Amazing words of reflection

Please be blessed by the words of Pastor Ray Pritchard (our old pastor) and Derek Taylor (friend and part of our small group) as they reflect on Heather. (Scroll down to the bottom of Derek's link to get to the 6/21 posting)

Heather's Homecoming

It is hard to put today's news & emotions into words - so here is an excerpt from Michele's email:

Heather ended her journey on earth at 11:30 am today and is beginning her journey in heaven. Though it is hard to write those words, I know they are true. We are thankful for God's mercy and grace in this situation. Though in death there seems to be darkness, God bursts into the center of a believer's death with hope and light.

I am so grateful for Heather and her friendship over the past 7 years. I am not sure how many times we've led worship and played in weddings together, how many Bible studies we've had together, how many football games we've watched together, how many hours and seasons of "24" we spent together - but I am grateful for those times...and also sad that there will not be any more.

Thank you for all your prayers, emails, and phone calls. Please continue to pray for Heather's family in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Praise the Lord that her suffering is over and she is now in His presence. May He give those of us left behind the strength to grieve, comfort in the midst of our lack of understanding and ultimately, may God be glorified.

My New Stats - 15 months

Height: 32.0" (76%)
Weight: 25.8 pounds (68%)
Head Circ: 49.0 cm (91%)

I'm Back!

My dad recently bought a new computer - and so my mom has been a little slow in downloading new photos and adding them to the website - not to mention other things going on in life these days which take her attention. But I'm happy to say that if you came to this website to see a couple pictures of me - you are in luck. Deviating from conventional wisdom that says to post chronologically, Mom just jumps around from Father's Day to Mother's Day to Memorial Day - and anything else that has happened in the last 2 months.

By the way - I'm crawling around too. I'm getting pretty good at it and can crawl from one end of the house to the other. I can also 'cruise' the furniture (mom's word - not mine). My therapist is helping me learn how to pull myself up to standing. I only see Maureen once a week now - and she says I'm doing really well.

Right now my favorites things are going to the store and blowing kisses and wavying & saying hi to everyone. I love the itsy-bitsy spider song. I love getting wet. I love to clink glasses and say "chee" for cheers. I love to throw. Anything. And I love to shake it, shake it.

Well I hope you enjoy the pictures! Come visit me anytime!

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day 2008

Last April...

Swimming, Kix on the patio & face-painting

Testing the water in Reed's pool

Testing the water a different way...

"This is awesome! And really cold!"
(side note - look how skinny my little boy looks in this picture!?!)

Having my morning snack out on the patio with Mom

Can I take a picture?

Carrots gone wrong - toddler fu manchu

Mother's Day - Trip to Cinci

After Stan's finals we took a trip to see his Grandma in Cinci - and made a stop in Indy to celebrate Mother's Day on the way home. By the way - we just found out that Stan got Straight-A's this semester!

Mother's Day photo for Grandma Hendricks

Look what Great Grandma won for me at Bingo last night!!

Me & Great Grandma

The Hendricks' Generations

I learned how to work Grandpa's chair :)

I love my Mom

And my cousin, Cassidy

Chillin with Papa and Dad

My Grandma with all of her grandkids - isn't she lucky?!?

Morton Arboretum - Purdue Day

The Purdue Alumni Club of Chicago hosted a family alumni event at the Morton Arboretum. Stan and I had never been out there, and so we thought this was a perfect opportunity to go. There is a really neat bug exhibit going on right now through Mid-July - Sean really enjoyed looking at the bugs and the Arboretum itself is just gorgeous. We would highly recommend a visit.

The not so itsy-bitsy spider web

"May I present to you - the Ant!"

Mom coming to rescue me from the ants

A spinning, wet ball... cool.

Whistling in the gardens...

Check out that happy kid!

Alabama Vacation

Stan's Aunt & Uncle graciously offered to have our family down over Memorial Day weekend. We had a wonderful time reconnecting, playing in the water, napping in hammocks, reading books, the boys went golfing one day, Beth brought down gigantic steaks from Chicago for dinner one night, Aunt Suzette made wonderful food the rest of the weekend, sunset cruises, campfires - it was a very relaxing, wonderful time.

Looking nautical

Mom bought me a $7 Cabin Cruiser floatie from the Dollar General and then told my Dad to take me in the water. It was my first time in a lake - I think I love all water!

Grandpa teaches me all sorts of things
He also told me that it is best if we don't tell Mom all these things just yet...

Family photo

Our gracious hosts: Aunt Suzette & Uncle Tom and cousins Matt & Kate

Beth & Ryan - I was only 2 months old when they got married!

Look at me cruising down the fence posts!

Swinging with Grandma

Hanging out in the "chill chair"

Sunset cruise
(about 5 minutes before I feel asleep on the boat every night...)

This is Jason - he was the best man in my parents' wedding - we spent a day with him in Atlanta. He lives in a really neat area called Midtown and his condo is right across the street from Piedmont Park. Before we left for the airport we had lunch at Chick-fil-A.

Our 7th Anniversary Weekend

Stan and I saved up a year-full of dates and celebrated our 7th anniversary with a weekend downtown. Sean stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Hendricks. I'm not sure who had more fun this weekend! We had incredible weather and really enjoyed each moment exploring the city, sleeping in, going to a late movie, going out to eat without a backpack of food and not having to move all of the dishes to one half of the table out of Sean's reach... it was a nice break and a much-needed get-away for Stan and me.

We stayed at The W Hotel on Lakeshore drive - great hotel & location - we walked everywhere

Stan treated me to 2.5 hours of Bliss with a massage & pedicure!

We had dinner at McCormick & Schmick's Friday night - delicious seafood & creme brulee!

We had lunch on Saturday outside on the Chicago river at Smith & Wollensky's - They have some of the greatest burgers in the city.

We went to Fox & Obel market to put together a picnic and went over to Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion for one of the Grant Park Music Festivals - Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.

After the concert we went to see the Indiana Jones movie - it was a great weekend!
Chicago is wonderful in the summertime - come visit us!

Update on Heather - weekend

The main updates are that the trach and feeding tube procedures went smoothly. She is still breathing on her own and is looking more comfortable. Saturday she had a hour of time where she was responding to commands and trying to focus her eyes. However, as of Sunday afternoon, she had not shown any more steps to waking up.

I will try to keep you posted on Heather - but will likely only post a couple times a week or if something significant changes. thanks for your prayers.

Update on Heather - June 12 - 10am

Just got a call from Kim - the doctors and family have decided to put in a trach and a feeding tube in Heather's stomach. They feel at this point this is the way to go and the tracheotomy & feeding tube can be done right in her room. Kim wasn't sure when they would be doing these 2 procedures today, but please pray that they would go smoothly.

Please continue to pray for miraculous healing and for wisdom & patience for Heather's doctors and family.
Nicole

Update on Heather - June 11th pm

Heather is about the same today. She is still fighting a fever. They took a sample from the ventricular drain and it showed no bacteria, therefore no infection there. (They were worried for awhile that she might have infxns in both her lung and brain - but it is just in the lung)

The family met with the doctors today. They ask for wisdom for the doctors as they continue to care for Heather. It has now been over a week since Heather came out of surgery. Please pray for strength and peace for their family.

Update on Heather - June 10th - pm

Heather is basically breathing on her own. She still has the breathing tube in, but is not getting any breath support and continues to have good oxygen levels. Her CT scan came back and they see some improvements from the last scan. Though she is not awake, she was moving a lot tonight. There was movement in all her limbs, more of her eyes, and wiggling of her toes.

Continue to pray that she would wake up and breath completely on her own. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Update on Heather - June 9 - 10pm

The doctor says the brain is starting to wake up. Heather has a definite increase in movement of her arms and legs. In Kim's words "a lot more movement". Her platelets are up to normal levels after being low. She is breathing mostly on her own, but is still on the ventilator.

Heather is still fighting a temperature, so that issue is not resolved yet. It is possible that the source is not what they originally thought (lung). Tomorrow she is scheduled to have a CAT scan, to check things out.

The doctor says continue to be patient. The family is thankful for the positive changes and asks for continued prayers & patience.

Update on Heather - June 8th - 10pm

Michele and I (plus Sean) went out to see Heather at the hospital today. This was my first time seeing Heather since she went to the hospital. It was nice to see Kim and her parents as well. Michele sent out an email update today on Heather condition:

The CT scan they did Thursday in the middle of the night reported no new bleeding in the brain, which was a good report. They did also did an on Saturday EEG which checks brain activity, it concluded she has not had any strokes or seizures since the operation. This is another answer to prayer.

She is still on the vent. Yesterday they started supported breathing (?). It is when they turn the vent down and have her try to support her own breathing. The vent kicks in if she has trouble. She did it for two hrs. yesterday and from 7:30 in the morning into at least the afternoon today. So they are building up her breathing on her own and she is able to go longer and with less help.

It has been concluded that her elevated temperature is due to an infection in her lungs. They have put her on antibiotics for that, so her temp has been staying down.

Saturday she had some movement of her extremities, but today she has had an increased amount including some fluttering of her eyes.

The family appreciates your continued prayers. I hope that I will have some amazing miraculous news for you in the near future.

Please pray for my friend, Heather

Michele (her roommate), Kim (her sister), & Heather

Many of you have been praying for my friend, Heather. This time last year she had just started chemo for ovarian cancer. We witnessed a miracle and watched her go into remission (they never used that word - they would just say 'her scan is clear' - same to me...) So it was a shock to all of us that after a month of persistent headaches, Heather would leave work on a Tuesday, go to the ER to get some tx for what she thought was a reaction to muscle relaxers - only to discover several cancerous tumors in her brain - and have surgery on Wednesday. Less than 3-months ago she had a follow-up appt and scan that was determined clear...

The surgery seemed to be a success from the viewpoint that they were able to get out the largest tumor. The smaller tumors they are hoping to "get" with radiation and chemo. Heather got out of surgery on Wednesday at 5:15pm - and we are still (as of Saturday evening) waiting for her to wake up. There is some blood on her brain that supplied this fast-growing tumor that they are monitoring carefully (her inter-cranial pressure) and they are also monitoring her heart rate, fever (possible lung infxn), and about every other thing you can monitor...

Please pray for a complete recovery for Heather - that no part of her brain was damaged - and that she will wake up soon. For some good words on the situation - visit Pastor Ray's blog. Ray Pritchard was our old pastor at Calvary Memorial Church and has maintained a strong connection with our small group.