

To Make-A-Wish, for allowing us the privilege of granting children's wishes.

To our wish children, who continue to teach us valuable life lessons.

To the parents of our wish children, for sharing a part of their family with us.

To Dad Mascitti, for believing in me and always giving me hope in my own abilities.

To Mom Mascitti, for teaching me important life lessons and helping me to become a better person.

To Mom & Dad Lentz, who have always believed in everything I do, loved me, and encouraged me.

To our fur children: Frankie, Baci, Porsha, Weegie, and BeBee, who have added so much joy, love, and companionship to our lives.

To Sandy, for her constant support. She has been there for my pursuits---whether I asked her to be Mrs. Claus's elf; help me to decorate a child's event or MAW fundraiser; and for taking care of our dogs when we are not at home.

To our nieces, nephews, and children of our closest friends, who have shown us so much love.

To my friends and family, who helped and cared for me during the toughest year of my life.

To Mitch Album, who through his voice and his writing style gave me the inspiration to write.

To Joel Osteen, whose sermons and books keep me uplifted.

To Oprah, for your SuperSoul Sunday episodes that inspired and motivated me even when I felt like quitting.

To Marveen, Mike, and Sue, for reading and editing my work. Their suggestions helped to make my book better. And to Katie, who edited my book to help ensure I would be happy with the end result.

I would be remiss if I did not thank Marybeth. Without her help many of my goals would have not been realized. She centers me and gets me back on track when I veer off the road.

Most importantly, I thank God. He has been our source of strength in good times and in bad times. In seeing our tears and hearing our prayers, He guided us to our life's calling which has allowed us to feel loved and needed.

Foreword

Every once in a while, we all have encounters that change our lives, impacting us in ways that we could never have imagined. These moments can be challenging, they can bring with them fear, they can eventually bring much joy. Julienne and Ron Lentz have been a part of Make-A-Wish®, an organization that becomes a part of a family's life in very difficult, scary moments. Through a Make-A-Wish experience, a very sick child's world turns from one of fear and sadness to one filled with hope, strength and joy, enriching their lives in that moment and every day after.

Julienne and Ron have been incredible volunteer wish granters for more than 22 years. They have fully embraced the challenges that our families face in their health battle and have brought them moments of pure joy. This book, "Opened Our Hearts" shares the beautiful stories of some of our very courageous wish children. It inspires and ignites the human spirit of helping each other. It offers a glimpse into the lives of the wish families and truly reveals the incredible impact that wishes have on a community---first and foremost the wish children, their families, the wonderful volunteers who make this magic happen, and all who are impacted by these special children.

Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing your wish children's stories. Thank you for bringing the mission of Make-A-Wish alive for the readers of "Opened Our Hearts."

Stephanie Springs, CEO Make-A-Wish Illinois

Preface

Friends, family members, and colleagues had commented that I should share our passion for Make-A-Wish®. I decided they were right. Several years ago, I resigned from my career to pursue writing. Taking writing classes, joining writers' groups, and attending writers' conferences became my new routine.

The more I delved into writing, the more eager I found myself wanting to express the happiness we receive granting wishes, and our personal reasons for wanting to give back.

Opened Our Hearts has a unique twist. By writing about our personal journey, we can Share the Power of a Wish® from the wish granters' point of view---a behind the scenes look at our lives as a wish team. Our story shows how serving as wish granters has been a blessing and a privilege. The moments shared have filled our lives with peace, love, and great satisfaction.

While writing, I relived our journey. My stories evolved and my tears flowed. As Ron read the stories, he suggested I put a warning on the cover, Keep a tissue box nearby.

Introduction

B ack in the fifties, life was simple: you married and had children. I was born and raised in a large Italian family, where children were not optional. In fact, most families in our Italian/Irish neighborhood in the south suburbs of Chicago had at least three children, and some families had up to a dozen.

My husband, Ron, and I both grew up in middle-class families and had seen our parents work hard all their lives to provide for their children. Knowing this encouraged our decision to wait until we were out of student-loan debt, before making children a priority in our lives.

As with many couples, when we were ready to start a family, life did not go exactly as planned. We tried for several frustrating years to conceive a child, without success. Despite the fact, we were unable to have our own biological children, we knew God had a plan for our lives together.

First Impression

A rriving back from my vacation, my manager informed me he had good news: he had hired an assistant for me. After asking many times for additional help, I was delighted he finally realized I needed some support. I supervised a busy rental department. Every morning, as soon as our doors opened for business, our lobby was filled with customers---some patiently and others impatiently---waiting for their turns.

This particular morning, I anxiously waited for my new assistant to arrive. Eventually, a person who looked like he was planning to audition for Disco Night Fever* at the local college walked up to the counter and introduced himself as Ron, my new assistant. I could not believe my eyes or my ears. Everyone who worked at this office was on the conservative side. He certainly did not fit the company's profile. Ron had a mustache and long wiry reddish-brown hair. He wore an iridescent-aqua polyester shirt with the first two buttons open, tight black bell-bottoms, and black platform shoes. His attire happened to be in style and appropriate---if he was going to a disco, not the workplace.

I asked Ron to have a seat while I hurried up the stairs to have a discussion with my manager, Cliff. Smiling at my apprehension, he said, Give him a chance; Ron is a great guy. He will grow on you. You'll see. Disappointed by Cliff's response, I slowly walked back downstairs to work with my new assistant.

Talk about judging a book by its cover! Sadly, I did not want to give Ron a chance based