Well, our first day in Houston was quite a doozy. I planned on just posting a blog tonight about our AMAZING day yesterday, traveling in with the biker escort — but before I get to that, I need to let everyone know that Sunley’s surgery has been moved to Monday, April 18th, and that we are reopening the T-shirt drive!

We had a lot of interest in ordering more t-shirts to raise money for the Fontan Go Clinic, so you can do that here. This next batch will ship out in June, and we plan to all wear them again on Lemonade Stand days, July 22nd and 23rd! You can also read more about that fundraiser here.

Non-emergent surgeries often get bumped, so we were ready for the news that it would be later, but moving it up sooner has totally thrown me for a loop. We had a morning appointment at TCH today to get Sunley’s 24 hour holter monitor placed, which I expected to be a super short appointment. While in the holter lab, the coordinator called me to let me know that a more urgent and lengthy surgery would be taking Sunley’s spot on Tuesday, and she asked if we were up for doing surgery this Friday!! I tried to be flexible and scrambled the adjustments in my head, but told her there was just no way we could be ready by then. So she called me back a couple minutes later with Monday as an alternative. Our grandmas are coming early, and we now need to start the prescription nose swabs and pre-surgery body wipes, etc. We just haven’t done anything here yet as a family that we were so hoping to do before the big day! We came a week early to spend some slow-paced quality family time together, and while we still can, I’ll admit that I’m very frustrated to have to cut that short at all. Not frustrated with the hospital, just at the situation. I told a friend today that I don’t feel like I need to learn the lesson of “I don’t have control” again, yet here we are having yet another thing not go as planned. Because it’s a holiday weekend, we have to do pre-op stuff starting Friday, and we really need to watch our exposure to germs over the weekend, so we’ve had to cut a few plans out. While the surgery itself is only moved up a day, moving pre-op up by 3 days is what really changed all the plans.

All that to say, everyone wear the yellow shirts and listen to Sunley’s Songs on Monday, April 18th instead of the original date!! I’ll keep everyone updated throughout the day on Facebook/Instagram, and will post more detailed updates here on the blog as I find the time. Hopefully, her surgery won’t be moved again, but we are aware that when it comes to heart surgery, you just roll with the punches!

Now to all the silver linings:

This evening, I replaced the ugly grey holder monitor purse with Sunley’s very fabulous pizza purse, and it was such a little thing that felt like a huge heart mom win moment! Sunley absolutely hates the stickers on her chest, and loves her pizza purse. Even just that little bit of happiness made it a little better, for Sunley and for Momma!

We started this morning FINALLY reuniting Sunley with her very first leftie bestie, Oliver. Most of you probably remember several of our heart buddies from TCH four years ago, and this family was the first. Oliver and Sunley had their first surgeries on the same day, and we quickly bonded for life. He is Hypoplastic Left and she is Hypoplastic Right, so they complete each other. Oliver lives in Arkansas, but had a Cath procedure yesterday, so we were able to have a short and sweet visit with them as they headed home. It was so good to see them again. Leslie and I talk just about every day, so we mostly felt like this was totally normal, and it certainly didn’t feel like years had gone by! Having friends in the heart community has built us up more than I can ever express — they are a huge part of our support system.

Now, the bikers.

Yesterday. Was. Incredible.

Most of you have already heard about the biker escort that was organized for us by Catholic Cross Bearers. The amount of planning this took was unbelievable, and the escort was seamless. We met our first group in Edmond near I-35, and were escorted all the way to Houston by different groups. Of course, our kids were showered with gifts, high fives, prayer, and lots of encouragement along our stops.

All of you know, I did not feel ready to go to Houston. But once I got on the road, and it really became physically obvious that we are not doing this alone, I just felt that much more ready. I know we can do this. I know we have to do this. And I know God will continue to bring unexpected blessings our way.

Looking out my windows and being surrounded by these strangers who took off work, adjusted plans and schedules just to drive into the fire with us — I felt like I could almost see the angels who were surely surrounding our transport. And I bet those angels look a lot like bikers: tough, compassionate warriors, some veterans of long ago battles, and every single one of them completely selfless.

That’s the word that Derek and I kept falling on to describe what these bikers did for us: SELFLESS. We don’t know the sacrifices they made to be there for us, but it certainly and at the very least took an awful lot of their time. And it lifted our spirits more than words could possibly describe. We forever love bikers the way we forever love nurses. This is why Jesus was so effective — because selflessness in its purest form is so incredibly unnatural for us humans, and so very rare. Thank you bikers. You have only a small idea of how much you’ve shouldered for us.

To top it all off, several friends came to see us off, and others were waiting on a pedestrian bridge in Norman holding a “Go Sunley” sign. And if that’s not enough to feel the love of God through His people, He just so happened to cover, COVER, the ground in the brightest yellow wildflowers once we got into Corsicana all the way to Houston. Pictures do not do it justice. The entire day felt like one giant hug.

God knew when these flowers were just seeds that they would bloom at the perfect time, for His little warrior on her way to battle. And for her mom. We are being carried.

The song “Held” by Natalie Grant says it best:

This is what it means to be held

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved

And to know that the promise was

When everything fell, we'd be held

Please continue to pray for all four of our kids. Sunley keeps asking to “take me to the home with the rainbow room,” and Hadelyn is being extra helpful, which is beautiful, but also makes me wonder if she’s putting too much pressure on herself to be perfect. Ruger keeps forgetting the plan, and I think he’ll have a hard time not seeing Sunley for however long she’s inpatient. And poor little Davis is clearly so confused and thrown off in a new place, after just moving into our new house a month ago! They are all having fun and enjoying the new sights in Houston, but I know it’s hard on them too. Thank you all for carrying us.