Tomorrow's the big day!!!

The day I dreaded and looked forward to is finally here. Ellie has her MRI tomorrow for her tumor and her heart. Please keep her in your prayers tonight and tomorrow. We are hoping that we see improvement on both. Plus, Ellie in the past has liked to keep the docs and nurses on their toes and let them know that nothing is routine. She coded during one of them so this makes us really nervous. The good thing is that they actually have changed some things after this incident to make it a little safer for these kiddos. It still is never easy to have her put under.

We want to thank those from the bottom of our hearts who have been so supportive to our family during these difficult times. Sometimes we know who you are and sometimes you do it anonymously, but regardless, we love you and are so grateful to know such wonderful people. I read on another blog that these are the worst and the best times of their life and I know exactly what they mean. Even though the road has been rough, humanity shows it self in some of the most giving and selfless ways.

The prayers of the children. When Ellie had her successful heart surgery, (her first attempt didn't go so well) my little girls kept asking my sister-in-law what time it was. When she said it was two o'clock, them and my two nieces went down to Kylie's room and each took turns saying a prayer. They did this on their own without any prompting. But this made them feel better and helped us feel better too. We will keep you updated on how things go tomorrow.

Update!

We are home! It's interesting that her shortest hospital stay has been for her heart surgery. Hopefully, we can keep her healthy and out of the hospital. It's really hard as a mother to watch your child go down hill so fast. This made us so grateful to be closer to Primary's. It still seemed to take an eternity to get there. The nurses were wonderful, even though we were on the other side. We have a list of nurses that we usually get when we are in the heart section. Ellie is doing better minus losing a little bit of weight.

On another note, one of her heart buddies received the precious gift of a new heart! Please remember them today during surgery and the family that gave this precious gift. For they are suffering tonight. We hope goes well tonight.

"If Life Gets To Hard To Stand, Kneel."

-Gordon B. Hinkley

(Anna, if you read this, I lost your info. so when you have a chance, please e-mail me at rebeccacason1@yahoo.com)

Ellie's back in the Hospital!

Well, we're back. This time we went to the ER. It was our first admission through the ER. So I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't take three hours to be seen but it did take three hours to get to our room upstairs. The good thing is it's not her heart this time. The bad thing is it's a virus that has to run it's course.

We spent time with family for Thanksgiving and two of the cousins got ill. Then the next day Ellie got ill but she didn't get better. By Sunday she was totally lethargic and vomiting. We rushed her here and because she is on diuretics and of her heart condition, they thought it was best to admit her. We are hoping to be out of here soon. Well, my next post I will try and make it more positive. Thanks to Karen and Kayelynn for taking the girls after school and to my Mom-in-law for helping them in the morning and stuff. And to Rachel for sitting with her so I could get a break. Love you guys, it always takes an army of people when we are thrown off like this. We are just greatful to have such good friends and family to help out.

On a side note: please keep Ellie in your prayers next week as she has her MRI on Dec. 9. She is getting her tumor and her heart looked at. We are hoping for an uneventful MRI and good results.


We have been here since Sunday and every night I keep thinking that when I can pay it forward, I would like to get some comfortable sleeping chairs that you can actually sleep on. I am exhausted from no sleep. Hopefully I can sleep in my own bed soon.

When to expect the unexpected....

Well, life is fun isn't it? It's like a roller coaster ride you've never been on before. You never know which way it's going to go. Up and down in and out around and around. Well our life gets better and better. We've dealt with a lot of changes lately. So this change was quite unexpected but greatly wanted and exciting. We are so pleased to let you know that we are expecting!!!

-The good thing is I don't have mono, but the doctor said there is a perfectly good explanation for my sheer exhaustion.

-After several complicated pregnancies, we are cautiously optimistic. We know that things can happen late into the pregnancy.

-We will have two, count them two in diapers for quite some time.

-We are nervous about the idea of taking care of a child with special needs and a newborn. We have a fetal echo in 5 weeks to see if the heart is o.k.

-We know that we will get through this with all the support that we've gotten from family and friends.

-Why not throw another loop in the roller coaster. It may be a wild ride, but it's our wild ride! And I am in it for the long haul.

-We always wanted another one after Ellie. We thought closer than five and a half years would be nice.

-Phenergen and Zofran have become a constant companion. Isn't it great to be in modern day!

-For some reason after four girls, I feel a little pressure to have a boy. But we just want a healthy baby.

-with God, all things are possible.

"Things work out, it isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out, don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in him, if we will pray to him, if we will live worthy of his blessings, he will hear our prayers." — Gordon B. Hinckley


So, we appreciate all the support we have been given thus far. Especially all the thoughts and prayers on behalf of Ellie. You have no idea what that means to me and our family to have people call or stop by and just give us words of encouragement. And we feel all your prayers for our family. Thanks to all the heart moms for words of encouragement and support. Thank you for all your support from St. George to here to places all over the country. We have the best family and friends anyone could ever want. We are really excited to be adding this baby to our family.

Boy or Girl?

Boy or Girl?

When life gives you lemons.....

Let's make lemonade!!! I am feeling very great full for my life right now. I feel very blessed to have the people I do in my life and to have gone through the experiences that I have. I feel that they made me who I am today and have witnessed the amazement of humanity that comes from experiences we have had. We are extremely blessed to have all of you and our savior in our lives. We could not do this alone.

This story is not for the faint of heart, so if your squeamish, this may not be the story for you. I remember a story from my childhood that reminds me of how life and marriage is. My older sister and I were really close. We did many fun and strange things to entertain ourselves. One day we decided to have a glass of lemonade. When we poured the lemonade, there was only one more glass. So instead of splitting it up, we decided to take a drink, than spit it back, than pass it back and forth to enjoy it a little longer. A few times we would accuse the other one of actually swallowing. It got to a point where we gave up on the lemonade, and went back to playing.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Sometimes you taste it and it's sweet or bitter. Sometimes you swallow and take more and sometimes you give back more than you got. In marriage it's a lot of give and take, sweet and sour, refreshing and hard to swallow, and every once in a while you get a seed. But in the end, I couldn't ask for anything more. I couldn't ask for a sweeter life.

I have been married to my best friend for ten years now. Ten years!!! I can't believe all that we have been through in the last decade. Including our legacy we created in our children. I am so proud to be their mother and Nate's wife. I know a lot of you feel that you have the best husbands, but I truly feel that we couldn't be a better match for each other. These experiences over the years has bonded us beyond words. And I am so great full to know that we will be together forever. Our little girl, Eve, is ours forever, along with our other girls. Thank you to all who have been a part of our lives. I just can't wait to see what the next ten years brings. Thanks Nate for sharing this beautiful life with me!!!

"Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come." — Joseph B. Wirthlin

Knock knock, who's their, the great gamboo...

I am a little slow on this post, but in my defense, we have been held hostage to the great gamboo. We are now over it, but it started with Adrie, two weeks ago she fell ill, followed by Macy three days later, with an asthma attack and an illness, than dad a few days after that. The good thing is that Ellie never seemed to get sick and that was a huge sigh of relief. I felt like a pharmacy, dealing out Ellie's usual heart meds, plus all Macy's asthma meds, along with cough syrup to everybody. Needless to say, I am exhausted from being kept up from all the coughing, not by me mind you. But I feel much better knowing that they are over it and we kept Ellie from getting it.
We did have a scare from Ellie last Friday, she wanted to keep us on our toes and keep our guard up. She was walking along the couch and fell backwards. I think it scared her and she let out this big bellow of a cry. She continued to hold her breath until she passed out! We laid her down so she could catch her breath, but it still took about five seconds for her to start breathing. We were this close to calling 911. We called cardiology, and they thought it was just from holding her breath. But when it comes to these heart babies, your not sure how much pressure their little hearts can take. We are just wondering how much stress our hearts can take. Ellie's really good about making sure our hearts are beating good.