Monday Morning Update on Harper

I just got a text from Erin and she wanted me to ask you to pray specifically today for good aortic valve function for Harper's heart. Also, they are praying that these set backs are the ONLY things that Harper, Erin & Chad have to deal with. Pray that once she has these surgeries that her body will be totally healed and that she can live her best life!

"...for I am the Lord, who heals you." Exodus 15:26

Baby Harper Update!!

Hey prayer warriors! I just got access to a computer and wanted to give you a quick rundown of what all is happening with Harper. My mom and I arrived early this morning at UAB around 1:00 and were able to see Erin and Chad and the baby. Bless her heart, she looks so precious laying there with all of those monitors hooked to her!! Erin and Chad didn't get a good report at the hospital in Meridian and we were all praying that God would place his hand on Harper Anne. Through texts, phone calls, facebook, emails and word of mouth, people began to pray and we truly felt the presence of God in our family.

The cardiologist was able to see Harper last night and gave us much more hope! She is NOT going to need a transplant!! Praise the lord! However, she will need several surgeries. The first surgery will take place this week. Her aorta is pinched and the left side of her body isn't receiving the amount of blood flow that they need to receive. Her intestines aren't receiving enough blood flow either, so they can't feed her because of several different risks.

The second surgery revolves around the hole between the two ventricles of her heart. The doctors don't want to perform this surgery quite yet because they want her to be a little stronger. This open heart surgery can be done this week, next week or three months from now... we're not sure.

Please be in prayer for Harper. Pray that God will give her the strength to continue to fight and be the strong girl that we all know she is!! Pray for Erin and Chad and that God will give them a peace that passes all understanding. Pray that they feel the presence of God in their lives each day. Pray for guidance and wisdom for the doctors that will be working on this sweet little life. We know that God works all things together for good for those who love him and that Harper is sitting right in the palm of his hand.

I will keep updating this blog each time we hear something new. Our phones are ringing and buzzing with all kinds of words of encouragement and we can't simply reply to each one of you. Please know that our family appreciates your love and support. Please feel free to leave comments on this blog and I'll email them to Erin & Chad.

She's Here!!!

Welcome to our world, baby girl!

Harper Anne Miller

January 16, 2009

6 lbs. 9 ozs. 19 inches long

5:01 p.m.

Me and the mommy!

WOW!! What a day! I have been at the hospital since around 9:00 this morning and I'm absolutely thrilled to introduce you to the newest member of my family. Miss Harper Anne came into this world just a few hours ago... flawlessly, might I add.

Erin was a champ. She refused her epidural last night because she didn't want it to wear off. At 6:00 bright and early this morning, she decided to go on and get the epidural. She had an absolute PAIN FREE delivery... NEVER felt a thing. As a matter of fact, her OB/GYN made the anesthesiologist (who was precious) cut the epidural off because she wasn't making any progress pushing.

Erin asked me to be in the delivery room with her and Chad (baby's daddy :) and Erin's husband) and her mom, Jesselyn to take pictures. I was SO excited because I knew that all of the blood and guts on Grey's Anatomy had prepared me for this moment! (I am known for throwing up when I see someone else throwing up... and for gagging when I have to wipe a snotty nose...) Ha, Ha! I took my post and after about an hour of pushing... that sweet precious baby came into our world! What an amazing thing to be apart of!

Erin and Chad will be the BEST parents and Harper Anne is a very lucky girl to be surrounded by a TON, and I mean a TON of family members that are already eating her up with a spoon!

Prayer

My cousin, Erin (that I talked about in the last post), has just been put in the hospital due to some blood sugar issues. They will induce her late tonight/ early in the morning. Please pray for Erin and Chad and for the doctors as they prepare to bring Harper Anne into the world. I'll post pictures just as soon as I can!

Christmas 2008

This past week has been one of the best weeks of my entire life! As most of you know, Christmas is my very favorite time of year. I love decorating my home, entertaining, and most of all, spending time with my family and friends.

On Tuesday, I felt a bad cold/sinus infection coming on. I knew that I had to do something quick because I had to sing at our Christmas Eve service at church. I called my ENT and he gave me some Singulair and I thought that would make me much better. I was so wrong because I was much worse on Wednesday. I had no clue how I was going to sing... I couldn't even breathe. I had to call a doctor friend and he was able to call me in some antibiotics. Long story short, I was able to get through singing and enjoyed an awesome time of worship with my church family and real family. Because I am single and I'm the only person from my family that attends FBC, I often sit with friends at church... but it was really special to have some of my closest family members with me that night!

Thursday, I woke up to find that Santa did indeed come to Grandview-- and I must've been on his "nice list" because I got a lot of good stuff-- laptop, MSU diploma matted and framed, boots, shoes, jewelry, DVD's, 2 new end tables (now being used as night stands in my room), books and much more!

When I graduated from college, I decided to start collecting Dr. Seuss books because I loved using them to teach when I was student teaching. So I was happy to find The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Green Eggs & Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now as gifts this Christmas season!

Word to the wise... If you have any Dr. Seuss books that you are looking to get rid of, send them my way!

On Christmas night, we had 30 family members over for dinner and dirty santa! It was so much fun... even if I was sick. Here's a look at some pictures...

My cousins... Sarah, Jamey and Emily

A quick picture with Grandaddy (above) and Grannie (below)

Chad & Erin... the parents of the newest addition to our family, Harper Anne

Hayden & Nate (Daniel's boys)

All Cousins... (back row) Jason, Tyler, Colton, Sarah, Jamey, Me, Emily (front row) Daniel and Erin

*We were missing three cousins, Garth, Madison and Joel from this picture. Their family didn't make it for Christmas because Garth had knee surgery the week before...

Our moms & dads as cousins... (left to right) Identical twins Randy & Rusty and their sister Sandra alongside their cousins Joey and Jesselyn (brother and sister). There is another cousin, Jim, whose family didn't make it for Christmas this year.

My all-time favorite two ladies... my grandmother and her sister Faye (my great aunt that I call "grannie Poe")

Me and my sweet mom

On Christmas night, after all of the festivities, my cousins and I went to see Marley & Me. What a cute but sad movie... yeah, I cried the last 20 minutes... but it was really good. I went home and just loved on my own little Marley, my lab, Lucy. Isn't she so pretty?!

Erin's Baby Shower... hosted by her favorite cousin!

I hosted a baby shower yesterday for my cousin Erin. Her baby girl, Harper Anne, will be here very soon... maybe even the first baby of the new year?! We're anxiously awaiting her arrival! It was a lovely afternoon and a good time was had by all!

Please click on the collage to make the pictures appear bigger!!

Jessica & Brad Got Hitched!!

Please click on the collage to make the photos bigger...

A New Family Member is On Her Way

I went to a baby shower for my cousin, Erin, this Saturday. This was a shower that was given by her best friend and some members from her sunday school class. When Erin got married, I was invited to EVERY shower so that I could take pictures for her and make her a scrapbook. Well... you guessed it... I was the chosen one to do the same thing for her baby showers. Next Sunday, I am giving her a shower at my house. I'll definitely post pictures from that shower, but until then... take a look at just how cute and pregnant she is!

Jessica's Shower

Last Sunday I went to a shower for my sweet friend Jessica. Jessica and I got to know each other when we were in 9th grade and we would sit across from each other at the lunch table. I was so excited about going to the shower because I knew that I would be able to catch up with old friends. I am looking forward to her wedding next Saturday and hope that she and Brad have a happy life together!!

Karen, Jessica, me and Abby H.

On a funny note... Abby H and I were the BEST of friends growing up. We did EVERYTHING together. As a matter of fact, in 9th grade, we were voted to be on the homecoming door decoration committee. We called ourselves "Abby & Abby, inc."

Christmas Time is Here!!

Our home is officially decorated for the holidays! Its looks and SMELLS wonderful! I've been trying to talk my mom into buying an artificial tree so we can decorate earlier each year, but once we got our real tree on Thanksgiving day, I had no regrets!! You can smell the Christmas season the minute you step foot into our home!

The tree topper!!

My very favorite ornament on the tree

Garland

The front of our house

Lucy has a lot of Christmas cheer, doesn't she??

Flat Stanley and His Travels...

Last week a little girl at FBC named Edie, asked me if I would help her out with a project. She showed me Flat Stanley and gave me a letter and told me that wherever I went, Flat Stanley needed to go, too. Boy, did she luck up pairing Flat Stanley with me. The week I had my friend just so happened to be the week that I was going to the beach to shop! I had so much fun and found that wherever I went, everybody knew about Flat Stanley...even Santa!

Flat Stanley and his host for the week!

He had to help me write a research paper for school!

We delivered Thanksgiving Lunch to The Bagley's

He LOVED sonic!

All packed and ready to go to the beach!

From the balcony of our condo...

He wanted to swim very badly!

at Longhorn Steakhouse

His favorite picture of all was with Santa!!!

Thanks Edie for choosing me to take Flat Stanley... I hope you made a good grade on your project :)

I Have A Lot to be Thankful For

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, I thought I would take a few minutes and reflect on some of the things that I am grateful for this year.

These are in no particular order...

I'm thankful for:

A WONDERFUL job where I am always surrounded by cute little kiddos!!

A nice place to rest my head each night!

A best friend and a mother in one. It just doesn't get much better

than Sandra D.

New friends and old friends.

A very large, sometimes disfunctional family, that I will always love no matter what.

(By the way, Charles Stanley says that if you have more than one person in your family, then it's disfunctional. Go ahead and place your family in that category, too!!)

Knowing that my God loves me no matter where I am or what I do!!

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving! What are some things you're thankful for?

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!!!

Many of you know that Christmas is one of my very favorite holidays! I start listening to Christmas music around September! I absolutely LOVE cold weather, LOVE getting Christmas cards in the mail, and LOVE to decorate my house and office. This year, I took on a new hobby of decorating my friend's homes. Last week, I decorated two christmas trees (that look fabulous if I do say so myself) and I'm doing another one next week when I get back in town. After all the hype of going to Christmas open houses and decorating for my friends, I would come home and look at my house and it wasn't even close to looking like Christmas. I changed that this weekend, though. I made a wreath for my grandmother's house, my house (and my mom's house too, I guess you could say, haha!) and for my office.

We're going to pick up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day so that when we return from the beach, it will be ready to decorate! I hope that you and yours have a great Turkey day! I'll post more when I return.

How Much Fun!!!

This past Saturday morning, I juggled my time between children's "extra" choir practices, rummage sale drop-off's for our Tuesday night bible study and a funeral. It was definitely an exhausting morning, but the afternoon was well worth it. After the kids got finished with practice, we had a pizza party and went to play on the new equipment at Bonita Lakes. I had the best time just being a kid. I have the BEST job in the world!!