March 17, 2008


Hope. Tonight, I just hope Garrett sleeps better. I just got back from a run to the store to get some cough medicine. He’s been having a slight cough, probably from the dry air in the room plus reaction to one of the other medicines he has to take, but it makes resting difficult. Generally, I think of hope a different way.

Trust, anticipation, faith, dream, chance….choose any of those and they all are fitting descriptions of how we feel when Kathy and I talk about hope. We have so much hope for the future. For Garrett, for Jessi and for all of our family. We trust in God’s goodness with great anticipation of more good things to come. We try to use ‘faith’ as a challenging, yet remarkable journey and not simply a link word in conversation. We dream about Garrett and Jessi continuing to thrive as he heals and they serve a higher purpose for many years to come. We’re grateful for the many extra chances we’ve gotten over the years, through Garrett’s 1st heart transplant and 19 surgeries, and Jessi’s pre-mature birth. How many parents get that many chances? We are so blessed.

Today Garrett had another tune-up at the hospital. They said he is still on-track and they feel good about his progress. We also got notified that the Ronald McDonald House has room for us and we anticipate being able to move in on Tuesday. It should be a really good set up for us. The staff has also talked to me about possibly giving safety seminars to other families at the home.

Things are still going well and though we know we have many trails yet to travel, we remain confident. We’re taking what precautions we must and making decisions that we believe will give Garrett the best chance at a full recovery, and get us all home as soon as possible.

FYI - The Cody Wyoming paper, the town where Darren (Garrett’s donor) came from, ran an article today about Garrett and Darren. You can view the article by entering the following link on the internet. This is an astonishing tale and we’re reluctantly honored to play a part.

http://www.codyenterprise.com/articles/2008/03/17/news/news1.txt

May God continue to keep you all safe.

JD and family.