Prayers for Greg

This has all happened very quickly so I'll recap and get everyone up to speed. For the past 4-6 weeks Greg has been having various symptoms and not feeling well. After much testing and a few days of feeling terrible we went to the ER (4/27) thinking he was dehydrated, but ended up being admitted due to his heart being enlarged.

Greg has had a known heart murmur, but it has never been considered something to be concerned about. Turns out that his mitral valve has prolapsed. Tomorrow morning at 7:30am (Phoenix time) Greg will undergo surgery to hopefully repair his mitral valve, in the event that it's not repairable it will then be replaced. Greg's hope is for a repair, but we are going to have to place it both in the hands of the surgeon and the Lord. The surgery will likely last 5-6 hours so there won't be much of an update until later tomorrow or in the evening.

We would ask that you keep Greg in prayer tomorrow as undergoes surgery and also petition on his behalf for a full recovery.

Our boys are doing well. My sister, Kim, is moving in the Stoner house tonight to take over my job as MOM. My in-laws are also on their way to come and help take care of things for the next several weeks. We are so BLESSED by family!

I will try to update once we know more tomorrow. Thank you to all who are currently working behind the scenes to make sure everything is set up and arranged for our return home from the hospital.

It's Christmas time!

The Christmas cards have not yet been sent, the presents are not all yet wrapped, and Jackson and I have yet to make holiday cookies, but we've been too busy having fun. Here are some of the highlights of the season so far:

On December 1st, a special friend came to visit. We call him Freddie and for 24 days he appears in various locations throughout our house to watch for good behavior and kind acts.

These are some of our attempts at getting a Christmas photo. We did not have time to get family photos taken this year, so here are the best two of my home made photo session.

This year we attended the Down Syndrome Network Christmas event and had our picture taken with Santa. Jackson told Santa that he would like a scooter with 2 wheels. I hope Santa comes through.

We also took the boys up north to Williams, AZ to ride the Polar Express. Jackson spent 3 hours in the car looking for the train tracks. He kept telling me that he thought he could see them on the side of the road.

Everett was not as excited about the anticipated train ride.

Once aboard we were served cookies and hot chocolate. As Greg noted, the hot chocolate was served and cleaned up about as fast as it was in the movie.

After the reading of the Polar Express book and arriving at the North Pole (in the middle of the desert) a special visitor came onto our train... This was Jackson's expression once he spotted the visitor who was handing out bells from his sleigh.

We also shared in Jackson's Christmas program this week. I have just been enjoying how excited he gets about everything these days. He woke up the day of his program ready to go and promised to sing really loud.

Had to share this awesome moment captured just before the program.