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, February 21, 2015

Ice, Snow, and lots of it!

This has been a week of snow in Tennessee... literally an entire blissful week!  Not everyone shares my sentiment, but I loved every flake.  No work, home with my family, can't go anywhere - A OK with me!


The kids loved it too, of course.  This is the most snow I have seen in years - since I was a little girl.  I loved getting to share a big snow with the girls and make all those fun memories!  Type of precipitation varied widely across Middle Tennessee, but here in Portland we got about 2 inches of sleet followed by several inches of snow.  When it was all said and done we stuck a ruler in the snow and measured about 7 inches total.


We had so much fun!  Movies and popcorn, snuggles, games, and as much snow play as we could get in without freezing our buns off!


Sunday, with lots of snow in the forecast, we went to Lowe's and got 2 sleds.  I was so glad because this snow was too powdery for a snowman, but the sleet underneath was perfect for sledding! 


We sled in our backyard, in our neighbor's back yard and even on the road a little bit.

(I think the picture of Ava Grace above looks a lot like me when I was a little girl... what do you think mom?) 


Here we are trying out the sleds for the first time.


Here is our road! 


We took a walk down the road just to see if we could sled down a bigger hill.  The girls were cracking me up, enjoying their ride.  Ava Grace almost fell asleep - no joke! 


 The big hill was a bit much for our girls... well, actually Ava Grace would have gone down any hill, any where, any time, but Lily was skiddish and it stressed mommy and daddy out!  I was especially leery of falling, so we headed back to relatively flat land.


One thing that became rapidly apparent is that our house has a complete lack of snow apparel!  Only Ava Grace had boots and none of us had waterproof gloves.  We don't get snow often, but I am thinking I need to keep some snow gear on hand just in case.





Ava Grace and Cookie next across the street.  This girl needs a dog! 


Super Ava Grace!
She insisted on wearing her cape (that used to be Lily's) out in the snow!  She "Zippidy-Zoomed" all over the yard.  It was pretty much adorable.  She is a super-hero loving girl.  When we got inside she changed into her pirate outfit for the rest of the day and proclaimed herself a "beautiful princess pirate."

 Zippidy. Zoom.
 I'll have to post a video later of the giant belly laughs that came out of this girl sledding.

Pure. Joy.

 Sledding with Kayleigh across the street.

 More sled rides with Daddy pulling... poor Daddy got a work out!


Kassidy did her fair share of pulling and sledding with Ava Grace as well! 

Missy even did some sledding!  She ended up having the perfect sledding hill in her back yard.  Just the right size for the girls! 



We pretty much have the best neighbor-friends ever!  BLESSED beyond measure!


And after hours and hours of rain, our road is still white, we still have several inches of snow on the ground, and not a blade of grass to be seen.  Wondering if this stuff will ever melt.

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