In 1994, I met Ryan when I was going in to 7th grade and he was going to be a freshman. We started “going out” at the end of that school year, and the rest is history. We, quickly, became best friends, and it didn’t take us long to know that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. On June 2, 2001, at 18 and 21, we joined our lives and became one. Ryan graduated from college, accepted a job at Boeing, and finished his Master’s degree. In 2005, our dreams came true when we gave birth to our sweet baby boy, Trent.
On April 4, 2007, Maggie Jane was born and changed our lives forever. Maggie surprised us a couple days after her birth when we learned that she was born with a double inlet left ventricle, transposition of the greater arteries, and an interrupted aortic arch. These 3 severe heart defects can all be classified under Hypo-Plastic Right Heart Syndrome. She had her first life saving surgery, the Norwood (slightly modified) on April 10, 2007 and came home exactly a week later. Her second heart surgery, The Glenn, was on Sept. 20, 2007 and she came home 4 days later. Her third and hopefully final surgery, was August 20, 2009 and she came home 1 week later. We have been tremendously blessed with how well Maggie has sailed through these surgeries. With the exception of some severe reflux and some pleural efffusions following her Fontan, Maggie has thrived. Now that her Fontan is complete, she is as pink as ever and except for her special scar, noone knows anything is wrong with our sweet girl.
In 2010, we welcomed, healthy, Evangeline Kait in to the world and she has blessed our family in so many ways.
Shortly after Evie’s birth, we felt the Lord leading us to start the adoption process. It was a long journey but so very worth it.
2012 proved to be a thrilling year for our family with Maggie’s Make a Wish trip, Reid’s EP submission, approval, and travel call! On November 6th, we made our long flight to Seoul, Korea to get our son. On November 9 2012, we held him in our arms for the first time. He has adjusted so well to our family and we love our little firecracker more and more each day.
This life we live is not what we ever expected it to be. It is filled with twists and turns, but we are doing our best to ride it out. We are a family of 6, with Happy Hearts.
Happy Hearts 