Important Links

MJJKBASH@aol.com - You may email Mark and Judi Bash here.

www.giftoflifemichigan.org - the organization for heart transplants

htx@tchin.org - email for support group for parents of heart transplant recipients

Shelly's Bill

It is Finished!!

(June 2009)

It has been 4 years since Shelly passed away into heaven to be with her Jesus. Some days it seems like it was just yesterday. We miss her so much! Her smiles, her little remarks, her very long ‘pretend’ stories, her being a friend to the friendless, her ‘love you’, her sweet smell, her fun personality and just her!

As I wrote Shelly’s story after she passed away I explained how we tried to adopt Shelly on two different occasions and each time the State of Michigan failed us. We are happy to say that through many hours of work, phone calls, meetings and prayers the adoption of Shelly Lynn Bash is complete. Yes, on January 2nd, 2009 Judge Karen Tighe signed all the necessary adoption papers to announce that Shelly is legally our daughter. Representative Jeff Mayes and his wonderful legal aide, Jennifer, were able to see through the process of bringing this bill to the State of Michigan and it was approved! About four years ago when we first talked to Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan , she took a real leap of faith saying she’d do everything possible to see what could be done to have the State of Michigan approve the adoption. This posthumous adoption has never been done in the State of Michigan prior so there were many red tapes that needed to be crossed.

January 2, 2009 was a beautiful day. Friends and family from all over the state of Michigan came to the Bay County court house. TV 5 was also there to video tape the whole ceremony (which was on the evening news) and many people took pictures. Judge Tighe allowed people to come up to the podium and tell just what Shelly had meant to them. There were many people that approached the podium---and NOT many dry eyes as we remembered our precious angel! Because of a prior commitment that didn’t allow Justice Corrigan to be there, she sent a beautiful vase of yellow roses which was so thoughtful. After the court hearing, everyone was invited to the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission to have food and fellowship.

What a beautiful day it was! Looking back over the years of wanting to adopt Shelly and then she passed away was very hard for us as you can imagine. We felt like if this were to go through it would be like moving a mountain. After all, if the State of Michigan couldn’t get it done while Shelly was alive, why would they try to pass an adoption after she passed away? Many times when Jeff Mayes or his aide Jennifer would call us to tell us what was happening their voices were not optimistic about the adoption going through. I would remind them that God was not finished with Shelly’s story yet and we felt that God was going to continue to do a mighty work through her life! Our thanks go to all of our friends and family that continually prayed that this adoption would be finalized. We also thank Representative Jeff Mayes, Jennifer, Judge Karen Tighe, Supreme Court Maura Corrigan, Crystal from the Bay City Times who wrote such a beautiful story of Shelly and our struggles to adopt her. This front page article was published on Christmas Eve 2008 in our local paper.

2009 started beautifully for our family. Each of our children and their children were home for Christmas. We now have 4 beautiful grandchildren. Each one of them has been introduced to their “Aunt Shelly” through pictures and stories that we share with them. Our prayer is that each of our grandchildren come to know the Lord as their personal Savior and that some day when the Lord calls them home, they will be introduced to Shelly in person! Many lives have been changed because of Shelly’s testimony and love. She was a beautiful courageous little girl and she is my hero!

It’s been fun to hear stories from people that we didn’t know before Shelly’s death and how this little ‘angle’ touched their lives also. After the story in our local paper about the posthumous adoption a dear sweet lady who had no family locally and was very lonely, wrote an article in the People’s Forum regarding this little ‘angle’ that she met at the dentist office lobby one day while waiting to see the dentist. Just talking to Shelly that day touched her life and she knew God brought this little ‘angle’ to her that day to fill her heart with joy. What a blessing!

We know we will see Shelly Lynn Bash again some day because we too have asked Jesus to come into our hearts and we have faith that when we die, we too will be reunited in heaven with our loved ones. It’s a ‘child like faith’ but a true promise from God’s word, the Bible! Thank you again for reading Shelly’s story. If you would like to be in contact with us, please feel free to write at mjjkbash@aol.com

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