Our Christmas Miracle

The last couple of weeks have been miraculous for us. We have been showered with blessings from our church family and friends. It all started on the morning of the 17th, when two cleaning ladies showed up to clean our home from top to bottom. It has been a while since our whole house has been cleaned all at the same time — Cynthia and Veronica did a marvelous job and left us gleaming and so refreshed.

The next day, several of our friends showed up with all kinds of Christmas decorations, gifts, and frozen meals. When I was originally scheduled to have surgery on the 11th, Glen and I had decided not to pull out all of our Christmas decorations and tree because of time constraints and knowing that Glen would have surgery right after the holidays. Well ... our friends stepped in to provide a Christmas celebration beyond what we could ever have imagined. They transformed our home into a winter wonderland complete with a Christmas tree and gifts, stockings, blankets, and decor. Several frozen meals were placed in our freezer and bags with Christmas stories and activities were lined up for every day leading up to Christmas. We were completely overwhelmed and felt surrounded by love.

Each morning, Hannah was the first one to get up and find the activity for the day. We enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree, sipping hot chocolate, looking at Christmas lights, working on puzzles, making wooden ornaments, decorating gingerbread cookies, playing games, and on December 22nd we even got a surprise delivery of real SNOW to make a snowman and have a snowball fight. We felt like we had stepped right into a Hallmark movie or were being featured on "Random Acts." I was in tears on Christmas morning after seeing all of the service, sacrifice, and love that had been extended toward our family. It was a modern-day miracle for us ... and the miracle was YOU. Thank you for being our ministering angels this Christmas holiday and helping us to see the light of Christ in our life. It will be a Christmas we will never forget and in Hannahs words "the best Christmas ever!"

On the 22nd, Glen and I had an appointment with plastic surgeon Dr. Molly Walsh, and we were surprised that much of what she suggested was completely different from what our initial plastic surgeon had said. She gave us several more options for reconstruction and also recommended that if we were considering a flap reconstruction, with my own tissue rather than an implant, that we should meet with Dr. Tim Matatov. He is one of the only surgeons to perform that type of microsurgery in Arizona. We were able to get in to see him the next morning, the 23rd, before their offices closed for the holiday. Glen and I are considering and praying about several of these options over the weekend and hope to coordinate dates for surgery when offices reopen next week.

Glen had his COVID test and is making preparations for his deviated septum surgery on Monday, the  28th. Since my surgery was postponed and Rebekah is home to help, Glen's sisters won't be coming at this time, but have offered to come later whenever we need some extra hands. We are so grateful for their willingness to come, but we are happy they could stay at home with their families for the holidays.

Hope you all have had a very Merry Christmas! You have certainly made our Christmas joyful in so many ways. We send you all our love and gratitude.

Diana and Glen