Shaina M. Ortiz

Shaina Marie Ortiz A Life With Purpose The life ... When our children are born, we all have a habit to start counting fingers and toes and look for imperfections. A birth is a true blessing. I remember my wife telling me the story of how she became pregnant with my stepdaughter, Shaina. She was told by doctors that she could not give birth for various reasons. So being determined, and with faith, my wife Tammy went to the Queen of Heaven Cemetery, in Hillside, Ill. and prayed by a sacred tree where the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared several years earlier. It was a month later that she was blessed and her prayer was answered and Shaina was born on June 18, 1992. I met Tammy as a single parent, when Shaina was a year and a half old. I knew Tammy was faced with having to raise Shaina all alone and her heart was so BIG that she would do anything to make her daughter have a complete and happy life. I was also divorced for over two years and my son Adam was 8 and my daughter Erin was 6. So we blended our families and Shaina was welcomed with open arms as their little sister. We moved to St. Charles in 2000, and it has been our home for the last seven years. This is where Shaina was able to plant her roots and meet her new friends and become part of the community. She started at Richmond School, Wredling Middle School, and then her dreams came true. High school at St. Charles East. She wanted to be a part of the after school activities, so she tried out for everything. But her love was cheerleading and being part of that team. As Shaina's mother, I can truly say she touched everyone's heart in some way. Her energetic fun loving personality, smart, funny, beautiful, a total package. We knew her laugh from a distance, and her smile was always radiant from cheek to cheek. She joined rugby and this was a joy for me to finally see her dirty and covered with mud. This was not like her because she always hated dirt on her or her clothes. But, she passed away two days before the first game. Our daughter had so many dreams she wanted to accomplish, she wanted to be a cheerleader all four years and study psychology. Our daughter impacted so many students lives that they all wore pink, her favorite color, to school on the day of her wake. They wore wrist bands and are even considering planting a tree in her honor. I started doing C.D.I.'s (children development interviews) with my kids at least once every three to four months. We just sit down and set goals. My daughter Shaina loved to talk about her goals at her favorite restaurant, Red Lobster. She told me that she wanted to attend a warm weather school, so that she could enjoy having a suntan while on campus. I know she wanted to study psychology and work with people that needed some help in the mental health field. I told Shaina that her mother and I would be her first patients. I know there is probably something she could teach us. Our last C.D.I. she mentioned that she would start her own business after college with her best friend Becca Connelly. I had no doubt that these two could get this done. When cars came up, she wanted a convertible. She saw a Mustang at one of our company events and she said, "I would look good in this car. Dad, are you listening*" (With a smile and a laugh). After our daughter had passed away we picked up her school books and sure enough we found a homework assignment with all of her goals, and she did mention marriage, children, and a nice house. The line that really hit home was that she was going to be an old lady and live a long life. In closing, our family is devastated with the loss of our 14 year-old daughter. We all know that we must trust God even through this tragedy. When things in our life are good, we do not question God. When things go bad, we should not question Him. I know there is a plan and our family is going to pray daily for the direction of that walk. So many people have said they cannot imagine losing a child. You cannot. I have dedicated the song I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me to Shaina. As a 14 year-old teenager, there should never be any situation that you cannot talk about with your parents. Our love is unconditional and that is going to be what matters. A passage in the bible that sticks out after all this is Ephesians 4:26-27. This hits home. She will always be an angel in our lives. Love, Your Stepdad, Michael and Mom, Tammy