Still Blessed

We are battling some summer colds but I wanted to let everyone know Conner's last surgery went wonderfully! He had minimal swelling and we were able to come home quickly! I am so thankful for all of God's blessings in our lives. I will post pictures soon! :)

Growing Daily

So I have typed this post three different times and each time I have lost it to the internet at large. Apparently I am having a technically challenged week. LOL!

Conner is doing wonderful. His last surgery, although dramatic in appearance was a huge success and we are just thrilled with the progress. We went to Charleston late Wednesday night. Arrived at the hospital and the girls were ecstatic about seeing the hospital. Although they have been to Charleston with us this was the first time they actually got to go with us to the hospital. They were very well behaved and I was so proud!


Conner was taking back to preop and the nurses were just wonderful as always. I don't know how God saw fit to bless us with such a wonderful team. But I am so grateful for them all. And ofcourse Dr. Hochman came in to check on us...and to be honest there are just no words to share my feelings for the love and compassion of this man!



In recovery I noticed that Conner's face looked more tender than normal. But I was not prepared for what happened next. His face started swelling. ALOT! Within an hour his eye was almost completely swollen shut and within two hours he had a huge bulge underneath that eye. With a little reassurance from Dr. Hochmans' nurse Brooke (we love you Brooke!) and alot of reassurance from the VBF family advocate and my friend Corrine (thank you for all your support Corrine!) we opted to stay in Charleston for an extra night just to observe him. The hotel we were staying at was so sweet. They sent us to the SC aquarium for free and checked on us a ton. IF you are ever in the Charleston area please stay at the Hampton Inn. You won't get better service anywhere I promise!




Once we got home Conner spiked a fever. Thankfully it was unrelated to the surgery and was simply another ear infection. Poor baby! All in all despite alot of stress on me and Billy it was a wonderful trip and we are excited to see such a change in Conner's face.

Our daily prayer is of thanksgiving. We cannot thank God enough for sparing our son more damage to his eyes...not allowing the hemangioma to block his airway...and for sending us to the correct care provider at the right time. Please remember us as you pray. That our attitude will be right, and that we will remember to be thankful! Thanks again for all your love and prayers!

Easter and other news!

We are so blessed as always. I say that alot but really there is not another phrase that could sum up our life better. We are today and always SOOOO blessed. We celebrated our Risen Saviour today, (the kiddos were sick on national Easter, so we had Carswell Easter.) It was such a blessing watching our children devour the truth of Jesus' death, burial and ressurrection. Conner wasn't quite old enough to get it but he will and we pray daily for all three childrens' salvation.

Conner's third surgery went really well. It was the first time we haven't tried to do the 10 hour drive in a 24 hour time frame. (5 hours there, hospital for 2 hours and then 5 hours back makes for a long day!) We took Mallory and Makenna along and it was such a blessing even if we were only there for a little under 48 hours. Dr. Hochman said Conner looked wonderful. We are scheduled again for the beginning of May.

We also were encouraged to have a benefit for Conner this weekend. A dear friend at work hosted a benefit at her church and it was such a blessing. Lots of wonderful friends came and the singing (minus me lol) was wonderful. We were given a little over $1000 in donations and it was just amazing. Thank you to our families, friends and the wonderful people at Crossroads Community Church.

I also just wanted to share a tidbit....Conner is making words!!! He says "Boom-Boom" which the girls insist come from the many times they recite "Chicka-Chicka Boom-Boom", their favorite book, to him. He also says DADADADADADA! I guess momma will come later and it will be wonderful! He wants to roll everywhere and is still the happiest little boy I have ever seen.

Thank you as always for your prayers, love, support and encouragment....and without further ado....SOME PICTURES for your viewing enjoyment!!!

Finally Pictures!!!

Just a real quick update for those of you who don't know already.  Conner did not get to have surgery on March 11.  He had RSV and they didn't feel comfortable putting him to sleep while he was sick.  So we are rescheduled for April 1.  Please help us pray that things will go smoothly.  Also, we met the ENT this week and he verified that Conner definetly did not have an airway hemangioma!  Thank you Lord.  There was some other slight drama while we were at the ENT, but I am chosing to forget about it and blame it on the fact that even doctors are human.  Have a blessed day and enjoy the pictures!  : )

This is Little Man the night before his second surgery back in January.  Such a handome boy!

Right out of surgery!  Looks like a painful sunburn to me!

This Mickey is Conner's favorite toy.  He cuddles with it all the time!

I can't believe he is almost 6 months old!

Right before they put him to sleep for sugery number three.  Too bad the laser didn't work this time!

Good News!

Dear friends, I feel like we have been granted a reprieve from all the drama with Conner.  : ) We went to see his pediatrician today and were told that he was "fairly certain" Conner did not have an airway hemangioma or one on his ear drum.  However, simply as a precaution we will be following up with an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor in the coming weeks.  I am simply thrilled that God heard our prayers and chose to steer our direction away from this particular path, at least for now and hopefully forever.  It is very true that HE always knows exactly how much you can handle.  Thank you so much for all your kind words, thoughts, and most of all prayers sent up in the past 24 hours.  It is amazing to know that I have such a wonderful family of believers praying for us and for Conner's well being.  He is rescheduled for his third surgery on March 11.  Hopefully everything will work this time.  : ) Also, we had a wonderful service at church tonight.  I only hope it doesn't snow so that we can finish out this revival and see just how God might work in our church.  Pictures soon I promise....I finally found the camera.  (It was hiding!!! LOL)  Love, Heather

Slight Delays...

So we had a very uneventful trip to Charleston on Thursday.  First off let me say I hate the fact that all of Conner's surgeries have been scheduled on Thursday.  We have to leave around 1 am on Wednesday night/Thursday morning and because of this we always miss church that Wednesday night in order to get enough sleep to actually make the five hour drive.  ICK...so after missing church Wednesday night we got up around midnight and got on the road right at 1am.  I was impressed considering we are habitually late to everything we do.  Once we parked and got out in Charleston it was very apparent that Conner did not appreciate having no food since 11 pm the night before.  He was one hungry five month old.  I don't know if you have ever tried it, but there is really no reasoning with a hungry baby.  He was having none of my excuses.  LOL!  After a short wait the doctors came in, everyone made sure they were on the same page and Conner was taken back to the OR.  Normally the doctor is only gone for about 10 minutes.  At around 15 minutes Dr. Hochman came out with a strange look on his face.  He stepped in our room and said "He's fine BUT..."  (No mom wants to hear the but word when their child is in surgery...AHHH!) Apparently the laser did not work.  They got Conner put under the general anesthesia and then started the laser which promptly stopped working.  Basically we were in the car for 10 hours so that Conner could take a highly medicated nap...A technician was going to fly in from Boston to fix the laser, and we will head back sometime in the near future to do a make-up surgery.  OH well, guess if we haven't learned it by now our Lord is just trying to teach us more patience.  

In other news, Conner's pediatrician has reason to believe that Conner might have some internal hemangiomas.  Anyone that has been around us lately and has held little man knows his breathing sounds awful.  He kind of rattles and pants as he breaths.  I have had him to the ped office 5 times for this, and each time we have been told his lungs are clear and that he has an ear infection.  He has had three rounds of antibiotics and still has a "red ear".  The ped office rotates so Conner has seen three different docs.  But on Friday when I talked to his main ped about it he asked me to bring Conner in again Monday.  He is concerned that the breathing could be caused by an H in his airway and that the ear infection could simply be a H behind the ear drum.  Pray that God's will be done.  Ofcourse we want for none of this to be true and Conner to simply have a never ending cold.  But we will go where God leads on this incredible journey.  I will try to update later tonight and let you all know what the ped says!  

We start revival at our church tonight so that should be exciting.  Plus one of my uncles and his family  drove down from TN to see us this weekend.  We actually got to attend church with them this morning and eat lunch together.  They brought a donation from their church which was such a blessing in this otherwise difficult week!  : )  As always we are so blessed.  Much love to you all!   

Hearts of Thanksgiving!

I am simply astonished at God's amazing love.  He provides for everything we need all the time.  Looking back at that first time Dr. Hochman told us the $25,000.00 figure I was floored.  In my meager mind there was NO WAY we could ever raise that kind of money.  God knows how to take the impossible and make it the possible and I am just stunned everytime I see Him working in our lives.
Before we ever left this week, we recieved a substantial donation from Pilgrims Freewill Baptist Church in Erwin, TN.  As I read the card from them I was simply awed at the humble love sent to us.  For each of you at Pilgrim, let me just say again thank you and I hope that the Lord will richly bless your church! 

For all of you that were able to attend our benefit in TN Friday night; Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  With all the snow on our way up the mountain I would have been pleased to have our family and the preacher to show.  But there were almost 50 people there.  We had a wonderful service with singing, shouting and old-fashion preaching.  (The girls and Conner even got to hear my Papaw preach a little.  That is a memory that I hope they will cherish forever.)   Then when the offering was counted I was simply speechless.  This little church family who didn't even know us, only knew our extended family, raised $1,200.  Isn't God good?  Our family will never be able to adequately express our gratitude to each and every person who has sacrificed to help with Conner's medical expenses.  Our love goes out to each of you...and hope that someday we will be able to bless another family the way we are being blessed now!!!