Comfort in Time of Trial

I want to share with you all some of the thoughts that have given us comfort in this time of trial for our little newborn girl. First of all, your many prayers and your comments of concern have been a tremendous help for us. Remember that all of your prayers are heard and they do help.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16


Her name has also been placed on the temple altar at Redlands and she will be prayed for there over the next two weeks which gives me immense comfort.

Lastly Siobhan and I read a wonderful talk by President Kimball on priesthood blessings and the Lords power of healing. I gained from that article complete faith that the Lord has power to bring our little girl home. We realize that God is the one that performs the healing while the doctors do the most they can to provide a positive environment for her. We will continue to post updates about her condition and especially photographs of mommy holding her precious child once she is able to! Thank you all again for your prayers. May the Lords will be done.

Birth of Annalise Truly Abel

Siobhan underwent scheduled cesection early in the morning and gave birth to a beautiful 5lb 12 oz little girl. She had a healthy cry and color and I was able to hold her for the first few minutes of her life. Unfortunately she began to have difficulties breathing and was sent to the NICU. It has been a long road and she is still requiring intensive care, but good news is she has been progressing a little each day.

Here is a pic of Siobhan all scrubed up with Annalise's life support machines behind her. Far left is the inhaled nitric oxide which helps reduce her pulmonary hypertension. The doctors have been able to come down on it a little but she is still dependant on this gas. The next one to the right is her regular ventilator, followed by her Jet ventilator which has her breathing at 360 breaths per minute. Other small improvements she has made include her being stable with her chest tube clamped which means it will come out tonight and that her pneumothorax is likely healed. She also is no longer requiring pressors for blood pressure support which shows slightly resolving pulmonary hypertension. Slowly but surely she is healing and getting closer each day to comming home with us.

water skiing in June

Ryan's family took us out on the river for a weekend. It was my first time water skiing and i actually stood up! The boys had a good time on a half deflated tube (it had a leak). And for being Arizona it was great weather for June only in the 80s and low 90s.

All Dolled Up

This was the graduation dinner. It was fun to stray from my usual due of jeans and a t-shirt. I think Ryan's mouth dropped just a little when i walked out. nice to see that i still have the touch!

Very belated Graduation Pics

Ryan graduated from medical school May 24, 2009. it's amazing to look back on those four yrs. and see all that our family accomplished. Medical school was just one point of the many great things Ryan and I experienced. Two shining moments are the birth of our son Logan during Ryan's second yr. of school and watching David grow right before our eye, and he will be starting kindergarten this yr. we have also made some great friends along the way, ones that i hope will stay in our lives for a long time coming. Ryan and I also celebrated our 6th anniversary in April. Time has a way of slipping by, but in its wake are some heart warming memories.

House swap Salt Lake for Southern California

I'm so excited!! We just found out that Ryan was excepted into an away rotation at the University of Utah for the whole month of August. He was also excepted into the top school for his field in medicine, which is in Texas. We are still waiting to hear back from John Hopkin's but he's been excepted into every rotation that he applied to so far. Ok, I'm done husband bragging, but it is so exciting to have everything fall into place. Our future is looking promising. Back to Salt Lake. We would love to go out to Salt Lake all together as a family and would be willing to house swap with someone. Or if you know anyone that has a rental within 30min. of the university we would be willing to rent for the month of August. I'm counting on some help finding something from all my friends. We are also listed on house swap on Craigs List. Please let me know if you have any ideas....the clock is ticking.

Tennis anyone?

Here's our Logan dressed for tennis or racquetball. He always wants to go with daddy when he plays, so Ryan dressed him up. He's such a ham!