The Gift of Prayer

Our family got a beautiful gift from some friends today. Apparently, the plan was hatched a few days prior when some of the staff of my church decided to set some time aside to pray for Julia and her surgery (and for her parents to come down off the ceiling). The debate still rages on […]

A Heart Doctor’s (and a Dad’s) Prayer

Let me just admit at the outset that this post isn’t going to turn out like anything I had planned. Most of you who have been following this story know Dr. Weinhouse and what a caring, marvelous man he is. (ed. note: for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, you can get caught […]

Eight is Great! Celebrate!

Hey everyone – just a short note of celebration! We took Julia into Dr. Weinhouse for her last consult before surgery and she is continuing to do great. She gained another seven ounces, which far exceeded our wildest hopes and put her well past the eight pound milestone. Like I said a week or two […]

On the Knees of the Matriarchs

My mom died almost three years ago now, and it is with a pang of regret when I remember her and the reality that she never got the chance to meet Julia. That special kind of love that only comes from a grandma has to come (at least on my side of the family) from […]

Preparations

Yesterday, we met with Dr. Weinhouse, Julia’s cardiologist for a longer-than-normal consult. She continues to do very well and gained another four ounces. But we are shifting from maintenance mode to preparation for the surgery, which is less than three weeks away now. We did another echocardiogram and EKG so that the surgical team at […]

A Few Pics from the Christmas Celebration…

Hey everyone – the Christmas holiday has been great and Julia continues to grow! I’ll not burden you with my writing today, but give you several shots of our girl having some holiday fun… enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Christmas Greetings from the Farm

It’s Christmas Eve at the farm on Willow Road, and the house is at rest after a busy day of visits, celebration meals, and a lot of calls on Skype to our loved ones as far flung as the U.K. We also had the annual stream of neighbors – some of whom you’ve been introduced […]

Dare to Ask

If you’ve been following our story over the past couple of weeks, you’ll know that we’ve been dealing with kind of a roller-coaster regarding her weight gain. It had come to the point last week that were resigning ourselves to the idea that her heart condition was making her progressively more tired and unable to […]

Finding Her Smile

Julia has made some great strides and had an adventure or two this week. It seems like she has learned to do so much in the last couple of weeks that we need to take a moment and celebrate. One of the big ones is that she has found her smile and is using it […]

Challenges and Blessings

The first big Midwest snowstorm of the season has come upon us this afternoon in big, fat, wet flakes. It’s the kind of day that makes you really, really glad that you have your Christmas shopping done and can take in a lazy afternoon of comfort food and nostalgic movies. We, unfortunately do not have […]