February is American Heart Month, a time to raise awareness for heart disease.  How fitting that Sadie kicked off the month with a cardiology checkup today.  She received a great report!  Sadie's echo revealed that her mechanical mitral valve is functioning well, and her right heart pressure has decreased, which is great.  Thank the Lord for wonderful news!  It is amazing to see Sadie doing so much better than she was this time last year.

Over the past few months, Sadie has been working really hard in physical and occupational therapies and growing stronger each week.  Sadie's big sister, Shelby, has been so kind in helping her work on her therapy skills and always making sure that she is okay.  Their bond is the sweetest!  Also, Sadie's INR (blood thinner level) has leveled out, which has meant only one finger prick per week many weeks.  Last week included a GI checkup, and they were very happy with her weight gain and growth.  We will be checking in for some feeding therapy support in continuing to strengthen her oral muscles, but overall, she has made big strides in feeding.  Sadie started a new preschool in January, and she is making new friends and loving it.  Currently, Sadie's favorites include "Go Tell it on the Mountain"(song), "Gabby's Dollhouse"(show), taking care of her baby dolls, cooking in her play kitchen, and of course, making us laugh.

In thanksgiving and gratitude for all of the blessings for Sadie and our family, we are thrilled to announce our family project for February.  This year for heart month, our family is conducting a supplies drive for heart families at Levine Children's Hospital.  We will collect supplies throughout the month of February and deliver them to Levine in early March.  Our lives have been touched, and we were lifted by gifts from others during our stays at Levine. We are excited for the opportunity to pay it forward.  We need your help in making a difference in the lives of the heart kids and their families.  Levine has started an art program, which includes watercolor and calligraphy classes for patients and their family members.  We are collecting art supplies to help support this new program.  Here is a link for the Amazon art supplies gift list.  Items from this list will be shipped directly to our house.  
https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/Z16IXX374FNJ
We are also collecting gas gift cards for heart families.  When heart kids are inpatient, many families spend a lot of time driving back and forth trying to keep things going at home and spending as much time at the hospital as possible.  These gift cards will help ease the financial burden of the additional travel.  If you are interested in donating supplies or gift cards, please let Zach or I know, and we will be happy to collect them.  Thank you in advance for your support of this project, our family and the heart patients at Levine Children's Hospital!

What a mighty God we serve!  Thanksgiving and praise to Him for constantly guiding us through this wild and crazy heart warrior life.  Thank you to each of you as well for continuing to pray for Sadie and our family and following along on this journey!  I am humbled by the number of folks who are always asking about and checking on Sadie and offering prayers up on our behalf ❤️