Tyson Hugh Hooper

Tyson Hugh Hooper
Our son, Tyson Hugh Hooper, was born with coarctation of the aorta, hypoplastic arch, and a transitional avsd. His first open heart surgery reconstructed his aorta and was on day 9 of life. His second open heart repair was not anticipated to be needed until two or three years of age. Ty had other plans. We spent the vast majority of his first 3 months of life at Vanderbilt as he went into heart failure and was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. As a result, the medical team concluded that he needed the repair much sooner than usually recommended, and at just shy of 3 months old Ty underwent his second life saving open heart surgery. God has already worked so many miracles in Ty's life and the life of our family and we know he is using our story. Because of this, we are grateful for Ty's special heart and feel beyond blessed that God chose us to travel this road. We ask for prayers as Ty continues to heal. We are praying for a full recovery and life without restrictions for Ty. We are praying for God to use our family and Ty for His glory.

Thank you to each and every person who supports us through prayer, giving, or just by loving on our family! We are humbled and blessed by all of the ways the Lord is providing for us and know that he is using Ty and his story to do great things!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Green Thumbs...

Simply put, I don't have one! My grandmother and mother are both incredible gardeners. I didn't inherit that gene. My mama actually likes weeding her garden - that's right, you read correctly, my mom LIKES pulling weeds! It's all I can do to spray them - and that's on a good day!

However, despite my gardening experience that should tell me I am not a successful gardener for the fact that halfway through the summer it gets too hot to comfortably water plants and I don't like to sweat or pull weeds and doing those things together are pure torture (almost as bad as say a traffic jam or a faculty meeting), I sill get inspired every spring to plant! I have successfully gardened on occasion and for short periods of time... And every year I plant tomatoes, squash and zucchini, herbs, and a few flowers and hope for the best. In the past couple years I have not successfully made it all the way through the entire summer with my patio looking lovely (although I have produced some seriously good vegetables - even when the plants looked a little "wild"). My poor plants usually bite the dust or go "wild" because I stop diligently caring for them in the middle of the summer, but this year I have a goal! That's right people, watch out, I have spring-gardening fever (again)! So mark it down, this is my goal. The following are some pictures of my back patio area about 3 springs ago and what I am shooting for this year:




It can't be that hard, right? I am going to shoot for some herbs and a couple vegetables - going to make myself start small and manageable. My friend Gina and I are going to plant more vegetables at her house and take care of them together. Hopefully that way we can both enjoy the benefit of a "real" vegetable garden and only have to do half of the work each! I would say doing it yourself is too much work for one person, but my mama does it every year and makes it look easy!

So, wish me luck and next time you are at my house or in my back yard (for those of you who visit) encourage me and pitch in... if you see a weed, for goodness sake, pull it! :-)

4 comments:

Megan L Hutchings said...

I am so glad you are gardening! I promise to help you beautiful!

Megan L Hutchings said...

I LOVE YOU!

Rosie said...

That looks so beautiful! I so wish I had a green thumb too. Every year, I plant some flowers in our landscaping, some years they make it to the end of the season, some years they don't. I really would love to do a vegetable garden, too. Just don't have the time or energy these days. Good luck with yours...and if you have an abundance of tomatoes...you know where we live!

Lauren said...

Yeah, really? My garden is the produce section at Kroger. I admire you for trying. I wouldn't even know where to start.