Merry Christmas!

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all are well and enjoying the holiday, I can't believe that Christmas is just a few short days away! Where have I been? Oh yeah, in the twilight zone I forgot! Ha! All joking aside, all is going well here in the Cardiac ICU; Madi has done so good with her new medication so far and didn't have any problems with her IV placement! Thank you Lord for protecting her yet again! As with all her dr's, the ones here at Texas Children's are phenomenal and continue to take great care of her. Madi has sparked a lot of discussion among all the dr's here and they have all put their heads together to come up with the best treatment plan. A nurse for one of the surgeons stopped by our room yesterday and told me she has never seen a patient discussed at such length before! Wow! I don't know whether that's good or bad? But I'll be positive and say, the more the merrier! Right?

Anyway, the more we delve into this journey the more I see God's plan unfold. It is no coincidence that three years ago Austin and I ended up in Houston; after graduating college we got married, moved, found an amazing Church called The Waters and made some great friends here, no big deal. We were so excited to move back home to Wyoming not knowing that God had so deliberately laid the ground work for us to come back in a few short years with a miracle baby in toe. We came to Houston this time with a strong church family, a great job for Austin, good insurance (thank goodness) and to top it all off Houston is home to the 4th best children's heart center in the world! None of this has been left to chance, Gods plan is bigger than I ever imagined. Isn't that incredible when you really stop and think about it? I think so! This week I have really felt the Lords prescence, maybe because Jesus' birthday is right around the corner, I dunno! But I just realized that God entrusted Austin and I with spreading the word about Him and the miracles He has performed on "our" little girl, what a task, but I feel up to it for some odd reason and gracious that He chose us!

Madi continues to amaze us and is doing great regardless of what's going on inside. She loves to dance and show off for us and the nurses. She doesn't however, like her physical therapist because she makes her do stuff she doesn't want to do like learn to crawl! We're working on it though, after your chest is opened three times you don't have the upper body strength of most 16 month olds, darn it! But her PT said once she figures it out she'll take off because she's strong enough now :). Other than that, we're just enjoying being germaphobes (this comes quite naturally to me) as Madi can't afford to be sick at all! So, anyone that has been sick or even been around someone sick is not allowed per Madi's pulmonologist. I am on patrol, watch out!

I want to thank you all again for your outpouring of love and support. We are blessed to have so many people praying for us and helping us get through this trying time, but we are making it thanks to all of our friends and family, we wouldn't survive without you! Over the holiday we will be surrounded by our families as they have all decided to come down and celebrate with us! How lucky are we! Can't wait to see Madi's Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and cousins! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy your time with family!

Love Tabi