Fall Festivities....staying BUSY!

Just wanted to post some new photos for you all! This has been a hard week for me as three children I had been praying for all passed away within 3 days of each other. All of them with Congenital Heart Disease. I did however, quit worrying about when Sarah's surgery will be and started taking in every single moment of playing with her and Jason and being their mommy every minute of the day. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in life that we forget to live. I feel as if I have a "pause" button on me and someone pushed it when Sarah's surgery got rescheduled. I realized that the only way to get past that was to push PLAY! So, I did. We have enjoyed a lot of family time together over the past few weeks and having nothing on our calendars as we had pretty much cleared the rest of our next 2-3 months to recover from her surgery. Looks like we'll be cleared for even longer for that and that is okay. I am thankful for every minute we get!


This is a photo of Sarah and her heart friend, Mikaela! Mikaela had her open heart surgery on October 2nd and this is her and Sarah having lunch at our house last week! She is doing GREAT and I hope these two will be friends for life as they share a very rare and special bond that most 4 and 5 year old girls don't. They came over and we enjoyed chicken noodle soup and then nail painting! (princess pink, of course!)
I have grown very close to Mikaela's mommy, too! We also share a great bond and she is precious!



Just an afternoon of playing Candyland and drinking some Hot Apple Cider!












This is the pumpkin I carved for Sarah! She is going to be "Ariel" from the Little Mermaid this year and so we are making her pumpkin to match! She has a hard time seeing "Ariel" though! LOL Jason's ghostbuster pumpkin photos coming SOON! Also, I had to do ALL the work on Sarah's because she GAGS every time she smells pumpkin! It's pretty funny but I understand!

Fall pics of Sarah in the pumpkin patch!

Hanging out by the fire in her new toe socks from mommy and petticoat from Mimi!

Me and my girl!

Silly String wars with Presley!

An afternoon of fun with cousins!

My handsome little guy and his cute pumpkin!

This is Sarah "modeling" her new Ariel costume that "Aunt Robyn" gave her for her birthday! She cannot WAIT for Halloween to wear it! :)

Fall is in the Air!

Well, it's my favorite time of year! (Sarah's too!) She and I both LOVE the leaves and the cool breezes of fall. Jason is getting ready for Halloween with Todd! He wanted to be a Ghostbuster again this year and Todd helped him make a REAL proton pack to wear on his back. Sure, it weighs almost as much as Jason, but he doesn't care! LOL I am thankful for a husband who takes the time to do stuff like this with our kiddos. Jason loves that his dad takes so much time and put in so much effort into always making sure his costume is perfect!

We always love to have fun as a family for Halloween. We look at is as our one day of the year to be silly and be whatever you want to be! Our kids love that we ALL dress up and we always have great memories of each year. This year, Jason is going to be a Ghostbuster (like he was 2 years ago! LOL But he loved it and now he has a real proton pack!) and Sarah will be either a mermaid or a cheerleader. She can't make up her mind. :) She may be a hospital patient, instead.....we hope!

On to that subject....the hospital has rescheduled her for November 16th, but they are trying to fit her in before that if they get any cancellations. If a child shows up for the pre-op testing and is sick or for some reason can't have surgery as planned, they will call us to be there the next morning. I had our bags packed and by the door, but this week, I've decided to unpack them.
It is hard waiting. I don't even want to buy groceries because we could have to leave at any time. I have been buying things I can freeze, etc. The house has stood at attention as I have cleaned and cleaned and taken clothes off our backs and put the STRAIGHT into the washer to keep everything done. I feel good that it is staying caught up, but really, I think it's my nerves that are keeping me going at this point! LOL

We are trusting in God that his timing is perfect. We know that. We are just waiting. Waiting is the hardest part. I feel like we are about to have a baby! I feel like I am nesting with all the cleaning and organizing constantly. Packing and unpacking, due dates, etc! Thankfully, we are not! haha I have all the babies I ever wanted and am so happy with them!

I am hoping that I get to be involved with Jason and his fall activities as much as possible. He has a fall festival at his new school and lots of fun stuff going on. We moved him to private school about a month and a half ago and we LOVE it! He is doing so great and he loves going to school. We are anticipating moving into town most likely after January as the home we leased last January when we moved to Lufkin is for sale and our lease will end then. I am excited to know we can live wherever we want without regard to school districts since he is happily settled in his new school!

I am going to post some photos of Sarah from the pumpkin patch later! I need to get Jason to take some photos. He is at "that" age right now where it is so uncool to be photographed! LOL I will try to get some of him, though!

Have a great day and bless someone else!

Sharon

Sarah Gets the Royal Treatment!

Two weeks ago, before we left for Houston for Sarah's surgery (which we didn't get yet)....we did a little "pampering" for Sarah!

Our friends, Jeff & Kim Whitfield invited us over for dinner. It was so great! Kim made an awesome lasagna and we sat and visited and enjoyed dinner and then delicious brownies ala mode! We were so thankful for such a great night with friends before leaving for Houston. After dinner, the men settled into the sofas and chairs and began watching some sort of boxing match on tv. Kim and I looked at each other after about 20 minutes and said "We could be getting our nails done right now!" LOL Her daughter, Jacquelyn was like "YES! Let's GO! PLEEEEAAASSSEEEEE!!!!"

We said...okay......let's do it! All the girls....let's go! So, me, Sarah, Kim & Jacquelyn headed off in a MAD dash to the mall to the only nail salon in town was still open at 8:05 pm! They were less than thrilled to see us come in the door, but we still got our nails done! Sarah LOVED it and so did Jacquelyn. They were so cute!

The day after we got her manicure, we had a hair appointment with Miss Kelly....who Sarah lovingly calls "the girl with bling in her eye". She is one of our fabulous hairstylists! We use her and Miss Wendy at Paradise Salon! They ROCK! In case you're wondering, the number is 632-DICE. Before heading to our hair appointment, we stopped by Starbucks. Mommy had to have some caffeine as our appointment was pretty early! Sarah got a nice hot cocoa! (that she enjoyed immensely!)

Kelly gave Sarah the royal treatment massaging her head, her own little tiny bottled water, etc. Sarah felt like a queen on her throne! It was great. Mommy was next! It was a great morning.

After her salon appointment, we went to Century 21 to see our good friends who always treat Sarah like a princess! She is like their little "mascott". She loves those ladies! They always give her little goodies and surprises, but on this day, they REALLY surprised her! Sandy (Dee-Dee), Charlene (Cha-Cha) (she picked these names for them when she started talking) and several others there had gathered things for her and gave her the MOST adorable cheerleader teddy bear to match the cheer uniform they bought her for her birthday and a load of cash!!! She was pretty excited!

Dee Dee & Cha-Cha are like Sarah's crazy aunts! They always come to her birthday parties and in costume if necessary! They are always there for her and rallying behind her like her own personal cheer section. Someday, I imagine them both at her high school graduation with a banner or something cheering "GO, SARAH!!!!" They will be a big part of her life always. Since birth, they have loved her and gone all out for her. They will be sitting in the "reserved" section at her wedding, too, I'm sure! :)

Sarah with her crazy Aunts! LOL Dee-Dee, Cha-Cha and Miss Jennifer!

This week, my heart is sad for Cha-Cha. Her 26 year old daughter has been diagnosed with Lymphoma and it is very aggressive. She has had a few surgeries this week and we are all praying for her to fight and win this battle with cancer. Her name is Amanda and if you read this, please pray for her to get well.

We all know that through Christ, all things are possible and we should have faith. Sometimes, in life's biggest storms, it is hard to remember that, but we must. We still have no news on when Sarah's surgery will be. I am just having faith that it will be God's perfect time and not mine. I have our bags packed and by the door and we are ready to go at any moment. Please pray for me to continue to have patience and just enjoy every moment I can with Sarah and Jason and being home as a family and not stuck in the hospital. We have been doing a lot of family bonding this past week and it's been great! If nothing else, God just was clearing our schedule for a few weeks so we can enjoy each other!

The Waiting Game

Well, we came home from Houston on Friday when we were supposed to have surgery. An emergency case came in Thursday night for the operating room and our surgeon and we got bumped/cancelled until further notice. We were sad and disappointed, but it's okay.

When thinking about it on the way home, I told Todd, "Some parents are sitting in that waiting room right now and their infant is in critical condition and having EMERGENCY heart surgery and ours is in the back seat coloring and singing. I can live with that." We know that God has perfect timing and even though we can't always see them, there are reasons we do not know!

We are home again and waiting for a phone call this week to reschedule again. We will see what happens. I will let you all know as soon as we know something. For now, we will wait.

We are so thankful to be blessed with such an awesome support group in our friends, family and church. We cannot begin to express enough thanks for all that everyone has done for us!

On again, Off again, On again, Off again....

Okay, they told me first thing this morning that we were looking at November for Sarah's surgery. I started unpacking and then within 2 hours, they called and said to come tonight and have her at the hospital by 6:00 a.m. for surgery tomorrow.

Sooooooooooo, we re-packed, re-loaded and re-drove to Houston and got all unloaded, unpacked, you get the picture...............and they called and cancelled AGAIN! Another emergency came up. I totally KNOW that GOD has some real reason for this. He is holding Sarah back for whatever reason and I'm okay with that.

They are supposed to call us in the morning with some kind of news or plan. Who knows!?

Will post more when I know more.

Sarah keeps singing "Every little thing is gonna be allright"....an old Bob Marley Song! LOL

Back Home Again....

Well, for those of you who don't follow on Facebook.....Sarah's surgery got cancelled for today. Another patient needed a double lung transplant and our surgeon was the man for the job so we gave up our spot happily and are rescheduling later this week. Yes, I was sad. It was very emotional. To have everything ready and make alllllll the arrangements and get there and be mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for it and then pack up and come home WAS hard but nothing compared to having an 8 year old little boy who had his life saved by a new pair of lungs! I immediately started praying for his surgery to go well as soon as I heard that was why we were cancelled and from what I hear, he is stable and in recovery! I am so thankful!

Sarah was kind of glad to skip surgery and head home! LOL Jason was kinda bummed because I called and said "Well, you need to go on to school on Tuesday instead of missing" and he was like "mannnnn.....". Oh, well! LOL He got over it pretty quick!

We made it home safely this afternoon and our neighbor who Sarah LOVES was heading up her driveway towards our house as we pulled in. Sarah got right out of the car and headed to Miss Susan with her arms open. Then, Susan took her home for a few hours so mommy could have a big nap! I feel so much better now!

Mimi is on her way home with Jason and all of his clothing now! I can't wait to see him and it's only been 2 days! I miss my boy! Sarah actually cried for bubba last night! Funny how when they are together, they can't stand each other but as soon as you pull them apart, they are the only people in the world who will do!

I will post more as soon as we find out more! Sarah is doing great and we are thankful to be resting at home! Thank you all so much for such awesome support and prayers! We can literally FEEL the love around us! We are so blessed!

Heart Surgery.....Coming Up!

Today, we are in Houston for Sarah's pre-op appointment for her open heart surgery that is scheduled for tomorrow. I am hoping that all goes smoothly today and praying for her to be in as little discomfort as possible. She is so precious to us and we are so thankful for her.

I know God will continue to hold her in his arms as we go through this journey together. She is so strong!

Please pray for a smooth day today. There is a lot of "not so fun" stuff to do today. Bloodwork, sinus cleansing, etc. Just pray for her to tolerate it as well as possible and for me and Todd to be able to comfort her and support her.

Pray for Jason as we had to leave him in Lufkin. The hospital is not letting ANY children under 12 in the hospital at all. He will not be able to visit Sarah in the hospital the entire time of her stay which is VERY hard for him and us. (AND Sarah!) They may fight like cats and dogs, but they still can't stand to be apart. My sweet sister and family went to get them a web-cam set so they can talk via internet! HOW sweet! They will LOVE that!

For those of you interested in doing something to brighten Sarah's stay....I am (as requested) putting the address of the hospital for you. We do not have a "room number" yet and won't for several days. It may be best to wait until then to mail any cards or anything.

Texas Children's Hospital
West Tower
Patient Sarah Swan
6621 Fannin Street
Houston, TX 77030

Also, the hospital has a service that allows you to make a "card" online for free and have it delivered to Sarah via volunteer staff! They print them out and they are really nice. Sarah got several as a baby, but this time, she would REALLY enjoy getting some notes from friends and family. Kids enjoy doing this online and it helps to feel involved for those closest to her! The website is http://www.texaschildrenshospital.org/ and click on the "For parents" tab and click on "Patient Greetings". You can compose a message. For the first few days put "CV-ICU" for the "room number" and I will post as soon as she gets to a normal room!

Sarah is Five!

It has taken me a few weeks to finally post pics of Sarah's 5th birthday! (We've been very busy getting ready for her heart surgery!)



She had a wonderful time! Her friends were all so cute and she loved the Barbie Fashion Show! We are so thankful for all of her big girl friends who offered to be barbies for the show! They did a GREAT job! I think it will be a day that is forever etched in these little girls' memories! My best memory of the party is that every time a barbie walked out onto the runway, there was a large amount of squealing from all the little girls. It was SO cute!



Sarah had a great day and it is so hard to believe she is five years old. It's hard to believe that five years ago, we were at Texas Children's just like we are now and getting heart surgery just like now. She has grown so much and her little light in her eye is the light of our lives! We are so blessed to have her in our life and get to spend every day with her. I know we appreciate her and what her life symbolizes.


Looking at her, you cannot deny God's miraculous wonders! She is alive because He has taken care of her and kept her safe and I know He will continue to do the same. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for her life. She is everything I ever dreamed of in a little girl and more. She loves the same things I love and still wants to look at hot-rod cars and trains with her daddy and brother. She is dainty and tough all in one tiny little package with blonde hair!



On her birthday, we like to look back at her life and think of how far we've come! This year, more than ever, I am so thankful for all that God has done for her and for us! We are so blessed! And we are SO thankful!