A BIG think you!!

A year ago today, we were sitting in the hospital worried about Malachi. He had just suffered a MAJOR stroke and his future was so unknown. We cried, we prayed, we worried and we trusted that God would guide our journey and protect our sweet boy. In the weeks that followed we were surrounded by prayers from friends and family. We stayed focused on his recovery and continued to believe everything would be okay.

Today I am so happy to report that Malachi is not only doing well, but he is thriving! He continues to fight and works hard to improve the movement in his hand/arm (This is the only place we still see effects from the stroke). He recently had an MRI to evaluate the progress since surgery in June. The doc. reported that things look well and there are new blood vessels forming from the transplanted superficial temporal artery! This is the best possible news for Malachi and our family. The more these vessels grow, the less likely he is to have another stroke. We are beyond grateful! It is a true miracle that God chose to work in our son! There are truly no words to express the joy in our hearts. We are preparing for our final trip to Boston this summer where Malachi will have another Angio and the final success of the surgery will be measured. We have no reason to doubt that these next results will be anything less than perfect! God is so good!!

So today, I am not writing this nearly to update you but rather to express our extreme gratitude to each of you! We honestly could not have done this without your support! Each one of you has walked this journey with us...crying, laughing and worrying. Some of you made meals, others prayed for us, you sent cards, email and text messages, you sat with us while we shared our fears and held our hands while we waited for answers, others watched Eli so we could be at the hospital, Co-workers wrote lesson plans while Josh was out, and most of you gave financially so that we could go to Boston and have the life saving surgery done by the worlds best surgeon. Thank you will never be enough! I wish I could repay you for the gifts that have been given to us this past year I would, but there is nothing in the world that holds enough weight. But please know that each time Malachi walks up to us, a big smile on his face, wraps his arms around us and gives us the best hug in the world, I think of you! It's because of your faith, your prayers, your hugs and mostly our almighty God, that Malachi is here today!

So from the bottom of our hearts....THANK YOU!

Erin, Josh, Malachi and ELijah