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!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Chattanooga Weeekend...

I headed down to C-town on Saturday morning to spend some time with the family! We had a great time. I met mom at the restaurant (Couch's), of course, for lunch and had a BBQ! Then mom and headed to pick up some wine, to get a Father's day gift - that fell through, and then to Wal-Mart. After that we headed "home" to enjoy a glass of iced tea and some relaxation. We then decided we needed some pampering and went to get our toes done! By the time that was over it was back to Couch's for dinner and then off to Riverbend!

The Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga is a tradition for me and my family and friends! We go every year. This year I was sad to only make it down for the last day, but the last day is always the best anyway! :-)

Riverbend is always the second week in June. It is a 10 day long music festival on the bank of the Tennessee river in downtown Chattanooga! The festival has 5 stages with multiple performances every night along with all kinds of vendors and even some rides! It draws over 600,000 people to Chattanooga each year and if you ever want a good road trip you should go! You get a pin to wear that gets you admission for the WHOLE festival for only 28 dollars!!! That's right, all those shows and all that fun for 10 days straight for 28 bucks - you can't beat it!! This year some of the many, many artists included: The B52s, The Commodores, Little Richard, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Train, Montgomery Gentry, Three Dog Night, and Willy Nelson! As you can see from just those few, the festival covers all kinds of music from rap to bluegrass and everything in between each and every year! (Can you tell that I am a fan? I sound like a walking, talking ad for Riverbend, lol!!)

Anyway, it is really unique and such a fun family event! (Kids under 10 get in free!! What a deal!!)

Here is the "main" stage... it's where the last act is each night, where the bigger names perform....

You can't really tell from this picture, but beyond the white fence it slopes down to the river - people can sit down there, and the stage is actually floating on the river on a barge. On the back side of the stage they have screens too for all of the people that come in their boats to see the show!


Here is a shot of about half of the area of the festival... it goes all the way up to the blue bridge you see and then about that same distance the other direction down to another bridge (not in the photo).

The last night is always the best because after the last show the have a HUGE fireworks show! Seriously, in all my life and all the fireworks displays I have seen I have never found one to rival the one at Riverbend each year!
So that was my Saturday! Sunday we uncovered the pool at mom and dad's and then cooked out Hamburgers! Then I went downtown to see Night at the Museum II (it was just okay, not great like the first one), and then "home" for a little fishing, and then off to my brother's house for the NBA finals!
It was a weekend on the go and I enjoyed every single second! Thanks for letting me share it with you!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Sounds fun!

Lauren said...

Little Richard! My home boy! :)

That all sounds great...I'm glad you got to spend time with your dad.