Editor’s Note: This is the conclusion of a two-part series. Part I appeared April 28.

    HONDO • When the Craft family of Hondo was selected to receive a new house courtesy of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” most people would say it was an answer to their prayers. Not the Crafts though.

    Todd and Elizabeth Craft and their four children: Samantha, 10, Sarah, 7, Isabella, 2, who was born with alobar holoprosencephaly, a serious brain malformation; and Todd Joseph, 1, know the power of prayer and have seen it manifesting in their lives.

    This strong, pro-life family, parishioners of Holy Cross Church in D’Hanis, lost a son, William, in 2001 only hours after his birth due to anencephaly. Liz’s infant boy had been diagnosed with his condition early in her pregnancy, and her faith helped her deal with the weeks and months prior to his delivery and short life.

    “With William’s pregnancy everyone who didn’t know me well was telling me to have an abortion, but nobody has the right to kill another person, whether that person is still in the womb or whether that person is 105 years old and has cancer,” said Liz, a graduate of the University of the Incarnate Word.

    “The chances of William being born alive were very, very low, and I thought if God wanted me to have him, then I’m going to have him for as long as I can,” Liz explained. “I’m not saying it was easy, because it was very hard knowing that as soon as he was born that he would die. It was very hard to explain to people that when God wanted to take him that was when he was going to go.”

    She continued, “But I am human. When I was pregnant with William I prayed for him to be born alive and to stay alive. I prayed for a miracle. But I also asked God to give me the strength for whatever his will was. It’s not easy in any way, shape or form. It’s the hardest thing in the world.”

    Liz tells of an instance during her pregnancy with William when she believes she was visited by St. Rita of Cascia, St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, and St. Padre Pio. She explains, “It was at night, so other people would say it was a dream, but it wasn’t a dream. My husband was away at a game overnight, and I was sleeping on his side of the bed. They were there. I knew it was them. Nobody said a word. It put me at peace completely. I felt like I was walking on clouds then after during my pregnancy. Everything was fine. I was praying for a miracle. I didn’t stop praying for that miracle, but I knew there wasn’t going to be a miracle of him being born normal. I knew none of that was going to happen. I knew he was going to die. But I was at peace with it. Everything was OK.”

    Although little William lived for only three hours, people tell the Crafts they have gotten closer to God and started going to church again because of their first born son. “These are things you wouldn’t think would be connected to this pregnancy. Stuff like that floors me,” Liz said.

    Prominently placed in the Craft’s new home is a shadow box designers for the show created as a memorial to William from the front door of the previous home. Mementos contained under glass are a tiny plaster handprint, small clothes and toy cars.

    People from all over the world have contacted the Crafts through their memorial Web site: www.geocities.com/williamscottcraft. The site contains detailed journals from Liz during her pregnancies with Isabella and William, family photos, prayer intentions and links to pro-life organizations.

    Liz continued, “Our goal in life as good Christian people is to get to heaven. Everything that we do should be for that one goal, which a lot of people lose. That’s what I remind people also. He’s there. He’s reached his goal already. It just makes me want to be a better person to make sure that I get to see him again and that I get to heaven too.”

    Craft says she has always been pro-life. However, during her pregnancy with William, she and Todd did visit with a priest to learn more about the church’s position regarding infants with anencephaly, especially since the couple was being pushed by their doctors to seek an abortion. They were told by the cleric that it is morally wrong to abort a baby no matter what defect he or she has; that every person has the right to be born.

    “I felt like I had a sword,” Liz exclaimed. “I could completely take people on. People were always saying, ‘You do have a choice. You can have an abortion.’ I said, ‘No, I choose not to.’ It was actually worse with Isabella, because it was my second pregnancy with a special child. People were telling me not to put my family through this. I told them, ‘I didn’t choose for her not to have a whole brain, but that doesn’t mean I can let somebody kill her.’”

    One of the Crafts’ neurosurgeons told the couple they should have won the Texas Lottery three times with the chances of having a baby like William and a baby like Isabella.

    Father Wallis Stiles, pastor of Holy Cross Church in D’Hanis who conducted a house blessing prior to the Crafts’ return from California, has also assisted the family by offering to store possessions from their former home at church property in D’Hanis. Producers for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” packed up the Craft family belongings and had them put in storage in San Antonio. Only personal items such as clothes were moved back to the site when the building was completed.

    When the home was unveiled to the family, a crowd of nearly 4,000 people were on hand to welcome them. And during construction, some students from D’Hanis High School were let out of classes for a day to help with the project.

    The television program also donated a new Ford hybrid SUV, and to top it all off, Fieldstone Construction, builders of the Crafts’ house, donated $100,000 to the cost of the house’s tax and insurance and Isabella’s medical expenses.

    The family is now settling into their new home. Samantha, a student at Ben Koch Elementary School in D’Hanis, is enjoying her Alaska igloo-based room; while younger sister Sarah, a gifted and talented student at D’Hanis Elementary is delighted by her monkey inspired living area; and tiny Todd Joseph gets accustomed to his athlete themed quarters.

    Samantha also brings additional medical concerns to the Craft family. She has been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome. It manifests itself in the oldest Craft child through facial tics and involuntary movements. “It’s a complex neurological disorder,” says Liz.

    A bumper sticker on the Craft family minivan reads, “Abortion stops a beating heart.” Liz says that when the family replaces the vehicle, which it will soon need to, that she intends to get personalized pro-life license plates to spread her beliefs even more.

    “We’re just traditional Catholics,” she concludes. “We just want to be good examples to the kids.”