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My name is Kendall, and I am Cody's adoptive father. I first met the woman who would become my wife in 2001. I worked at a convenience store in Marshfield, MO. My future wife would meet her ex-husband at my convenience store to swap out their kids. I would flirt with Robyn and try to make her smile, because she seemed so sad. Eventually, in November 2001, my flirtations paid off, and Robyn agreed to go on a date with me. After a few weeks, I took my 5 year old daughter out to Robyn's house to meet her sons, 3 year old Cody, and 2 year old Caden.
The boys were funny little kids. Cody could not stand to be dirty, and if even a drop of water got on his clothes, he cried until his clothes were changed. He was overly cautious. Caden was fearless, was constantly a mess, and did not care. They could not have been more different. As Cody had a heart condition, he was a bit delayed, and the boys were more like twins. They were in the middle of potty training when we met. Their nanny was teaching them to pee sitting down, like girls. I had to tell them to stand up and "shake it like a man."
After a couple of months of dating, I decided that Robyn and the boys should meet my family, and invited them to a family dinner at my parent's house. My parents, my brothers, and their families were all there, and meeting them for the first time. During dinner, Caden had to go to the bathroom, so Robyn took them. After Caden came out of the bathroom, Caden loudly announced to everyone, " I shook it, Kendall, I shook it."  Robyn looked mortified, but I just laughed.
15 years of marriage later, I have adopted those boys. They still make me laugh.

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My name is Robyn, and I am Cody's mother. Let me tell you about the scariest day of my life.
After six years of marriage, my husband and I were thrilled to find out we were pregnant with our first child. We did all the things first time parents do. We repainted the "nursery," went crib shopping, bought baby clothes, got a souvenir ultrasound video, read "What to Expect When You're Expecting", and had a baby shower with all our friends and family. We wrote on a pregnancy calendar, and kept track of all our little milestones.  Due to some medical issues on my part, we elected to be induced. On July 22,1998, we headed to the hospital, and by 9:58pm, we had our precious baby, Cody. He looked just like his Daddy. While being weighed for the first time, he set forth a urine stream that soaked his Dad's shirt! He was 7# 14oz of joy.
The next day, friends and family flocked to the hospital to welcome our sweet boy. Lots of cuddles, kisses, and photo ops ensued.
Then at 18 hours old, the pediatrician came to examine him to see if he was fit to go home. The pediatrician detected a heart murmur over his pulmonic valve. Ok, no big deal, I have one too. Then they checked his oxygen level. It was 77%. They took him from my arms away to the NICU. Two hours later, a pediatric cardiologist returned to tell me that my son had Hypolplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He literally had half a heart. I went into shock. I was numb. I could hear, but could not speak. I could not fathom that all my hopes and dreams for my child were vanishing right before my eyes. We were told that the best option was just to let him die.  There was a surgical option of three surgeries, but there was only a 50% chance he would live until age 3.  I have never felt so empty.
Ultimately, we chose the surgical route. 18 1/2 years later that little boy is graduating high school. I am still fearful for his future, but he has exceeded everyone's expectations!

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My name is Sharon, and I am Cody's grandmother. Our story starts my freshman year of college at Kansas State University. I was engaged to Cody's grandfather Russ. Our relationship fell apart sometime in early April of 1969. I already suspected I was pregnant, but did not tell my ex-fiance. I finished my semester of college, then went home to Osage City, Kansas. I didn't know how to tell my parents. My father died of a heart attack at age 49 in July 1969. He never knew I was pregnant. I didn't tell my mom until August of that year. I continued to ride and show horses through October. For the last month and a half of my pregnancy, I moved to a home for unwed mothers in Topeka, KS.  On December 2, 1969, my little girl was born. I held her, as did my mother and grandmother. Then the people from the state took her away to be adopted.
In July of 1990, on a Monday, I received a call from my mother while I was at work. She said that my 20 year old daughter was standing in her living room! She had found us after all that time. I spoke to her for awhile, then called her later that night once she was home. Two days later, my 15 year old daughter and I drove to Wichita to meet Robyn for the first time. Eight years later she would make me a grandmother for the first time with the birth of Cody. Even though we were separated for two decades, we have built a solid relationship and expanded our family together.

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If I Could Live My Life All Over Again, I Would ...

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If I Could Live My Life All Over Again, I Would ...

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If I could live my life over again, I think I would go back in time and try to be a better person. I would  not act like a child all the time, throw fits, and cuss or yell at others, because now that I look back on it I feel really bad for some of the stuff I have done in the past.

I would also want to go back in time and help my brother make better choices.  I would hang out with him more and try to convince him to not do drugs or drink or hang out with the wrong crowd. It might have made him a better person, and a better brother to me. We could have built a stronger relationship and been true brothers.

If I could go back in time I would actually tried to make my grades better, and do my homework when I was told. Maybe I wouldn't have made such bad grades, and struggled every year just trying to pass, just like I have been with my senior year. School has always been really hard for me, no matter how hard I tried. At some point, I think I just really quit trying.

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At last I am a senior, and there is literally 3 weeks left until I can actually start the next chapter of my life. I've been waiting for a really long time for this moment, and I have been through so much through my years of school.

My senior year has been a rough and bumpy road. Now I am finally about to graduate, and a couple of months ago I didn't even think I was going to graduate. I feel a lot of excitement and I'm afraid to be out on my own,  but I think it will be really good to be out of school and doing things that I want. It will also be great when  I'm on my own and can make my own rules and decisions.  I can move wherever I choose to, and hopefully I will be able to find a good paying job.

I still can't believe that I am this close to being a high school graduate! I might not make it into a college, or anything like that, but I can still say I succeeded to a point. I didn't let my peers or family down, because my senior year has been the worst year of my life. I have been hospitalized 4 times, lost my car, lost my sight, and at times lost myself. A lot of people thought I couldn't do it, but I knew I could, and I proved them wrong!

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I really only have one major hobby and that is working on cars or just being around them. I love driving the most, though.  It calms me down, and it's a really good stress reliever.

Cars have really interested me since I was a little kid. My first word was car.  My real dad worked for many car dealerships as a salesman, and he would always bring home a new car from the lot every night.  He would  take me and my brother and sister for a ride, and that's how I really got started liking cars and learning more about them.

My first car was a red, Ford Mustang. I really loved that car. I miss it a lot. My friends are all into cars too. It gives us all something in common.

My other hobby is golf. I haven't really played much lately because I had a bad car crash in June of 2016 and I hurt my shoulder and my neck. I haven't gotten back out on the course since then. I'm not the best golfer, but I do enjoy playing, and because of my heart condition, it is one of the only sports I can actually play with out straining my heart. I also got to play for the Special Olympics. I did that for like 2 years, and I got to play tournaments all around Missouri . Also, I got to play with my dad as my partner, so that gave us a lot of time to spend together doing something we both enjoyed. My main hobby is cars, but golf used to be the only one until I could drive.

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I have had a lot of best friend's in my life, but they can't  compare to the best friends that I have made in high school. My best friends are Issac Asher and Hayden Steelman. This past year has been really rough, and they have been with me through thick and thin.  They helped me figure out my problems that I've been having, and have been really good friends to me, even  when I've not been a good friend to them.

I am very grateful to have them in my life and I don't know what I would of done without them this year. When I was in my car wreck, Issac helped me out so much. He basically moved into my house for two weeks, and he drove me to summer school and to all my doctors appointments. He even helped me get dressed because I couldn't get my own shirt on and off . He was there by my side to help me with what ever I needed help with he also helped out my parents by doing some of my chores when I couldn't do them myself.

Hayden has just always been a good friend to me. We met in 7th grade and we have been really good friend's since then.  He wasn't around much during the summer, after my wreck, which I understand. But he has been there for me for everything that has happened to me my senior year. The events of this year have strained a lot of my friendships, but he and Issac have been there. For that,I call them my brothers for life

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Well ,what I would like to being doing in 10 years to become a semi truck driver.  I love being on the road and exploring new places. I think it is the job for me because I don't know if i'm even going to make it through high school. Some of the trucking companies out there don't require you to have a high school diploma, so it could work out for me if I don't graduate from high school.

Also if I drive a truck, it will be fine because I already don't want a wife or any kids. I won't have to worry about being gone from home all the time, and not being there for my family. That way I can stay on the road longer and just live in my truck. Living expenses won't be that much, plus I'll be making money just by doing something I love to do .

I mean plans can also change in the future, but I feel like if I try to go and get my CDL after high school, I can drive in the state of Missouri until I turn 21. Then I can drive across the country for the rest of my life, so that is what I'm hoping to be doing in the next 10 years . Another reason why it's not a bad idea is because most truck drivers make really good money.

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The person I wish I could see again is my old neighborhood friend, Blake. I met about 8 years ago. He moved in across the street, and he lived with his grandparents. He only lived here for about 2 years, but we had some good times while he was here. Blake and I would hang out every day that we could.

He lived here in Ozark, but he went to school in Fair Grove. His grandparents would drive him there everyday. I never really understood that, but he was from there, so I guess he wanted to stay close to his other family and old friends he had at the school he went too.

He would usually get home around 4:30 everyday from school then he would tell me he was home.  Then I would go over to his house and usually play basketball.  Sometimes we would go ride his dirt bikes behind his house. There was like a retention pond, and if it was dry enough we could ride.

I had a pretty good relationship with his grandma and grandpa because he lived with them here.  He never really talked about his parents, and I never decided to ask, because it didn't matter and I already had a good relationship with his grandparents. But If I had the chance to see him it would be cool. I don't even know his last name. When your kids, stuff like that doesn't matter. I know it would be a little bit different because we're older and we haven't seen each other in a long time, but I think we could still reconnect.

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I lived in Wichita Kansas for the first 6 days of my life. We went to Michigan for my surgeries. After that we moved to a small town called Mansfield, Missouri. We lived there for about a year. Then we moved to another small town called Hartville, Missouri and we lived there until I was 4. Then my mom married my step dad.

After that we moved to Ozark, Missouri , and we have lived here for 15 years. We moved into a neighborhood called Turnberry estates, and we still live there to this day.

We live in a small, one story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house.  It works out pretty well that me and my brother have our own rooms since our sister moved out. We shared a room up until a few years ago. My parents have their own bed and bathroom. My brother have almost the same colored rooms. They are both like a light green color. My and my brother's rooms are side by side, and then our bathroom is right next to my brothers room.

The kitchen is next to the bathroom. The kitchen, living room, and dining room are all one big room with a vaulted ceiling. The kitchen counter separates the rooms.

Then my parent's room is down a hallway connected to the living room.

When you walk in the front door of the house,  the first door on the right is the garage door. We don't park our cars in the garage, because that is my dad's man cave. He has a t.v. and his Lego tables out there.

But the layout of the house has stayed the same since day one when we bought the house in 2002.

The neighborhood is pretty good. When we were younger, all the kids would play basketball on the cul de sac at night.  The kids hang out spot was called "the swing."  It was just a little concrete pad with a cover over it and a rope hanging from the roof and we could swing on it. It was a pretty great place to grow up.

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I was born in Wichita, Kansas on July 22nd 1998 at 9:58 P.M. in Wesley Hospital. My dad is the one who chose my name, Cody, and my mom got to choose my middle name. She picked my middle name to be Robert, after her dad.

After I was 18 hours old they found out that I was born with a birth defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, and I was transported to the University of Michigan to have my first surgery. I had all  4 of my surgeries there, but they were spread out over 2 years. For the first 2 years of my life it was pretty rough to be a little kid. I didn't learn to walk until I was 3. After I was out of the hospital I tried to live a normal life as  possible, considering the fact that I only had half of my heart.

My brother was born 17 months after I was. When he got older,  he helped me out a lot and he taught me how to do things I couldn't do by myself. Even though he's younger than me,  I really look up to him. He is 17 and he's already in college and teaches me stuff I don't know.

I am very grateful for my parents for not giving up on me and letting me get the surgeries that I needed to live, and I'm grateful for my supportive brother and friends.

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I am 5 '7, have brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. I only wear shirts that don't have any writing or logos. I  also either wear dress clothes or cowboy clothes .

This year I went completely blind in my right eye and partly blind in my left eye. Even though I couldn't see, my right eye was really sensitive to light. I had to wear glasses with one side  clear and the other side black to block out the light.  Now the blindness happened  to me October 14th 2016. I just woke up and couldn't see out of my right eye. They call it functional blindness, which is just in your mind. Your eye can see but your brain doesn't perceive it.  They said that it wasn't permanent, but I was preparing to be blind for the rest of my life. Then on February 24, as I was riding in a car, it all came back. I can see perfectly.

I was born with a heart condition called HLHS. That means only half of the heart develops. I don't have the left side of my heart . I had to have 4 surgeries before the age of 2 so I could live.  I don't play sports or anything because of my heart condition, and I can't do a lot of physical stuff. I really like to watch sports, especially college sports on t.v.

Some more stuff about me is that I love cars and working on them. It is a stress reliever. Since I don't play any sports or anything because of my heart condition, and I can't do much physical activity, I work on cars instead. I love going to car shows too.

Currently I don't have a job.  I've worked at IHOP as a dishwasher, and at Cheddar's as a bus boy.  I lost my Cheddar's job because I was in a bad car wreck in the summer of 2016. I haven't been able to work since the wreck.

My family: I have 1 brother and 2 step sisters.  I live with my mom and my step dad, but my step dad adopted me so my last name changed from Calvert to Yost. That pretty much everything about me.