Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We enjoyed a precious Christmas together as a family of three! We were finally able to make up for some lost time! Emma had only spent two of her seven months of life out of the hospital, and those two months were incredibly stressful times, where we were constantly worried that any little thing might send her into a cardiac arrest.

So, it was such a gift to be able to spend this Christmas season together, OUT of the hospital!

Here are some pictures of our Christmas.

We drove around looking at Christmas lights several nights leading up to Christmas. We also visited and walked through Candy Cane Lane which was a very fun family outing, other than Emma getting a little cold by the end. She was very bundled up, but she's still getting used to outside temperatures, after spending so much of her life in the hospital. 

Mickey and I found this sign for our home to remind us of all of the incredible things God did in our lives this year! We put up this pink Christmas tree in Emma's hospital room the Saturday after Thanksgiving, since we didn't know if she would be out of the hospital by Christmas, and we wanted to go ahead and start enjoying Christmas decorations! Someone sent her the string heart art that represents her heart beat before her heart transplant and her stronger heartbeat after getting her new heart! 

Christmas decorations and presents and our favorite present, that precious baby under the tree!

A big thank you to the Ronald McDonald House and to outside donors for leaving stockings, cookies, pajamas, a Christmas movie, and a Nintendo 2DS outside everyone's door on Christmas Eve!

Here are some sweet pictures from Christmas Eve

Emma woke up with a huge smile on her face on Christmas morning!

Christmas Day was Emma's 2 month Heart Birthday! We are so thankful to God and the donor family for this amazing gift of life!

Soulumination took some beautiful Christmas pictures of our family. We are so thankful for these priceless keepsakes that so beautifully capture Emma's first Christmas!

2015 went nothing like we expected. It was full of the greatest struggles and pain we have ever experienced, but it was also full of the greatest joy and blessings we have ever experienced. 

- Mickey got a new job and his employers have been amazingly supportive of us through everything that has happened with Emma. 

- We had a beautiful baby girl on May 20, 2015! Emma Claire was 9lbs 4 ounces and 22 inches long. She is more of a blessing and bundle of joy than we ever could have imagined! 

- Emma was lifeflighted to Spokane just hours after birth and we found out the heartbreaking news that she had a severe heart defect (HLHS) and would need emergency open heart surgery and multiple heart surgeries throughout her life, and would have a shorter than normal life expectancy. We were devastated.

- I had to quit my jobs to stay with Emma in the hospital, but then got to start my dream job of being a stay at home mommy to my sweet baby girl. 

- Surgeries and recovery went well and we all got to go home!! 

- We moved to Clarkston to be closer to family, friends, and church. The support we received during and after our move was amazing. Sadly, we only got to spend a few weeks in our new home before living the rest of the year at the hospitals in Spokane and Seattle. 

- Emma had a gtube placed because she was unable to eat anything by mouth. 

- Emma was lifeflighted for the second time in her life, had worsening heart failure, and multiple cardiac arrests. 

- Emma had to be transferred to Seattle Childrens to be evaluated for heart transplant, where she stayed in the cardiac intensive care unit and was listed at top priority status. 

- Emma's heart failure had gotten much worse. She was on the brink of death, and they were talking about the possibility of her not being able to make it until a new heart became available. Then she miraculously received her life-saving gift of a new heart in October. 

- Emma had an amazing recovery from her high risk heart transplant and got to leave the hospital and stay at the Ronald McDonald House with us in December, where we celebrated Christmas together! 

We are so thankful for all of the Lord has done in our lives this past year. As we enter this new year, we face so many unknowns, especially with Emma's health. But we continue to put our hope in the Lord, and trust Him with all of it. 

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

We have learned and grown closer to each other and the Lord during these difficult months. We would never want to replay the challenges or pain that we experienced during these past 7 months. But, we are thankful for the joy that has come as a result of them. The future is full of so much hope, and we are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us this new year! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Love,

Mickey, Catherine, and Emma