Holden's Hope Miss Taylor

Hey yall! Meet this BEAUTIFUL little girl named Taylor! Isn't she seriously the prettiest baby?? Taylor was born just on May 1st and she is one lucky little girl. Want to know why? She has FOUR personal guardian angels looking over her each and every day. Three big sisters Heidi, Paige and Lily and one big brother Rylan.

 You see, Taylor's Mommy, Lauren, and Daddy, Josh, were expecting Quads back in 2009 and lost them all to Jesus. Heidi was first at 17 weeks and her sisters and brother followed at 22 weeks. I started following Lauren's blog when she was on bedrest in the hospital with the Quads and let me just tell you how amazing her and Josh are! They have gone thru so much and now have this beautiful little girl Taylor to hold and keep forever.

And check out these AMAZING photos of newborn Taylor.

Here is one of her with her Mommy...

And her Daddy...

And just her...

Can you just feel the love in the pictures??

Oh Miss Taylor you are soo loved and your Mommy and Daddy wanted you so bad and now you are here! {Also on another note- the blog world, including me, is so happy you are here and a healthy little girl}

Congrats Lauren and Josh for being parents again!!

To follow along with Josh, Lauren and Taylor you can find her blog HERE

Holden's Hope Miss Ludi Mae

Hi all! This is a little late in posting but I wanted yall to meet Miss Ludi Mae. Isn't she just a doll?? I think I could just eat her up! This sweet little girl just turned one not long ago and has the sweetest family. I am friends with her wonderful Aunt Ali and she asked me to share her story with all of you and I am glad she did. You see, this sweet little girl needs lots of prayers for her and her family.

Back in December, sweet Ludi Mae's Daddy, Stephen, was involved in a horrible car accident and went to be with Jesus. This sweet little girl lost her Daddy way before she should have. I can't even pretend to imagine what she is going thru or her amazing Mommy. What a strong woman! When I asked her Mommy, Dori about writing this post for Ludi Mae, I asked her to give me a little bit of background of her and Stephen's life together and this is what she had to say:

Alright, here's a little of our story:
In 1996, Stephen & I met in Geometry class. In a very short time, we became very best friends. We shared a locker, he helped me with boy problems, went out to dinner, etc. etc. In the spring of 1998, he asked me to go to Prom with him, I mean why not? we were best buds. We didn't want it to be weird, so our next dinner together we called it a "date". The rest is history. From Feb 28, 1998 we were inseparable. We dated throughout high school. He graduated in 1999 and started working, I finished high school in 2000 and went off to college. Finally after 8 years of dated, we tied the knot in 2006. We were always just crazy in love. We cooked together, threw cold water on each other in the shower, danced after dinner in our living room, had breakfast in bed, laughed until we cried. Love seems so simple for what we had. In 2008 we decided to try and have a baby. We didn't have much luck, got really discouraged and frustrated, but finally in April 2010, our bundle of joy arrived. Ludi Mae Davis was undoubtedly the "apple of our eyes". We loved being parents and we loved raising a child together. Everything she did was perfect and precious to us. Stephen was my soul-mate, my rock, my spiritual leader, my friend, my confidant, my love. He is now away on vacation with Jesus.

Isn't Dori just amazing?? What an amazing love story they have! Please lift up this sweet girl and her Mommy and their whole family for strength!

This is the sweet outfit that her sweet Aunt Ali ordered for her for her birthday present.

Thank you for stopping in to hear about and pray for this sweet little girl!

Do you know someone who might be perfect for something from Holden's Hope? E-mail me at Holdenshut@yahoo.com

Holden's Hope- Miss Kylie Grace

Meet Miss Kylie Grace. I just can not get over how adorable this sweet little girl is! This sweet little girl is only 2 years old and until a few months ago was a perfectly healthy, normal little girl. Then her parents started to notice that she was having a little trouble with her coordination so they decided she needed to go to the doctor. This is when they got the shock of their life that their beautiful little Kylie Grace had a tennis ball size tumor and cyst on her brainstem. 

Since then this sweet little girl has undergone surgery and has already had one dose of chemo and even recently was able to go to the zoo! Please pray with me and this family as their little girl fight the fight that no child should ever have to fight!

To follow along with how Kylie is doing you can follow her website HERE.

Holden's Hope Week 4 Paxten

 Look at that sweet little face of Miss Paxten. Isn't she just adorable?? Paxten is a sweet little 9 month old who is in for the fight for her life fighting leukemia. Here is a little info from her CaringBridge site:

Well where do we begin?  On December 4th, 2010 we received some news every parent dreads to hear. Our sweet baby girl Paxten Reede Pearson, born March 10, 2010 has leukemia.  Our world was turned upside down, however, we know that our God is a God of miracles and he made our sweet pea a fighter.  If anyone knows miss Paxten, than you know if anyone can beat this awful disease, it is her.  

Please remember this sweet little girl in your prayers! She needs as many as she can get! To follow along with how Paxten is doing click HERE

So yes this is going up later than it should have, but Mr. Holden was sick for the few weeks around this time. He is much better now and I want to make sure to get the word our about Miss Paxten! : )

Holden's Hope Week 3 Asher

This Holden's Hope is an extra special one. That is because it is going to these two's little one who isn't even born yet. Meet Leslie and Josh. Aren't they just adorable?? They are waiting on the arrival of their son Asher who is due in January. Asher is an extra special little baby because he is being adopted by Leslie and Josh! : ) Here is their story:

We tried for over 2 years to conceive, and no luck.  We went through about 6 months of fertility treatments, loads of injections and hormones, and still no luck.  The stress and raging hormones almost broke our marriage before we decided that our destroying our commitment to each other wasn't worth it just for a baby.  So around January 2010 we started praying about what God would have us do...he had definitely placed the desire in both our hearts to have children some way, somehow.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  And in July, we both really felt like He was calling us to foster care. So, in August we started that process.  The first week of October, we completed our last home visit from the social worker, and were in the process of waiting for the state.  The nursery was ready, the house was in order, and the paperwork was done.  We even had a few baby showers planned in the month of November to help us stock up on all sorts of goodies for the kiddos we would welcome in our home.  Then I got the phone call...
 
A friend of our family is a pastor of a church back home.  He had heard we were doing foster care, and were hoping to eventually adopt from the foster care system.  After he said hello and introduced himself, he said "A couple in my church wants to give their baby up for adoption, do you want it?"  Of course I said yes!  Then I told him I needed to call Josh before I confirmed that for sure.  ;)  So, after talking to Josh and getting the okay, we set up a meeting with the birth parents the 2nd weekend in October.  We all immediately hit it off, and as we were leaving, they asked if we would parent their baby.  We are soooooooooo excited!  :)  Since then, the birth parents have met our parents, and we found out we are having a baby boy!  Asher Grant is due January 17, but will likely be induced the week before that.  The birth parents are both new Christians, and feel like they won't be able to give this sweet baby the chance he needs in life.  They have so much love for him, and want him to have every opportunity that they haven't had.  So pray for them as well!

What an amazing story that they have! I am so excited to be able to make this onesie for them!

Holden's Hope Week 2 Bayleigh and Gage

This by far may be one of or the hardest post I have ever had to write. I'm not sure where to start so I'll start at the VERY beginning about 20 years ago. Yeah seriously. When I was 4, my two sisters and I stayed with the most amazing babysitters in the whole world! It was a mother {Bobbie} and daughter{Julie} who kept us. Well Bobbie came from a family that was very close and she was one of 7 girls! Her younger sister Leisha lived only a few houses down {and still does} and she has two daughters Amie and Kayla. Are ya still with me? I know this can get confusing. So anyways Kayla was just a little older than me and we were best friends. We spent countless summers and days after school together. Many slumber parties and family trips. And Amie was older so she would come over and babysit a lot of night when my parents would go out. So you see I have know them forever and have been very close to them for a long time. We have kinda lost being close over the years. I think it just happens in life sometimes. We run into each other and check up on each other often. Kayla and I even have boys just a few months apart!
On October 25th, I got terrible news. Their Mom Leisha had been in a terrible car accident. It was a single car accident and when the accident happened, she was struck on the side of her head and this cause her skull to break off and enter  her brain. From this injury, she had to have surgery and the part of her brain removed that controls her language and speech, vision and hearing. The doctors have said that she may never be able to comprehend language again. Never be able to say her children's names. What horrible news to hear. But she is proving them wrong a little at a time! Today she is still in the hospital. Every day all you can do is pray that the doctors are wrong and she will be ok!
Leisha as two beautiful grandchildren named Bayleigh and Gage. That are such wonderful children and need lots of prayers for their Nana to recover right now! So this week's Holden's Hope goes to them! I am sorry for not including any pictures of them today but will do so tomorrow with a picture of Oakley's shirt as well!
Please lift up this family in your prayers today! They need as much as they can get! To follow along with Leisha's progress click HERE.

Holden's Hope Week 1

This month I am very excited to be sending out Holden's Hope shirts once a week! This special little boy was supposed to come up in November.. but.. well.. I just missed it somehow! But we are starting off December with him!

Meet Oakley. How precious is this little boy??  Here is a little about Oakley from his Mommy:

Oakley is a very ambitious 3 1/2 year old.  He was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma in June of this year.  He started chemo in July and will continue with it until next year.  We're hopeful that between the chemo and radiation that we'll get to keep this special little boy around for a very long time.  He's strong willed and definitely a fighter (for which we are very grateful for).  Oakley LOVES the outdoors, anything that allows him to bask in the sun.  :)  He loves playing on the playground, camping, fishing, playing in the snow and anything to do with sports. His favorite color is green.  He loves his brothers (19 mos. & 5 wks) and sister (almost 5).  He's always good to remember them when he gets a treat or something that he can share with them.  

What an amazing and sweet little boy! I haven't made his shirt yet but am very excited to make it this weekend and fill it full of lots of prayers!

HERE is the link to his families blog so that you can follow along in this journey with them!

Stop by next Thursday and meet Bayleigh and Gage!

Holden's Hope October

Meet Larkin! Isn't this little boy just beautiful?? This little boy has to be one of the luckiest little boys in the whole world. Do you want to know why?? As of September 18, 2010 not only did he officially become a American citizen but he was adopted from the country of Ethiopia by his wonderful Mommy!

Here is a little about how Larkin's Mommy Shay went about wanting to adopt and getting her sweet little boy!

I went to Ethiopia in 2008 on a mission trip and worked in orphanages for two weeks. After the first visit to an orphanage, I knew that I wanted to adopt. I knew that God was calling me to adopt. As soon as I returned home, I began looking at the different agencies and chose America World. After two long years of fundraising and paperwork, I got a call about an adorable two year old boy. I immediately fell in love with his chubby cheeks and big brown eyes. I traveled back to Ethiopia in August of this year for a court appointment and got to spend almost two weeks getting to know my son.  And I was able to travel back again a month later to bring him home!!!! Larkin Elam Sanderson became an official American citizen on September 18, 2010.

I am a fifth and sixth grade Language Arts teacher in a small town outside of Nashville, TN. I have been a teacher for seven years and love every moment spent with my students! I like to read, watch television, and spend time outdoors on the river. Over the past two years, my heart has developed a soft spot for Africa and its wonderfully loving people. I am very lucky to have a supportive group of family and friends who love Larkin as much as I do and are always willing to help with anything I need!
 

Larkin turned two in May and is very smart! He loves to play with his tool set and cement truck, making as much noise as possible! His favorite television show is Glee. He loves the dancing and singing, and usually joins in with his own dance! He has already learned a few English words. His first word was Mommy, and my heart completely melted! He never goes anywhere without his Elmo doll. So it's no surprise that Elmo was his second word. He loves to explore and check out his new world.

We are so lucky to be able to share this special shirt with so many amazing families! This month I thought that Larkin's story was just so amazing and so uplifting! Welcome to America Larkin! I hope that you always know how much you were wanted and prayed for!

Holden's Hope September

Meet Wyatt. Isn't he just beautiful!?! We have been so lucky the past three months to have the sweetest families and kidos for the Holden's Hope shirt! Wyatt is a super sweet, playful and active 1 year old little boy. You would never know by looking at him that he has Congestive Heart Failure.

Wyatt is one of three boys in his family. He has one older brother named Aubrey and a younger one named Cohen {I love all three of their names : )} When Aubrey was 4, his Mommy and Daddy {Kevin and Jessica} started trying to have another baby. They had a hard time conceiving and even had a miscarriage so when they found out that Jessica was pregnant with Wyatt they were beyond excited! At 15 weeks, they found out they were going to add a sweet little boy to their family and at 20 week they found out something may be wrong with his heart.

After seeing many specialist, Jessica and Kevin learned their sweet baby did have something wrong with his heart. He has a very rare and serious heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. This means the left side of his heart is very undeveloped and this makes it useless. His heart could not be fixed but something would have to be done. If they decided to do nothing then Wyatt would only live a few days. They doctors decided to do they they would need to do a series of three surgeries to reroute the blood flow and extend his life only to get his to adult hood where he would need a heart transplant.

When Wyatt was born, the doctors watched him very closely and monitored at Children's Heathcare of Atlanta where at 4 days old he had his first surgery. He came thru the surgery wonderfully and was hope in two weeks. His next surgery came at 4 months old and he did so well he was home in 5 days! Wow! After that surgery, Jessica and Kevin went home with their two sweet boys and planned on living their life as normal as they could since Wyatt wasn't due to have another surgery until he was 2.

When winter came, Wyatt continued to stay sick over and over for 6 weeks. After many rounds of antibiotics and nothing seeing to be working, they took Wyatt back to the hospital. While at the hospital, they found out that his heart wasn't as well as the thought and they were going to keep an eye on it.

The following month after a visit to the cardiologist, they Wyatt was sent back to the hospital so that they could figure out why Wyatt had been getting so sick. It turned out that Wyatt had not been sick at all. His coughing and other symptoms were actually symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure. Wyatt's heart was failing him and no surgery could help.

Kevin and Jessica's only options were to put Wyatt on a heart transplant list or do nothing and enjoy the time that they had with him.

On March 10, 2010, Wyatt was placed on the heart transplant list listed as a stage 2 transplant candidate. As a stage 2, he can wait for a heart at home, but the wait is longer since he is not in critical condition.

In May, he was moved to stage 1B since his heart is causing him to no longer grow or develop. And that is where he stands today.

I think this may be the hardest shirt and post that I have ever had to make. This little boy needs out prayers and thoughts as much as we can give! He is such an amazing little boy and I can't wait to see pictures of him in a year, two, three and more of how well he will be doing! So lets lift him up and pray for that new heart that Wyatt needs!

Wyatt also has a new website called Wyatt's Heart and you can also follow his story on his Facebook page by clicking HERE.

This is why...

Just in case you were wondering what made me want to start Holden's Hope, this is why. Look at the smile on sweet little Brianna's face when she got her shirt in the mail! Her Mom Tiffany said that she loved it so much and wanted to put it on right away! She is even going to wear it on Wednesday when she goes to have her surgery. Her shirt is covered in lots of prayers and I just ask for all of you to pray for Miss Brianna too! HERE is a picture from last months Holden's Hope little boy Jed in his shirt! These kids are so cute!

Holden's Hope for August

Meet Brianna. Isn't she just gorgeous?!? She is such a beautiful little girl inside and out. But she has a big problem and needs some extra prayers! This is just a little of what her sweet Mommy Tiffany told me about Brianna...

Brianna was born completely healthy baby but a few days after they got Brianne home, they started to notice that she was spitting up a lot. She was spitting up so much that it was coming out her nose and mouth and even choking her. Her doctors continued to think it was just reflux so for her first year she was on reflux medicine and slept in a bouncer for 6 months. The reflux even got so bad that she would aspirate into her lungs and had bronchitis a few times as well as many ear infections and even tubes.

At the age of 2, they noticed that her speech was very delayed. Her whole family could understand what she was saying but it was hard for others. They took Brianna to several speech therapist and no of them seemed to help.

In February of 2009, at the age of 3, they finally took her into a hospital speech therapist. Within minutes she knew what was wrong with Brianna. She was diagnosed with Sub mucous Cleft Palate. They then were refereed to a surgeon with the Craniofacial team. The doctor ran some test and concluded that Brianna did in fact have the Sub mucous Cleft Palate.


{Brianna with her two little sisters}
What does this mean? This means that Brianna's muscles in her soft palate in the roof of her mouth did not fuse correctly and makes speech hard for her. Some letters such as D and G are harder for her.
Last September, her doctor did surgery to repair her Sub mucous Cleft Palate as well as a
varengealplasty. After her surgery the swelling got so bad that her 2 day stay in the hospital turned into a 7 day stay in the PICU since it was so hard for her to breath. However during the surgery they over corrected her problem so now back to surgery she may have to go.

On August 18th she will go back to the hospital and have a scope with a camera on the end check to see how things are and what kind of surgery she will have on August 25th. They will either repair the first surgery and just be able to fit it or have to do another surgery where the might have to take some skin and muscle from the back of her throat and attach it to her palate.

All of this while never complaining about anything.

Wow! What an amazing little girl!
I think that she was prefect for this month's Holden's Hope shirt!

So with all of that being said, make sure you send me all of your nominations for September's shirt!

Holden's Hope

Hey yall! I hope that you have all had a great week! So I just wanted to fill everyone in on Holden's Hope. I finally decided on Holden's Hope as the name for the prayer shirt/ onesie that I am doing once a month. It just seemed to be perfect and I just kept coming back to it. Thank you all for all of the other WONDERFUL suggestions! I loved them all so much! Holden's Hope just seemed to be the perfect fit : ) For all of our new followers you can CLICK HERE to see the little boy who received the Holden's Hope shirt last month. So I have a new idea to go along with Holden's Hope. I have been thinking about doing this for awhile and a sweet fan on facebook suggested this also today. I am going to start selling Holden's Hope shirts all month long. If you know someone who just needs some extra prayers now you can buy them their own special prayer shirt or onsie. These are going to be $15 and would be perfect for a little boy or girl in need or extra prayers or for a little one who has someone in their family is sick and they might feel a little left out.

I didn't blog about another Holden's Hope onsie that I sent out last month. I sent on to a friend of mine named Ali that I have been friends with since high school. She has a super cute little baby boy named Cooper who was born in April and in May (?) her husband, Chris, found out he has cancer.

These kinds of families are perfect for the Holden's Hope shirts! I still am going to continue to do a Holden's Hope that I send once a month on the 16th {this month's little girl is just precious! Just wait until you meet her!} So keep sending me names! I just know there are a lot of little ones and families that need as many prayers as they can get so we want to help as much as we can! Have a great weekend!

Holden's ????

There is this little boy named Holden.

He s my life and I am just crazy about him.

When he was born, he had seizures and a stroke. And now at 7 months old he is doing wonderful and seizure free!! I was so lucky to have so many people praying for us after he was born. After all, it was a very rough start for both of us. Now we are doing wonderful and I thank God for a healthy little boy!

However, I am addicted {a little..... ok a lot : ) } to blogging and if you are a blogger like me and love finding new ones you will see that some kids aren't so lucky. I have one blog that I have been reading for awhile about a little boy named Jedidiah. In March, sweet little Jed was diagnosed with cancer at the tiny age of 3. He is such a sweet little boy and I love reading about how he is doing every time his Mom updates their blog.

So....... what am I getting to...?? After starting this new sewing adventure in my life, I decided one day that I wanted to start sending shirts to babies or kids once a month that maybe just need a prayer for them.

First up...Jed! I made this shirt for him earlier today and prayed for him the entire time! I love how it turned out and can't wait to send it it him!

To read more about Jed and his battle fighting cancer click HERE!

So now is where I need your help! I am going to continue doing this once a month right now! I may decided to do this more just depending on how many request I get. So I would love for you to send me an e-mail of someone who you think would be prefect for August's shirt!

I also want your help on coming up with a name for this! I threw around a couple in my head like Holden's Hope or Hope from Holden or Holden's Love but none of them just seem to be perfect. So what do you think? Who want's to share in this journey with me??

If you think of an awesome name or someone who you think might need a shirt full of lots of love : ) just leave me a comment or e-mail me!