Our Greatest Joy

Well, I am doing better at this blogging thing so far this year of 2016. Two and a half ish weeks since posting… I think that is pretty good. So much has happened, that if feels like it has been so much longer. I have so much to be thankful for, and so much that is going to change our lives in the next few months. Life is always a whirlwind isn’t it?

To catch you up on our New Year celebrations and exciting adventures in Washington, we were there until January 3^rd! On December 31^st the day started out with a surprise date to Star Wars, and I ended up seeing some old friends who I haven’t seen together since my 16^th birthday party! We made some yummy cookies, had a great conversation about life, and got to see their little kiddos, which Carter took every opportunity to show me he is ready for a sibling (in a good way). I am so thankful for the great friends that I had in High School who I still talk to. There aren’t very many, but they sure are treasures to me! Ladies, why didn’t we take a picture?!

After a much needed girls visit, Carter and I headed back to my parents’ house for a delicious turkey dinner and birthday celebration for the love of my life and my siblings. It was Jason’s golden birthday and he got to share it with my sweet little sister and silly little brother. The dinner was amazing, and opening presents (again) was actually quite fun! I am pretty sure Jason liked his birthday present far better than his Christmas present lol. Who thought a phone car mount could bring so much joy to someone? I’m pretty sure he played with it for an hour before he put it away. He even showed me all the cool features lol. It wasn't his most fave birthday gift, but I was glad to see he liked something I got him. Ha ha. After that we played some games with friends and partied our way into 2016. I got my midnight kiss, and almost immediately we all went to bed lol.

Kira and Dyelan getting ready to open birthday presents

He thought this was the coolest EVER

Until my dad decided to ruin it....

Now this was the BEST gift EVER!

The next couple days were filled with visiting, playing games, and going to Get Air! We really had lots of fun and made so many wonderful memories!

My cute little monkey at Get Air

Everyone who got to jump, I was not allowed with my big belly and all

They all had so much fun!

Cutie Carmen even loved it :)

The only good picture from bowling... I wasn't the camera man :P

It was so wonderful to be with my parents and be spoiled by them. I was a little sad to say goodbye, because the next time we see each other won’t be until July for sure. I guess with me having a baby it might be sooner, but still quite a long time.  Plus I was not excited for Jason to go back to work. Too bad we have to have a job to survive and have the things we need.

When we got back to Utah, we were greeted with lots of doctor appointment (yippee!). One appointment we had been waiting for, for a very long time it seemed. We had an appointment with our parientologist to find out the gender of our baby, as well as count their sweet little toes and fingers and have our anatomy ultrasound. Well…it didn’t turn out at all how we planned. Carter got sick the night before going home with a horrid cough and high fever. Jason had a cold the entire time we were in Washington and his cough never fully went away. Well, because of cold and flu season Carter wasn't allowed to come in the room with me and so Jason had to stay outside with him (not that he could have come anyway because of his cough). Well, we decided we wanted to do a gender reveal so that we could find out together what our baby was going to be. The ultrasound tech put the gender in an envelope and sealed it so I couldn’t cheat.

Our story of the day doesn’t end there…. Suddenly I found myself with the doctor looking at some abnormalities they had found with our sweet baby. The next thing I knew, Carter and Jason were with me in a consultation room with masks on, and we were discussing options for genetic testing and setting up an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist. I could not believe what was happening, and every time I looked at my little family my heart just broke. I couldn’t hold back the tears for anything.

The next few days brought blood work, and an echo cardiogram that lasted 3 hours. Our sweet baby will be born with a heart defect One that will affect the rest of its life. At a week old he/she will have open heart surgery and there is nothing I can do about it. For some reason our Heavenly Father feels we need to go through this and has sent us this sweet spirit to look after and to learn from. I blamed myself so much for a few days, and couldn’t believe I would have to go through something like this. I found myself on my knees begging to see a miracle with the ultrasounds and echo being wrong and that our baby would be healthy. I now realized that I was being silly. Yes, this is going to be hard. I wish life wasn’t so hard, but that is how we grow and learn. My little family will be eternal, meaning we will always be together! Our baby will be born to our family and therefore be with us forever. Once day he/she will have a healthy heart, a body that is perfect, and we will be able to be together for the rest of forever. Everything happens for a reason and God is so good to us, only good can come of it.

Well, for the last couple of weeks I have been freaking out a little less. I was able to meet a young mother when we moved here that has a boy with heart problems. When I heard her story (way back then) and all that she had to go through, I was so thankful that I wasn’t in her situation. We actually met for lunch one day and talked for 3 hours about the great hardships with open heart surgery, and constantly worrying about what was going to happen next. I met her son, and knew that she was put in my path for a reason. She helped me so much with her great testimony and kindness. I’ll never forget the feelings of peace after I talked to her. She will never know how much she has helped me.

My heart is so full and so tender these days. I am just so thankful for a Heavenly Father who created the perfect plan for us to come to this earth to learn and to grow and have hard challenges in this life. I am thankful for the wonderful blessing of modern medicine in these days, and am thankful for the guidance we are given through the Holy Ghost. I know that God has a plan for me, and whatever it may be will only be for my good. This challenge is going to be hard, it is going to knock me down, but I will continue in faith and know that my family is forever. I am never alone through it either. I have wonderful friends and family who have already shown their love and have given me great strength. Jason has been awesome through this whole thing as well, and I am so glad that I have him to be mine forever. Please don’t feel sorry for us. Just know that we are going through hard things so that we may see the blessings. We have had the privilege of seeing so many miracles, and I know we will only continue to see more. We’ll keep ya updated as our angle’s story continue. Happy Reading!