Christmas Update

As we get close to the end of the year and think about all that has transpired this year I don't know how we could be more blessed. We have had the privilege of watching the Great Physician perform multiple miracles in Carissa. Because of His mercy and faithfulness we have been able to experience many things that we were told multiple times that we would never experience with Carissa. We have been blessed with a now 14 year old, Colton, who has matured leaps and bounds and is an incredible help with both younger siblings. I cannot imagine anyone transitioning better from being an only child for almost 12 years to having not one but two younger siblings in an 18 month period. We've also been blessed with Luke who is the most hustling 2 year old I've ever seen and can repeat complex actions after seeing it done only once. Don't ask him to tell you how because he is not into talking at all.

I've mentioned it before, but you can go back and read our updates forward or reverse and see an amazing pattern of God answering specific requests for Carissa shortly after we had asked y'all to join us in praying about them. We got to see Carissa actually be born alive on April 17th and make it from the operating room to Level 3 NICU. We got to see her get off the breathing tube and onto the CPAP (remember her Snuffalufugus impersonation!). We got to see her move onto a nasal cannula. We go to see her move to Level 2 NICU. We got to take our precious little baby home on June 3rd, 5 days before her original due date. We got to watch her get her last blood transfusion June 25th. We got to remove her nasal cannula for good on July 31st. We got to watch as her cbc's starting showing that she was not only slowing down on destroying her blood cells but that she was actually producing and maintaining her blood cells. We got to see her get strong enough to stay awake for long periods and interact with us. I will never forget the first time she was able to push up on her arms and lift her head off her bed to look at me as I was trying to sing her to sleep.

I am going to get in trouble with some of you for this, but trust me when I say we didn't know if this could happen until the day before it did due to Carissa and Luke being sick. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we got to stand before our church as we dedicated Luke and Carissa to the Lord. Carissa just sat sweetly in my and then Pamela's arms, and Luke put on a show for all to see. It was almost as good as that Ray Stevens song about the squirrel getting loose in the church. Here is a picture of Carissa in her dress that day.


We got to take our first trip out of town with Carissa at Thanksgiving where she was able to go see both sets of grandparents. We got to take a Christmas picture of our three kids together.



We have certainly had challenges. We are hopefully on the tail-end of a third cold with Carissa and Luke. With Carissa's history of breathing challenges those are not fun at all because they hit her very hard. If we seem pretty recluse please understand that we are just trying to protect Carissa from catching anything. We certainly hope to ease up on that sometime in the spring after the flu and cold season. Carissa still does not sleep for long periods and that makes for some very challenging times for Pamela. Carissa still often has several appointments a month down at Texas Childrens Hospital and those usually entail drawing blood and other tests or x-rays that are hard on both her and Mom.

We are looking very forward to the next few days and getting to celebrate the birth of our Saviour and enjoy some great family times. It has been quite a year for us and we are thankful both for the hundreds of you that have let us know that you are praying for us as well as the hundreds of you that have been praying that we haven't even met or heard from. We hope you have been blessed to see your prayers answered in Carissa's life. If you have not met Carissa in person we certainly hope to have the opportunity to introduce you to our little blessing that has some of the biggest and brightest blue eyes you will ever see.

We still shamelessly ask for your prayers for Carissa. We have more tests to be done to try to see if there are issues or challenges that we can head off or know to deal with.

• Please thank God for His amazing actions in Carissa's life
• Please pray that Carissa will continue to grow, strengthen, and develop in accordance with what is expected in relation to her original due date
• Please pray that recent tests and a couple yet to come will show no signs of alarm and that Carissa's doctors will grow confident enough in her condition to declare her well
• Please pray for the blood draw to come and the eye test to come where Carissa's eyes will be dilated that her pain or discomfort will be minimal
• Please give credit to our Heavenly Father when you have the opportunity to mention Carissa's story

All I know to say here is to thank you once again for your faithful prayers for Carissa. We hope to get the chance to thank each one of you in person for your prayers and we pray that you feel as blessed as we do during this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!

Terry