After losing her legs while shielding her two children from a deadly tornado this spring, Stephanie Decker deserves a special Mother’s Day.

Decker, her husband Joe, and their two children flew to New York for a week of fun and pampering. First up: seeing the musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” which was a big hit with 6-year-old Reese and 8-year-old Dominic, as well as their parents.

Then Stephanie and her family got to enjoy a day of pampering, topped off by a super-glam photo shoot, organized by style and beauty expert Mary Alice Stephenson and photographed by Nigel Barker of “America’s Next Top Model.” They all got to take in a Yankees game. And since she lost her wedding ring (along with her house and most of her family’s possessions) in the 175-mph tornado, husband Joe gave her a new one.

“That’s a whopper!” TODAY’s Ann Curry cried, admiring the very sparkly new ring.

Take me out to the ballgame…

“I think she earned it,” Joe said. “She’s my hero. I love her greatly.”

Reese told Curry that she knows what her mom did for her and her brother. “I like that she took care of us,” she said. “She loves us, and I love her too.”

Though Stephanie enjoyed the glam life and certainly loved her new ring, she told TODAY Moms the biggest highlight of the week for her was actually going to a New York Yankees game. She and her family are huge Yankees fans, so meeting some of the players was a thrill.

The highlight of the week for Stephanie? Watching her kids meet their baseball heroes on the Yankees.

“They gave us such a warm welcome, and they took the time to talk to our kids,” Decker said backstage at TODAY. “That meant a lot.”

One of her first goals after getting out of the hospital was to attend her son’s baseball games (her husband is also a baseball coach). She was able to do that, and even got to throw out the first pitch at a University of Louisville baseball game. So watching her children meet their baseball heroes was a fitting gift for this mom on Mother’s Day.

All along, Stephanie has said she just acted on instinct and did what any mother would do to protect her children. And her words to other moms this Mother’s Day are simply to follow that instinct: “Just take care of your child. Most mothers out there protect them just like I did. Take care of them. Hold them close.”

Indiana mom Stephanie Decker says she simply acted on instinct when a deadly tornado struck on March 2. As her home was ripped to shreds, she threw a blanket over her two children and lay on top of them, shielding them with her body as debris rained down. They emerged without a scratch; Stephanie lost one leg below the knee and the other leg above the knee.

She has blogged for TODAY Moms as she made her way through surgeries, rehab, and finally home, where she recently celebrated her daughter’s 6th birthday and got her first prosthetic foot. TODAY brought Stephanie to New York this week for a Mother’s Day surprise. She knew something was up, but she had no idea what! Here’s what Stephanie wrote for us earlier this week.

This is such an exciting week for us as we head to NYC! We are still so completely overwhelmed at the support from our friends, family and our newfound friends all over the world!! We will be eternally grateful for everything that has been done for us! I love and have read all the notes and cards mailed to me and I am inspired by all of your kind words!

Our first night in New York was fabulous! Took the kids to see Spiderman and it was incredible. What an enthralling show and the kids are mesmerized! Looking forward to day #2. However, it is filled with surprises that I am being kept in the dark about!! I wonder what NBC has up their sleeve? More to come on our journey… and I will fill you in on today’s surprises

Find out about Stephanie Decker’s fund for tornado victims, the Stephanie Decker Foundation. Read more about Stephanie Decker’s amazing story, in her own words:

We all know how expensive a new baby can be and all of the gear you need!! What do families do when they are struggling to make ends meet and they cannot afford essential items that newborns need. Baby Buggy fills that gap by collecting lightly used items and distributing it to the families that need them the most.

I am very delighted and honored to be joining “Friends of Baby Buggy” a committee formed to help increase public awareness and fundraising efforts for the organization. Nigel has been involved with this charity for years and has donated his time and voice to their cause. Last year he acted as a Baby Buggy ambassador by delivering much-needed goods to the organization, Little Sisters of the Assumption, here in Harlem, NYC. He handed out diapers and baby supplies and met local families that this organization supports. He was deeply touched by their stories of what a positive impact Baby Buggy has been in their lives.

Nigel and I recently attended their 10th Anniversary Gala and enjoyed an amazing night celebrating 10 years of giving!

Baby Buggy works with a network of over 50 community based organizations (CBOs) to distribute new and gently used essentials: from cribs and strollers to clothing and bottles, all of which are vetted for safety.

How They Give
Baby Buggy distributes product through 50+ carefully selected CBOs, each of which apply annually to become a recipient. Each month, the organizations submit the items they need for the families they serve. Based on available inventory, Baby Buggy does our best to fill these requests, providing approximately 40,500 items each month.

Each month, Baby Buggy serves approximately 1,600 families and 2,000 children in the following 6 cities; Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and Washington, DC.
These families are clients of Baby Buggy-supported domestic violence shelters; anti-poverty programs including Single Stop and Harlem Children’s Zone; fatherhood programs like the Bronx Fatherhood Program; educational programs such as Head Start; the International Rescue Committee’s Resettlement Program; and the evidence based Nurse-Family Partnership program.

Incentive Based Donations
Baby Buggy’s product distributions are combined with comprehensive social service assistance, such as job training, financial literacy classes, and parenting support & education. They are often used as an incentive tool by CBOs to encourage parents to take steps that will help them become better providers for their children. For example: A mom receives stroller after demonstrating that he has opened an education savings account for her child. A father receives a crib after participating in a 16-week fatherhood program.
By making donations through proven programs like Head Start and Nurse-Family Partnership, Baby Buggy is ensured that families not only receive immediately-needed items like strollers and bottles, but that recipient parents are enrolled in programs that will help build their self-sufficiency over the long-term.

Visit the Baby Buggy Website to learn about ways help the many families that they support.

http://babybuggy.org/

What They Give
Since their inception in 2001, Baby Buggy has donated over 5 million items including the following:
2.4 Million Diapers
6300 Cribs
5200 Strollers
3300 Front Carriers
2200 Highchairs
2300 Bath Tubs
2100 Baby Monitors
1900 Playpens

The only true difference between all races of human beings are what you can see on the outside. On the inside we all have the same capabilities. We are all capable of unbelievable courage, compassion, humanity, and love, just as we are all capable of unbelievable cowardice, indifference, cruelty and hate. So, this post is not directed at the Chinese in a tone of prejudice against their ethnicity but rather one of prejudice against their attitude.

It is difficult to write on something you have absolutely no understanding of, and I have no understanding of cruelty toward either man or beast. China is responsible for many inhumane acts, their attitude towards these acts is one of indifference, and there is no empathy with the subject. In fact I have paused to wonder if they are even aware that their actions are both cruel in the extreme and promote cruelty and greed in others.

The tiger and its plight have been in the UK news quite frequently just lately. We were all horrified at the poaching of the wild tiger for his body parts and skin, and the petition sites and followers for proactive sites such as TigerTime Now grew in number, with some successful outcomes. There was however, much, much worse to come.
“Products made from tiger parts”[/caption]

The Chinese government had signed agreements prohibiting the sale of tiger parts and skins from poached tigers; they declared that the killing of tigers was outlawed. It also made the buying and selling of tiger wine illegal. They signed the paper then laughed up their sleeves. They didn’t actually need the wild tiger to continue in the lucrative trade of body parts and skins, they had their tiger farms, often passed off as ‘parks’ allowing visitors and ‘conservationists’ alike to view their animals. How did they get round the now outlawed killing of tigers though? By simply starving them to death. The law on tiger wine is also openly flouted. An e-petition was raised to be sent to the Chinese government to stop a recently held auction of tiger wine. The first few e-mails may have gotten through but after that they were blocked. The auction was eventually halted by the actions of a brave young jounalist who attended the auction, who so forcibly raised the question of its legality that the police were eventually called and the wine confiscated. Not before about 40 bottles I believe, had been sold, and one would be suspicious of what happened to the rest of the wine, although it was declared destroyed.

A slow death by starvation for his bones & skin.

If these were not horrors enough there was more to come. An animal welfare expert was to see for himself exactly what was going on. (No one was ever barred from going to the tiger farms/parks as far as I know which proves that there is no shame or any awareness of any wrong doing on the part of the farm/park owners.) What was found and reported rocked us all back on our heels, and even the most seasoned campaigners were shocked and sickened. In Heilongjiang Tiger Park the visitors were invited to buy domesticated animals, such as chickens, ducks and cows. These animals were then dropped alive into the tiger compounds, with the obvious resulting carnage, for the amusement and ‘education’ of the viewing public. This is not education in any way, shape, or form. This is done for the gratification of that most perverse of human characteristics………..blood lust! To try and fool the world into believing that they are benefiting the tiger by feeding them live animals is ludicrous and has nothing to do with the wild tigers natural hunting instincts at all. The domestic animals the tigers are fed have, over many, many generations of purposeful breeding, been altered from their wild ancestors ability to cope as a natural prey animal, even if they had a means of escape it would be impossible. All that is left of their instinctive reaction to being ‘hunted’ is terror and fear.

Feeding live domesticated animals to the tigers.

This is not an in depth post, more of a summary of what has been happening. The in depth reports can be found at www.tigertime.info (press the blog button) and are written by those who have had first-hand witness to the atrocities being played out in China.

I cannot finish without posting this video; it is of tigers living their lives as intended, wild and free, including great footage of some very young cubs. This is what the TigerTime Now team, its associates, campaigners and followers have been fighting for, these tigers have a right to remain safe and free from human kind’s greedy and cruel exploitation. There are only 3,200 tigers left in the wild, the number dwindles weekly. If we can insist on a worldwide ban on the sale of tiger parts and skins, which will need to be vigorously enforced, then eventually the poachers and tiger farms will have no outlets and the war will have been won, but we all need to work together, to stand united in this cause, we need to use our collective ‘people-power.’ Please sign the petition to help achieve this goal at www.bantigertrade.com and enjoy the video which is brought to you by ‘Trunk Cam’ and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.