Blessings

The week of Thanksgiving is probably the most important, most amazing week for our family! Of course we have always been thankful for our family and everything we have but back in 2003 we really became thankful for what we have been given.
Every Thanksgiving week we are blessed to celebrate Kade's birthday. We are reminded of what we went through to get Kade and how lucky we are to have him. We are reminded of where we were back in 2003 and the long road we had to take to get back home. We often think of being so far from our family during the holidays and now that we are all able to get together in one place we are so thankful to be together.

Our journey in 2003 went like this...

Day before Thanksgiving we got the call that they could not stop the contractions... it was time for us to fly out! (How blessed were we to have tickets donated to us from special friends, and then to have two seats available for us to fly out there!)

We flew out and got there right after his birth. He went straight to the NICU and we were able to see him for a few minutes. I remember not knowing if I should love him or not and if he was really going to be our baby...but it was instant true love that was out of our control.

We had a sweet Thanksgiving in the cafeteria of the hospital and Scott had and enjoyed his first piece of pumpkin pie.

Scott stayed the week and then flew home to work and get the house ready for a BABY!!!

I stayed out with Kade and stayed at his side from 9:00am till 2:00am. I would leave for one daily meal of grilled cheese and french fries.

I spent the days talking to the doctors and praying that Kade would start to remember to breath on his own, that he would learn how to suck from his bottle and get rid of the feeding tube, and that the whole in his heart would be ok.

I would love the 10 minutes a day that I could hold him and would beg for a few more minutes.

I am so thankful for the special doctors and nurses that I became really close to and to the guards that would walk me to the house that I rented a room in. It was kind of like the Ronald McDonald house but owned by the hospital. I stayed alone most nights and other nights had a roommate who also had a baby in the NICU.

I kept telling the doctors that we needed to be home by Christmas and begged that they let us go. Scott flew back out as soon as school was out and I was never so happy to see him.

We still thank God for all he has given us and we will never forget what a miracle and blessing Kade is to us.

Sorry for the random post but this is what is on our minds right now and I wanted to share with all our loved ones. It is hard to believe all of this really happened to us. Thank you God!