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!

Friday, November 18, 2011

November Girl's Night

In a life of busy schedules and tight budgets it's sometimes hard to find time to just go have fun!  Recently, my friend Lena declared that we were way overdue for a girls night and we all whole-heatedly agreed!  Once it was decided we needed a girls night, pronto, we began the process of narrowing down a date and time we were all free!  This is a challenge in and of itself, but after that comes the, "what do you want to do?" which is also sometimes a challenge.  We tossed around some ideas, like going to paint or doing dinner and a movie, but decided that those didn't allow us to really connect and catch up.  Then, Lena had a great idea!  A pot luck, at her house, with a surprise craft!  I was so excited I could hardly stand it and counted down the days until our fun night arrived!

Each of us were assigned a "category" for our dish (veggie, dessert, drinks, etc) and we ended up with YUMMY barbecue, cheese biscuits, green beans, loaded smashed potatoes, pineapple cheese casserole, chocolate chip pecan pie, and lemonade!  YUM!  Needless to say, we ate until we were stuffed! 


We were also asked to bring wired Christmas ribbon and 1 box of ornaments.  The actual craft was kept a surprise until we got there!  

After dinner, while we all talked and laughed and enjoyed the company of each other, Lena broke out some wreath forms and fabric and began her tutorial on how to make a rag wreath! 

 It was so fun and so relaxing!
I can't tell you how much I love having these women in my life!  We sat and as we worked on our wreathes we told stories and talked about babies and shared advice.  It was so nice!

 I think time got away from all of us and before we knew it, we had been crafting and talking for over 3 hours.

And everyone's final product was uniquely their own.  Combinations of themes and colors that fit their personalities!  Here is a picture of my finished wreath!  :-)  I can't wait to hang it up!

We all enjoyed ourselves so much we decided to make this something we do for every holiday!  I'll be hosting the next one because it'll be in February for Valentine's day and Ava Grace will still be tiny!  I have already been searching pinterest for fun ideas for our surprise craft!  I can't wait!!!

3 comments:

Valerie said...

Oh how I wish I could have been there! I know ya'll had a wonderful time of fun, friendship, and food.

Allyson said...

What a great idea!!

Lena said...

SO.MUCH.FUN!!!!!
And I can't wait until February! Thanks for taking such great pictures...and I hope you're enjoying your wreath!