Happy Gotcha Day, Presley Lan!

"Little Fox smiled and then thought for a moment."

"Mama, will you be my forever mama?"

"Always and forever. No matter what." she promised. "This is where you belong. Here, with me, my sweet child."

"You are mine. The best gift in the whole wide world."

"I will always love you and treasure you and celebrate the day you came, the day that God found us you." ~ from the book God Found Us You

Happy 1 year home, Presley Lan! You are loved, cherished, and adored!

"We love because He first loved us!" 1 John 4:19

Back to School!

"For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding."

Proverbs 2:6

Off To College!

Hello GCU (Grand Canyon University)!

It's here. The time has come. We sent off our first child, out of our home and into his future. Our precious Jake, our first born son. We are so excited for him to follow his dreams, and he is ready. But the emotions are real, and it was so hard to say goodbye. I just kept picturing saying goodbye to him on his first day of preschool, and I can't believe he is all grown up, a man. Jake is the kindest, gentlest, meekest guy you will ever meet. He is dedicated and focused on whatever the task, and he always works hard to accomplish his goals. He is a follower of Christ, and there is no greater joy than to watch him grow in his faith! Our greatest prayer for him is that no matter what, he will always trust in the Lord with all of his heart!

Jake will be working toward earning his degree in digital design with an emphasis in animation. He is an artist, and our creative God has given Jake an amazing ability to create. We are truly privileged to get a front row seat as we watch our sovereign God's plans unfold for our dear son! We love you, Jake, more than words can say, and we are so proud of you! Watching you grow up has been one of the greatest blessings of our lives. Now go spread your wings and always remember that we are your biggest fans!!!

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10



Family

Our biggest boy leaves for college in just over a week . . . savoring the moments!



First Ballet Class!

She absolutely LOVED it!!!

It was a wish come true for our little ballerina! What incredible joy we all felt as we watched our precious girl, healthy and whole, dancing her little heart out!!!



Quick Update on Presley

We have been "home, sweet, home" now for a week! Presley is doing amazingly well, and she is returning back to her normal self more and more. She is definitely getting louder each day, and we are back to having to shush her from time to time! Ha! But her loud little voice is music to our ears! And, I mean, just look at this face!!!

We visited our cardiologist, Dr. Davenport, on Monday, and she was very pleased with Presley's repair! She gave our little CHD princess a big hug, and Presley presented her with one of our "mended heart" necklaces. It was a sweet moment! Presley wore her special shirt, and everyone in the office loved it! This little girl just has something about her that draws people in!

It was a very extensive appointment, which is to be expected post op! We will have frequent visits for a while, but that just helps to make sure that everything is functioning as it should after such a major surgery. So far, so good! We continue to marvel at the fact that Presley's unique heart has been completely repaired. Of course, there are risks of complications in the future, specifically with her valves and conduit. But our trust is in the Lord, and He is the one who holds her special heart in His hands! Not a day will go by that we will not praise His name for the miracle of Presley's life!

Last night we signed up our little ballerina for her first ballet class, and she can hardly wait!!!



We're Home!

We woke up bright and early yesterday morning, on the 4th of July, and waited for our ride to the airport. Presley was so excited, as were we, and this little cutie was ready to go!

We had plenty of time before our flight, so we got some breakfast and just relaxed for a bit!

Presley did great on the flights, and she was pretty calm and tired. She wasn't eating much, but finally some Pringles did the trick!

Once we landed, we could hardly wait to get off that plane and get home! Dean met us at the airport, and Presley was so excited to see him. We drove through Chick-fil-A to say hi to Jake, since he was working, and to get a celebratory shake. When we pulled into our driveway, the girls and Papa and Nani were all waiting outside! Oh, the joyous tears we shed and we hugged and squeezed each other tight! The girls presented us with a beautiful "Welcome Home" sign! (It fell down before I was able to take a picture). We just enjoyed the evening together catching up and savoring the moments! I realize now that I didn't take any pictures because we were just so happy being together! Presley literally beamed the entire evening! We walked over to the park right down the street from our house and watched the fireworks. We are so, so, so happy to be home!

This morning the girls ate breakfast together and snuggled up with a Barbie movie! Presley is so happy to be with her girls, and they are so happy to have her home! (I did remember to snap a couple of pictures!)

We are so thankful to be home all together! Presley is doing great, and we will see our cardiologist on Monday for our first post surgery visit. "There's no place like home!"



Post Op Day 12

CHD didn't stop this princess!!!

Our brave little princess warrior fought her battle, and she won! We busted out of that hospital today, and we could not be happier!!!

It turned out to be an extremely long day, and right down to the last minute we weren't sure if we were actually going to be discharged. This morning everything was going according to plan. First Presley had her final echo.

Dr. Marx even came in as it was going on which was perfect timing. He was able to pretty much tell us right then and there that it looked like a wonderful repair! He said it was looking really good, but we would get the final results later after he reviewed it all more thoroughly. It was also decided that Presley should have the scope down her throat to check on her vocal cords. David held her on his lap, and although it was uncomfortable for her it was over pretty quick.

The ENT doctor was able to tell right away that Presley's left vocal cord is not functioning as it should. It is not completely paralyzed, but it is sluggish. This just helps us to understand why her full volume has not yet returned and also why it is still difficult for her to swallow thin liquids. For now we will keep on thickening her liquids and just give it time. If it does not improve, then we may need to investigate further. Finally, Presley needed a final blood draw to check on her blood cell count. She handled it so well even when it took both arms to get enough blood! We knew it would probably not be until at least early afternoon before we were discharged, so we took a final walk around the hospital. Before we left we took some last pictures in front of our room 805 on the cardiac floor, 8 East.

We explored the hospital for the last time, and we found some really fun musical steps which Presley loved!

We ventured out to the playground since we had been denied the day before. Presley was getting pretty tired, so we didn't stay too long. But it was so nice to be outside!

We had some pizza for lunch, and then we headed back to our room to wait for discharge. That was at about 1:00 p.m. And then we waited . . . and waited . . . and waited! We checked in a couple of times with the nurse, but still no update. We finally found out that everything looked great on the echo, and we should be receiving our discharge papers any time! Then at 6:00 we received news that Presley's blood work showed a very low number of platelets. We were surprised because we had already been told that everything was fine. When the discharge doctor rechecked, she was concerned about the low number. However, it didn't make sense, and there was no reason to think that the low number was accurate. However, we had to redo the blood test just to confirm. Ugh! This meant two more pokes for our sweet, patient girl with no luck! Finally, a very experienced nurse came in and drew the blood out of Presley's one remaining IV. Success! Praise the Lord! We were so thankful that this IV hadn't already been removed.

Our girl was so happy! She put on her backpack and was ready to go! And then we waited . . . again! Her platelet levels were fine, and we were good to go! We knew God was and always is in control! We signed our final papers, and at about 8:00 p.m. we walked right out of those hospital doors! It was the best anniversary present David and I could have ever hoped to receive!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for healing our Presley! This has been an amazing journey, and we can hardly put into words how grateful we are to our incredible team at Boston Children's Hospital! Now we can't wait to get home and hug each one of our precious kiddos! We miss them all so, so much, and what a sweet reunion that will be!





Post Op Day 11

We had a peaceful night, and Presley has been sleeping really well. Therefore, so am I! Last night was the first night without the sound of any beeps going off, and it was nice and quiet! The only thing on our agenda for the day was a chest x-ray. We took our time getting ready in our room, and then we set off.

Presley was raring to go . . . she was a girl on a mission to push those elevator buttons!

We know the drill pretty well by now down at the x-ray room! Presley has been so cooperative which has made it very easy! I usually put an apron on to help hold her arms, and it's over super quick!

We found out later from our nurse practitioner that the x-ray looks great, nice and clear! She showed it to us on the computer screen, and we could see such a difference in Presley's little lungs. The cloudiness is gone, her lungs are filling nicely, and her breathing is great. She has a small amount of fluid left, but it's nothing to be concerned about. After the echo tomorrow and a final blood draw, we should be good to go!

Our nurse suggested that we visit the playground which sounded like a great idea!. However, once we got there we weren't able to go out. A man who was cleaning the floors opened the door for us, and it felt so good to breathe in some fresh air!

About 5 minutes later a security guard came out and told us that the playground is not open on the weekends. He was really nice about it, but we weren't allowed to stay. We were disappointed, but we promised Presley we would visit again tomorrow! She handled it well, and so we set off to try to find something new to look at to pass the time. We found a cool contraption (sort of like the game mousetrap) down a corridor we hadn't yet discovered.

We roamed around the lobby and gazed out the windows . . . we are so ready to get outside! We enjoyed special time with our baby and ended up eating once again at our favorite au bon pain.

Presley was very active on our outing, and she was practically running around wherever we went. She was exhausted by the time we returned to our room, and she took a nice nap.

We are looking forward to tomorrow with much anticipation, and we are praying that the results of the echo are consistent with the stability of Presley's vital signs. The nurse practitioner that we saw today could not believe how great our little princess looks after a bi-ventricular repair. She was amazed at Presley's smooth and speedy recovery and at the fact that we are only going home on aspirin and Lasix. Assuming that all is well, we should be discharged by tomorrow afternoon. Thank you, Lord! Your will be done!