Thank you to my amazing husband for being a great dad and for our wonderful children. Nicholas and Trevor are our pride and joy 
This is for Zate:
Heart Dads are so strong. They put on a brave face for the moms and the kids in their life and keep everyone together as a family unit, that is what we have and I pray all heart families have that. Just a little note, you dads don’t have to always be the strong, brave ones. We know you are scared, hurt and sad about the hand we are dealt. But thank you for being that knight in shining armor for us moms who tend to be extra emotional 
Have a great day, dads!
Right now our friend Nels Matson is biking…yes BIKING across the US to raise money for The Children’s Heart Foundation! This is no small adventure and its not “just for fun.”
Nels is an amazing athlete and biking is fun for him however this is business and he is serious! He is on a personal mission to raise $100,000 for congenital heart defects research. That is why The Children’s Heart Foundation(CHF) is the recipient of the funds, they are the only organization that dedicates all their monies to CHD research.
CHF is our family’s organization of choice for our fundraising and ask you to consider any donation you may be making in the coming year to CHF either through Bike4CHF or through an event Trevor’s Allstars holds, check our website for events.
Thank you for your support and for your prayers always!
CHD is the #1 birth defect help us spread awareness today!
Today marks three years since Trevor’s first open heart surgery! I thank God every day for the blessings of medical intervention and for all the doctors and nurses and the entire PCICU staff whose hands touched my son ~ saved his life, healed his wounds and held me as I worried, cried and rejoiced!
♥ Trevor is our Allstar and MY HERO ♥
I love you sweet boy, thank you for being brave and for fighting for you very life. Mommy will fight for you and all those with CHD as long as I live.
My Dad and I were talking on the way to drop him off at the airport and he told me I was “strong”. I do not think about it often, but he really made me think on the drive home.
I never thought I was a strong person, I never think it now…but I am. Heart Mom’s (and Dad’s) are brave and strong. We have to be. If I was not strong how would I get through Trevor through his everyday life? Some days are easy “typical” if you will. Then there are the days that test your faith, your coping skills and yourself.
We are really lucky to have a “healthy” heart kid, he is strong and jumps every hurdle placed before him. Thank you God!
Trevor is 3 today!
My Trevor is sweet, loving, sassy, brave, a dare devil and most of all MY HERO! He never slows down never gives up and has a heart of gold. I am so grateful for him and for his strength and quick healing ability.
Trevor has been through so much in his short life its hard to even believe it. Here’s a run down: An emergency c-section, 4 heart catheterizations, 2 open heart operations, one trip to the ER for a cyanotic episode, a stent put in his LPA, 4 lung profusion scans, 2 swallow studies because of paralyzed vocal chords and countless echo-cardiograms.
We are so lucky to have the best medical staff in our corner and as our friends.
God Bless and thank you for all your support and prayers.
So today was our last meeting at Bible study for the summer and we were asked to share how we have grown over the year. Hands down I learned to take help when its offered and let that be a blessing to your friends and sisters in Christ. I also learned to ask for help when I need it. I have never been good at asking for help, I always wanted to do a “perfect” job all on my own. Reading that statement makes me laugh at myself. First of all, we are never ALONE, are we? Not if you believe Christ is your Savior and I do!
So doing anything on “my own” is ludicrous and trying to make a difference in the CHD world “alone” is even more ridiculous. When I needed the most help, I have ever needed my Sisters in Christ stepped up. They cooked, decorated, planned, rallied, set up and broke down our event. With out them insisting they serve God with me and for Hope for Hearts “my” event would have been in a sad state of affairs.
If you take anything from this post, please know that asking for help is not a weakness. It is a blessing to those around you, who love you and want the best for you.
I will need help on the next Hope for Hearts benefit concert, I am just laying it out there now…can YOU help? Let me know. Lets fight this fight against CHD together.
Have you heard the new song by Josh Wilson, Before the Morning? If not you NEED to hear it so…here ya go Before the Morning
It is tear jerker for me EVERY TIME I hear it, knowing the story behind the song really gets me. Its a song about a CHD survivor and his parents.
I get tons of different emotions while listening to the brilliant lyrics, I get sad, mad, happy, thankful and blown away by the miracles I have been witness to.
Our friends are in our shoes right now…where we were nearly 3 years ago. Izaak Michael was born in April with a CHD and our dear friends had been handed a similar hand that we were with Trevor. They are feeling pain, anxiety and fear that no parent should ever have to feel. I remember those feelings, all too well. I hate those feelings but know now that there is hope. Here are some of the lyrics of this song that are so important to anyone struggling with the hand you have been dealt.
Would dare you, would you dare, to believe,
that you still have a reason to sing,
’cause the pain you’ve been feeling,
can’t compare to the joy that’s coming
so hold on, you got to wait for the light
press on, just fight the good fight
because the pain you’ve been feeling,
it’s just the dark before the morning
My friend, you know how this all ends
and you know where you’re going,
you just don’t know how you get there
so just say a prayer.
and hold on, cause there’s good who love God,
life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time,
but you’ll see the bigger picture
Being a Heart Mom has changed me. It has made me stronger, trust God more than ever and see beauty in everyday. We too had a little tiny sick baby in the PCICU and now have a strong, healthy cardiac kid who can take his big brother down any day ;o)
To be continued…
Today is Mother’s day and every year it hits me like a ton of bricks that I am a Mom. These boys are a true gift from God and I am so grateful for Zate and each of our boys. Nicholas will be 5 on Wednesday *shock* and Trevor will be 3 on May 29th. Where does the time go? They are so smart and sweet and well a whole-lotta sassy!
Today I am full of emotion-
I am Joyful that my friend Steph is celebrating her 1st Mother’s day but bummed that it’s in the PCICU. Isaak is doing well and is a fighter but the hospital is not the ideal place for Mommy and Baby to be on their first Mother’s day, now is it? Also super excited a great friend and babysitter just found out she is going to be a Mommy!
On the other had I am very sad about two tragedies I became aware of a bloke named Daniel died in a car accident last night in Australia, Zate’s cousin’s best mate. 
An online friend lost her baby last night (she was 12 weeks along) and of course I will always remember the Mother’s Day that changed my Mom’s life. That night of a terrible, life altering accident. Praise God she is here and we can celebrate but that was the worst day of my young life.
Hope you Mother’s day is brilliant and full of joy and love!
Please be in prayer for each of these families.
In Him,
Back in November 2009 I began a gluten free (GF), dairy free(DF) and egg free (EF) to help get my energy back, reduce joint pain and heartburn and that foggy feeling I was calling “mommy brain”.
At first I panicked and went home and ate anything in site with wheat and cheese in it! Only to feel terrible after but I thought I NEED those Cheez-Its!!! (I don’t even care for Cheez-its, we had them for the kids)
Thirteen days later I felt a distinct improvement – that fog had lifted, it was gone! I felt so alive and so clear, like I was present in my life again. It was so amazing and hard to believe some food was the culprit. In those first two weeks, I was no longer bloated, my heartburn was less often and about a month into it my “arthritic fingers” were not hurting as badly.
I have started adding eggs back into my diet only in baked goods to see how I react, so far so good. So I got a little daring and decided to try dairy next. I did it small- creamer for my coffee and one GF homemade pizza with a little mozzarella cheese. The side effects or symptoms if you will were nearly immediate. I gave it a week. I was feeling so lethargic, moody, my knee and finger joints were aching and my heartburn was back! No kidding!
So last week I went back to soy creamer in my coffee and I was starting to feel a little better, not overly amazing but not as crappy either. So tonight we decided to do the GF pizza again since my “pickier than thou” son actually loved the pizza and asked me to make it. I thought lets really test this dairy thing. Let me tell you…I am officially dairy free. I have been so sick, bloated and the heartburn is relentless.
If you suffer any of these symptoms I challenge you to go GF and DF for 30 days and see how you feel. It changed my life.
Hello!
Let me start by saying I have slacked BIG time…I got too worried about the miles and how to calculate the miles (spinning) so I fell off the wagon…er bike! LOL
While riding this morning I decided I would aim for logging hours instead of miles. Do I want to be like Nels? YES! but I am not and trying to be an “athlete” I am not was hard, self defeating and not much fun. So I am WAY behind on my goals but I will commit to ride 6-8 hours a week. That will be a challenge for me and I am super motivated now, a new baby with CHD is in our life and I am riding for Trevor, Izaak and all CHD kids everywhere!
