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, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year!

What a wonderful New Years Eve and New Years day we had! We certainly did ring in the new year with gusto! :-) Chris, Lily, and I headed to Chattanooga to celebrate the new year with family! We started at my parents house for Lily to play and for her to have "Christmas" with them...

...she was pretty excited to have this HUGE box! It was almost as big as she was!!!!
It turned out to be a box FULL of boxes!!! And wait 'til you see what was in the many boxes...
Lots and lots of handmade by grandmommy doll clothes (seen above - AMAZING!!!!) and purchased doll clothing and accessories and....
...her VERY FIRST AMERICAN GIRL DOLL!!!!!! It was precious, priceless, adorable! She kept opening box after box saying, "An American Girl Doll brush!" and "An American Girl Doll Dress!" Then she got to the last box and it was Kit - her favorite! She pressed her face up to the plastic pane in the box! Chris and I thought she was going to cry... Grandmommy DID cry! It was so SWEET! And I can tell you that Kit has not left her side since. She changes into her PJs each night and puts on an outfit this morning. She buckles in the car. She even came out to lunch today with us and had her own seat and bless the waiter's heart - he played right along of his own accord - it was priceless!!!
After "Christmas" was over, we headed to my sister-in-law and brother's house to ring in the new year! We watched the UT game, played Wii, and snacked all night! We had a blast watching the girls play and visiting and relaxing...
Here are my mom and dad getting ready to toast and...

...Ken and Sarah watching Dick count it down!

Lily getting ready to toast! Sarah thought ahead and got sparkling white grape juice for the girls and herself since she was expecting!

Grandmommy got Bentlee and Lily matching Snowman pajamas (Grandmommy has some too!)

And after the New Year countdown we headed to the front yard for some more celebrating!!!

Papaw and Ken shot off some fireworks! :-) We frigidly watched from the front porch...

...and Lily and Bentlee ran out to pop their confetti poppers!!!!
The start of the New Year was Fantastic! I hope the year follow suit! :-) We had an amazing time with family!!!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Such fun, and I'm so sad we missed it! Love the matching PJ's and Mom told me the American Doll story. So precious! I'm glad she finalyl got her own, and that's adorable that the waitor played along. Got to love people who love kids. Bet he got a good tip too.

Megan L Hutchings said...

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Lily opened her American Girl Doll goodies. Valerie is so wonderful and so kind and so thoughtful...just like you!

I hope this year is the best one yet for you :)!