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!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Happy Birthday!!!!

Lily will turn 6 on June 8th, but her dad and I had plans for an early surprise! She is all about surprises! She likes to hide and jump out and yell "surprise" on a daily basis! She loves surprising us with cards and games and all kinds of fun stuff, so as her Dad started to think about a birthday party the theme that came to mind right away was a surprise party!!


We have a lovely park less than 2 minutes away that has nice covered pavilions and this great playground...


...along with greenway trails along the river! So the Saturday after school got out we could think of no better way to kick off summer than a surprise birthday party! I went early to hold the pavilion and decorate everything birthday style! Family and friends pitched in by bringing gifts along with balloons, pizza, drinks, and cupcakes and before we knew it we had all the makings of a great birthday surprise! Chris brought Lily with her eyes covered tight and when she uncovered them she was speechless - literally! That wore off in a hurry and the playing, eating, and gift opening began!

We practically had the playground to ourselves, with only 2 or 3 others there playing!

Lily said she had so much fun at the surprise party, she wants another surprise birthday next year!!

I love this picture of Vance, Lily, and Kate eating their pizza!

Vance getting in the party spirit!
LOVE the sunglasses!!


Lily and her Pap!
What a great little girl and a great man!


Mimi brought cupcakes complete with a cupcake tower!
Lily got a REAL digital camera from Mimi and Pap!
She has wanted one for so long. She has received the made-for-kids digital cameras before, but they are always kind of unfocused and both broke within a couple of weeks! Lily has been taking all kinds of pictures! I think she is going to be a great photographer!!!

Lily and Mimi!

Lauren, David, and Dawson -
Beautiful little family!!

Aunt Moo and Baby Jack!
Gifts included Wii Littlest Pet Shop from Chris and I! She has been playing it a lot and we all three have our own pet shop! We also got her a real tent so that they can camp out in the back yard! She got dolls and nick-knacks! A HUGE beach ball sprinkler and a new slip-n-slide which we have already enjoyed! She got 88 pieces of play food which we have already played and played with - the latest game is using the kitchen table and her play-kitchen to do "restaurant." We take turns being the chef/server and customer! Overall it was a WONDERFUL birthday! Capped off with the three of us going to see the latest Shrek movie complete with popcorn, candy and sprite!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I'm glad she had such a grand time! I wish I could have been there! Her gifts sound great and I'm gald she got to use that slip and slide when she did what with current events! She's so grown up looking now! I love that picture of her and her new camera. The "unposed" pictures are always my favorites.

Betsy said...

Awww...so much fun! I bet she LOVED it! Hey...did you send me an e-mail recently?? I saw an e-mail on my phone that I thought said it was from you, but when I tried to check it on my home computer I couldn't find it??? I have no idea what happened. But if you sent it to me, could you send it again??? Sorry Meagan!