Family- that's where it's at!

What a crazy time for our family! Summer's are always busy and you expect them to be-- but throw in a family tragedy and WOW it gets a lot busier than you can imagine. So much has happened that it's overwhelming to even think about blogging about any of it! We have spent a lot of time at Primary Children Medical Center the past few weeks. Our poor little niece is still fighting for her life. She was put on the list to receive a heart transplant and so the waiting game has began.
We have been blessed to witness first hand two amazing miracles in her behalf though. (blessed, meaning that we could be there.... sad that there was need for such a miracle)
On Friday the 31st we went to visit them all at the hospital. She was having a procedure done that day to transport her from the ECMO (heart/lung) machine to two smaller pumps. The transfer had gone well and she was about due out of surgery. Since we were headed down to Price we all started to leave. Just as we were about to walk out the door we got word that she was bleeding so badly in the surgery that the surgeon came to tell her parents there was nothing more he could do. He would finish up and bring her out and they could have a few hours with her to say their good byes. What a shocker and a heart wrencher! The whole family was devastated and the absolute worst thing was to watch her poor parents face the reality of the situation.
We gathered together in a conference room and began the mourning process. My oldest brother, Garth, was the only one not currently at hospital so he left his house immediately to come. We knelt as a family and prayed in behalf of Vittoria. Then it was time for James and Val to go in and see her. Strangely the nurse who came for them had a smile on her face.
Her parents left and the rest of us sat in silence. A few minutes later, James returned and he too had a smile across his face. The surgeon had had an idea come to him of what he could do to slow her bleeding. It had worked! Talk about some divine inspiration! And as she warmed up, her bleeding slowed significantly! She had received a miracle and was given more time on this Earth.

We were all shocked and confused for a few minutes because just moments before we were mourning her iminent passing. The room began to fill with chatter and the whole mood shifted. She wasn't out of the woods yet, but she had received the gift of more time to wait for her heart transplant.

Saturday was pretty quiet and she was doing fairly well, so that evening we left and went down to Price. That night we stayed at my sisters house. The next morning was fast Sunday and we went to church with them.
(A sidenote from the story to share a cute story about Tianna's first experience baring her testimony)
She was watching kids get up there and bare their testimonies and told me "Mom, I wanna go do that!" Since I was headed up there anyway, it was a good time. Well she didn't even give me a chance to prompt her before she started mumbling stuff into the mic and then said "name, Jesus Christ, Amen, thank you." Well I wanted her to actually bare some testimony so I whispered for her to say "I know Heavenly Father loves me." She mumbled some more stuff and you could tell she said Heavenly Father, then concluded with "Name, Jesus Christ, Amen. Thank you." I wasn't done. I told her to say something like, "I know the church is true..." and she did the same thing. Finally I decided she could be done and I put her down after she said "Church.. mumble mumbled, Thank you." As soon as her feet hit the ground she freaked out "MOM! I didn't say Amen!" (she had actually said it about 3 or 4 times now, but I knew if I told her that she'd really freak out. So I lifted her back up and in her boldest and loudest voice she said, "Name, Jesus Christ, AMEN! (even louder now) THANK YOU!!!!" It had the congregation rolling!

Back to story-- I bore my testimony about the power of God and how I know that our lives our in His Hands. I also know more than ever the power of family and why it's the basis of society. I have so much love for my family and for Luke's and I know that through uniting together with your family, anything is possible. We are also sealed together through temple ordinances and therefore we can be together for eternity. No matter if any of our mortal lives are shortened. We are so incredibly lucky.

As soon as the meeting was over we received word that we needed to go back to the hospital ASAP. Vittoria's system was shutting down. I was encouraged by my former bishop that I need to hold fast to everything I had just born my testimony of. I told him that I am, but it doesn't make us any less sad. And it's true. Through the gospel and our faith we can get through this- no matter the outcome. But..... we still love our little neice and cousin so much. It breaks our hearts to see her suffering and to imagine this mortal life without her. She is such a light and a joy and lifts everyone's spirits.

We drove back up to Salt Lake as soon as we had arrangements made for our children. When we arrived at the hospital the priesthood holders of the family immediately went in to administer to Vittoria. Her kidneys and lungs were failing and her liver was beginning to. She was bleeding so badly that nurses could hardly keep it in her as it ran out of her tubes. It was time to release her little suffering body and stop all the life sustaining things they were doing. Her parents were a little more at peace this time than two days prior. I guess time to adjust to the idea helped to soften the blow. Again we gathered in the conference room to mourn and comfort each other. I was able to go back and see her with my sister in law, Joy. It was very difficult to see her for what I thought was the last time. As it was the time before, the hardest thing was to watch her poor parents. Val was in with her when we went in and had been reading her stories and whispering things to her. It shattered my heart to imagine what I'd say to my daughters if I could only say a few last things. It also broke to watch Vittoria in that state. She's been fighting so hard and just looked tired.

Well, as the afternoon turned to evening and we were all there praying and preparing, another miracle happened. The surgeon had spent the day at his home and just couldn't get Vittoria's situation out of his mind. Finally he had come up with an idea-- one that wasn't necessarily supported by some other staff members who felt like they had already done all that they could do. He wanted to go in again and basically disconnect the use of one of the coronary arteries (the one causing all of the problems) and see if the other artery could take over long enough to buy the time they needed for a transplant. It was risky and has never been done before. Basically it was up to James and Val whether they wanted to try it or just let her go.
Again, we were all brought to our knees as a family and consulted with each other and the Lord and the decision was made. They would give it a try.

Miraculously, after several hours of prepping and operating, the surgeon came with the news that the artery wasn't even bleeding. It actually looked fairly good and it was the chest wall that was bleeding. He cauterized it and pretty much stopped the bleeding. What a profound feeling of gratitude we had for Heavenly Father sparing her life one more time!

Monday we donated blood at the ARUP since they are in desparate need of more blood. Especially with as much as Vittoria has been using, we felt like it was something we could do to help. (Any of you interested in what you can do for the family, that is it.) DONATE! Any type of blood! In fact, there is a blood drive at Primary on Aug. 11th. Check out James' blog for more information- www. vittoriascorner.blogspot.com there you can also find daily updates on Vittoria from them.

After donating and visiting for awhile we went down to Castle Dale to spend some time there. Luke had his vacation from work. It was intended for a trip to the Uintah mountains with my dad and some of my brothers, but that has been postponed until next summer. He still had the tie off though, so we had a week to hang out. We spent a few days in Castle Dale and then the remaining few in Price with my sister and brother's families. Family is fun! Even when you aren't really doing anything exciting, it's just fun to be together.

Friday we came home and stopped off again at the hospital. Things are doing a little better with Vittoria. Her organs are improving but each day there seems to be some sort of set-back. Friday it was her lungs. Tuesday and Wednesday it was her kidneys. Now they both seem to be doing a bit better but the bleeding has picked up again. One step forward, two steps back.

So the waiting continues and so does the roller-coaster ride. Until she can get a heart they have to remain at the hospital. Her parents are amazing and have been so strong through it all. They have their moments of course, but their faith and the love and support of everyone around them has sustained them. She's already received two major miracles and many others along the way but the path isn't easy and it will continue to be hard- even if she does receive a transplant.
As James puts it, she's on borrowed time. All we can do now is pray for her and turn her over to the Lord.

We weren't sure if it was going to happen due to the current situation with the family, but today we were able to bless Adelia. We had almost all our family come in to Logan for the event. We missed those that coulnd't make it. We are so grateful for everyone that could for making the long trip up here. We know it was inconvenient but we appreciated being able to have our ward family apart of her blessing as well.
It was a beautiful blessing given by her father. He blessed her with some very special things.

Many of you don't know where the name Adelia [uh-dee-lee-uh] came from. It was my maternal grandmother's middle name. She passed away from breast cancer when my mom was only 13. It was also a great (6 times back) grandmother's first name. In the blessing Luke blessed her with the spirit of Elijah to due temple work and geneological work for her ancestors and to have a close spiritual connection with her ancestors. It was pretty amazing! I could feel the presence of my grandmother's spirit in the room.

It has never occurred to me to use that particular name for one of my children but when I was pregnant with her it just came to me and I couldn't get it out of my head. When she was born I just felt so strongly that she should be named Adelia. I didn't expect it to be mentioned in her blessing the way it was, and I thought it pretty neat. She's a really special little girl and love her so much. I also want to thank Luke for being worthy and willing to give our sweet daughter a name and a blessing by his priesthood power.

Okay, now that I've written a novel I'll post some pictures. Please keep Vittoria in your prayers. Sh's holding on for something, we just need to be patient until we figure out what it is for!