Mackenzie is doing GREAT!

I wanted to give you a quick update on Mackenzie. She is doing SO well. Today, the doctors were using words like MIRACULOUS and UNBELIEVABLE to describe how well she is doing. Her surgery was very successful and the doctors are very pleased with how she is doing. The first 72 hours after open heart surgery are the most critical and she is a little over halfway through that time period with absolutely NO complications. They said that she might get to go home in as early as a few weeks. Thank you so much for your prayers (and please continue to pray!) and please join me in giving thanks for this blessing.

Pray for Mackenzie

This is Alli, Sharon's friend. Sharon just called & asked that I post a request for prayers for sweet little Mackenzie. She is scheduled to have heart surgery this evening to try & repair the hole in her heart & also to create a fourth chamber since she was born with only three chambers. The family wasn't expecting this surgery to take place so soon, but it is a blessing that the doctors feel that she's strong enough for it. Please pray for God to guide the hands of the surgeons, nurses & staff that will be participating in this surgery. Pray that Mackenzie can be healed & that her mom, Amanda, & the rest of the family will have peace as they wait. I know many of you may have small group bible studies tonight, so please ask them to pray as well. Let's lift up this precious one to our Father!

Sweet Mackenzie

I wanted to give everybody an update on this precious little girl. These pictures were taken of Amanda and MacKenzie about a week ago and I just wanted to share them with you. She has had a pretty rough week, but she is one little fighter! Earlier this week, the doctors discovered some other issues with her heart that are keeping blood from being pumped to the rest of her body. A few days ago, the doctors had to do emergency surgery to remove her colon, because it had lost its blood supply.

Here she is with all of her "gear" on post-surgery.

At one point this week, the doctors gave her a 1% chance of making it through the day. Against all odds, she not only made it through the day, but she is remaining stable and even getting a little stronger. For this blessing, we are so very thankful.

Please continue to pray for MacKenzie and for her family. Specifically,we are praying that she would stay free of infection and continue getting stronger so that she can have her heart surgery soon. Please also pray for MacKenzie and her family as she is fitted for a colostomy tomorrow. I know this will be an adjustment for everybody.

Also, several of you have asked how you can help. This touches our hearts more than you can imagine, especially since none of you have even met Amanda or MacKenzie. I have spoken with Amanda and have found a few ways that we can help. If you are interested, please let me know and I would be more than happy to give you more details.

Thank you again for your prayers. This beautiful little girl has already found a special place in our hearts and she has changed our lives in so many ways. We are completely and overwhelmingly in love with her.

A Snowy Day and a Sweet Friend

My sweet friend Michelle took these pictures to document our snow day. She was dropping off a Sonic Drink and snack on my front porch when she took them. Is that sweet or what?

The next day, I decided to venture out and take some pictures myself! Isn't it beautiful?

Happy Snow Day!

Update on Mackenzie and Amanda

First of all, I want to thank you for your prayers. Thank you for the texts, the phone calls, and for loving my family. Mackenzie is in the NICU, but she is stable. She is 5 lbs. 7 oz. She cried when she was born, which is GREAT news! Amanda hemorrhaged severely after the C- Section and they ended up having to do a complete hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. She received 100% of her blood volume through transfusion, but is now stable and recovering. Please continue to keep her and Mackenzie in your prayers and please join me thanking God that both of them are on the "other side" of this.

baby Mackenzie

I wanted to post a little something asking for prayers. My cousin Amanda is scheduled for a C-section tomorrow. Mackenzie is scheduled to make her debut at around 1:30. We would really appreciate your prayers. Specifically, we are asking for prayers for a C-section without any complications and for MacKenzie to be stable enough for them to not have to do open heart surgery until she is at least a few weeks older. Thank you for your prayers!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you:

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned: the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Isaiah 43:2-3

Beautiful Blogger Award!

My sweet friends Michelle and Chani gave me this very fun and sweet award! Thanks ladies! The two of them actually have blogs that I LOVE to read...you can click on the link if you want to see them.:)

The point of this award is to share 7 seven things about yourself that people may or may not know and then pick 7 friends to also give this award too. What a fun idea, huh?

And now for the seven things...drum roll please.:)

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1. I used to be REALLY messy and a HUGE procrastinator. Those of you who work with me now probably have a hard time believing this... Now, I'm practically obsessive. I can't stand a dirty dish in the sink or an unorganized drawer ( it doesn't mean that it never happens...it just REALLY bothers me now). The only thing that I don't do is make my bed. I don't understand the point. I'm just going to unmake the next time I walk in the room. Are there any other non-bedmakers out there? Or am I the only one?

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2. I HATE scary movies. I mean REALLY hate... I'm super jumpy...which is not a good thing when watching scary movies (or opening crescent rolls...I don't do that either...the "pop" startles me too much). When I was growing up, I fell out of my seat and landed in my nachos on the floor when the T-Rex came into the control room in Jurassic Park. When I saw SCREAM for the first time in high school, I sat next to the guy I had a crush on and he got up and moved to another seat because I kept screaming...oops...but I'm a great date for a romantic comedy.;)

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3. I take gummy vitamins and I prefer my steak medium rare. A few months ago, I bought some gummy vitamins at the grocery store. A lady there asked me about my children. I lied to her and told her I had a kindergartner. It's kind of true, right? I didn't feel like saying that they were for me and risking the LOOK that would immediately follow my response. And I only eat medium rare steaks at nice restaurants...

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4. I have lots of favorites. Here are a few of my favorite things in no particular order:

the color yellow, eating fish and spinach, playing Chopin on the piano, traveling, my GI-normous collection of holiday socks that I never wear, going to Mavs games, eating Ben and Jerry's cake batter ice cream, getting flowers, watching NCIS on Video on Demand, reading books by John Case, and hula hooping. Yes, I love to hula hoop. I was the Kern County Champion in 3rd grade and I still love to hula hoop. Don't judge...

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5. Karson and I kiss after every prayer...well almost every prayer. We don't kiss in church.:) My parents did that and my grandparents did that. It's a tradition. In fact, I don't think it ever occurred to me that it wasn't normal until K and I got married. He was a little confused...So if you ever see us smooching after a pre-dinner prayer, you will now know why.

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6. I'm VERY accident prone. I seem to attract danger. Sometimes it makes for a good laugh and for a good story and sometimes, IT IS REALLY ANNOYING! If you see a spill, I'm probably to blame. I've been in earthquakes in Alaska, L.A., Bakersfield, and Taiwan ( I was in a nude Hot Springs for this one...ladies only mom, don't worry...fun times...) I started a fire in Home-Ec and knocked my sewing machine onto the floor and broke it. I've been stung by numerous jellyfishes on numerous occasions on numerous islands. Then there was the time that I was face-to-face in a courtroom with a murderer from America's Most Wanted. How exciting...

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7. I can't think of anything else.

Now, I have the privilege of passing this award onto 7 friends and fellow bloggers. This is going to be a really hard task!

Here we go...in no particular order.:)

1. Hattie

2. Alli

3. Lane

4. Andrea

5. Jenny

6. Miranda

7. Lori

I can't wait to learn 7 new things about you!

Prayers Please

Our family would really appreciate your prayers. My cousin, Amanda, is 32 weeks pregnant with a precious little girl named Mackenzie. They have recently discovered that sweet Mackenzie only has 3 chambers in her heart. There are also some other complications involving the blood supply between them. In addition to this, Amanda has placenta praevia. She was transported from Midland and is now at Baylor Dallas until she delivers. Mackenzie will undergo heart surgery after she is born. We would appreciate your prayers for Amanda and Mackenzie's health as well as for her husband Jarod and her son Kaleb during this time of separation.

Christmas in Taos

I hope everyone has had a good start to 2010! I just wanted to share a few pictures from our Williams' family Christmas. We had so much fun with Karson's family!

The trip had a humorous beginning...we didn't have running water or plumbing for a few days!:) I have decided that I am not a "roughing it" kind of girl.:) So...we were off to Taos to stock up on bottled water. I had to include this picture because it is the only picture from the first four days! Needless to say, no one was very excited about having their picture taken after a few days with no shower.:)

We eventually got the plumbing fixed. I really felt bad for Karson's parents for having to mess with that on their holiday.:(

Our Christmas celebration was lots of fun!

Marilyn opening her presents...

I think Korbin and Amy liked their presents...:)

Kerry gave us each a lottery ticket. I won $20!

Korbin got Amy a new Coach purse! Way to go, Korbin!

We got Kerry a furry jock strap in Alaska. It IS at least made of real fur.:) We never know what to buy Karson's parents...this might have been the best reaction that we have ever gotten from a gift! My favorite part is Marilyn's face at the bottom of the picture.:)


Moving onto Skiing... yes, that is me under the goggles and mask.:) Karson is a much cooler looking skier than I am.:)

One of the highlights of the trip was having Karson's grandparents there to celebrate with us. We were really glad that they came!

We think Hughie liked his new hat...

Another highlight was Kerry's new puppy. Ooboo was so fun to be around! He is going to be a really neat pet. I can't wait to spend more time with him. It made me want a puppy...or I'd settle for a baby instead.:)

We joked that you could tell how cold it was outside by how far outside Ooboo went when he went to the bathroom. When it was in the teens, he would run down the porch and then play a little in the snow. When it got down into the single digits, he would just run down the porch, go to the bathroom, and then run back up. When it was -10 degrees, he would just potty on the steps.:) Too cold!

Love that dog!
Our view leaving the cabin...and back to reality! It was so much fun! Thanks Kerry and Marilyn for a wonderful Christmas!

May God bless your 2010!

Holiday Fun!

We have had so much fun celebrating the season!

We went with Carley, our sweet neighbor, to Merry Main Street. My favorite part of this picture is that she has cotton candy stuck to her mouth!

We had our "other" small group over one night for a little party.:) So fun!

Karson's work party at Six Flags Holiday in the Park was SOOO fun! It was definitely the best work party ever! We basically got to have a free date and I didn't have to socialize with anybody but my hubby. :)
We even got a free picture as our gift! I love this picture if us on Titan because it is so "US."

Then I went to Josephine's with some of my girls from work. Look at all of the cute babies!

One of the highlights of our month was having the Boswells stay with us. It was so fun! Carrie and sweet Caleb also came over and hung out with us.
Karson and sweet Caleb enjoyed playing the piano.

Jarrett and sweet Case were such a joy to have in our home!

A picture with all the kiddos! Our house was was too quiet when they left! We LOVED every minute of our time with these little ones! (and their parents) ;)

Sweet Macy helped me get ready Sunday morning for church and she decided that she liked my boots!

I decorated my Christmas table, which is always fun! This picture is for you, Jenny.:)

And then, I got the most adorable clipboard in the mail from my sweet friend Molly. She made this!


Some girls baking cookies for our cookie bake-off... We won, by the way!

I know this has been a random post...thanks for reading!

I hope your holidays have been great!