Merry Christmas!!

2008 has been a very big year for the Sorensen family!! We started out with Melanie having a crazy delivery with Janey being born 3 months early at 1 pound, 15 ounces. (For those of you who don’t know the details, Melanie had a placental abruption, which put both mom’s and baby’s lives in danger. An emergency c-section was performed, and Janey had complications from prematurity. She had a hemorrhage in her brain, causing hydrocephalus and a need for a shunt that runs from the ventricles in her brain to her abdomen.) After a very rocky start, 4 months in the NICU, and 3 head surgeries, Janey is now almost a year old and doing great! She is a Life Flight veteran and graduate of 2 NICUs! (Dixie Regional and Primary Children’s) Despite her problems, she is almost ALWAYS happy and smiling! She is our little angel baby! She eats well, sleeps well, and is finally growing well! She weighs about 15 pounds now! Janey has a physical therapist who comes to our home twice a month to work with her, and she’s doing great with it! She is so patient, and such a good little hard worker! Janey makes new friends everywhere she goes with that sweet smile of hers!

Taylor and Callie love their baby sister! These two little big kids have grown up a lot this year! For starters, Callie is now a big sister, and a great one at that! Both are ver familiar with “Janey’s hospitals,” especially the cafeterias! They are also very good at staying in hotels! They are now accomplished explorers!
*Callie is 3 years old, and the mini mom at home. She helps entertain and feed Janey, and is very good at telling Taylor what he needs to be doing! She loves doing “school work” in her preschool workbook, and she’s learning to write her letters (she’s already a pro at her name). She loves to play with dollies and has a great imagination! She is a very talented singer and loves to dance, especially with the 12 dancing princesses! She is definitely our little princess!
*Taylor has grown like crazy this year, and he has the leg pains and flood pants to prove it! He is a big 5 year old, and started kindergarten at a charter school in August. He loves his school and his teacher. He loves to show us his lessons and school work at home and when we visit his classroom. He’s made lots of friends and is a very social little guy. He’s a jokester, and loves to play ninjas and superheroes. We are amazed at how quickly he’s learning and maturing! He shares his testimony of Jesus and gospel principles with us and we are just amazed! What a great example he is! He’s a fantastic big brother! Oh, and most recently, he got to be Joseph in a live nativity, which was very cool!

Ryan and Melanie are much older and wiser this year, as well! (Or maybe just more experienced). We’ve become more knowledgable with medical terminology, and much more grateful for medical technology!
*After Janey’s birth, we found out that Melanie has a blood disorder called Factor V (5). It is a clotting disorder that required medication for a while. It can cause lots of other health problems, so I’ll have to be much more careful with my body from now on. I’ve gotten lots of experience in decision making, and lots of opportunities to work on my goal of becoming more patient! I’ve realized that answers to prayer often don’t come the way we want. With 3 children, I’ve learned to juggle and schedule better.

I love being a mom! Connie, Ryan’s mom, once told me that I’m giving my children the best gift by staying home with them. I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to do that!
*Ryan is still managing the Marriott, and enjoying his job. He’s a proud daddy, and loves to play with his children! He’s very excited now, too, because Janey is saying “da-da-da!” He’s taken up golfing, and has had some really rare, good moments! He is thrilled that winter is finally here, and that the snow is coming!

We’ve traveled a lot as a family this year! And though long car rides are boring, we’ve gotten to visit relatives a lot, and go to many fun places, including the zoo, a dinosaur museum, an awesome aquarium, and lots of parks. Tons of new experiences and many new friends have made for a very exciting year!
We’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with Melanie’s sister, Kim, since she’s been attending SUU in Cedar. She’s been invaluable with helping out, and we’ve loved having her over at our home so much! She’s a very fun aunt, and we love her so much!!
We’ve gotten to see Ryan’s brother, Steve, and his wife, Jessica, a lot, too! They live in St. George, and helped out a ton while Janey was in the hospital. It’s been nice having family so close to us this year- we love them! And Ryan’s sister, Stacie, and her family just moved to St. George as well! Maybe we’ll get the rest of the fam down here, too!

Our family has learned a lot about love this year. Even though the world revolved around our family and trials for the first half of the year, we know our comfort and support came from all of you. There is NO WAY we could have gotten through all of that without the prayers and fasting and help from all of you! We’ve learned a lot about how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and how he shows it so many different ways, and through so many people. Thank you all for your love and support- it really has been truly appreciated!
Our family has also learned patience and faith and trust and friendship this year. We’ve really learned to appreciate and love our Savior so much more for his atonement and wonderful way of succoring us. The Holy Ghost has become a very dear friend as well. We are so very grateful for the gospel and the plan of salvation! We love our Heavenly Father and are grateful for His priesthood power, and for the many miracles we’ve been blessed with! We are so grateful for temples and for our forever family!

You know, we are so grateful that the Christmas season is here! This is our favorite time of year! Despite the crazy things that are going on in the world, so many people remember to love and to serve. I think it gives us a chance to remember all of our blessings, and the abundance that we have to be grateful for! This is a great time to think about our lives, and re-prioritize. We’d like to challenge all of you to take a few minutes to really think: What are your blessings? Your talents? Count your many blessings, name them one by one! Think about how you can re-focus your life, whether it be to rededicate to God and family, or to start working on your goals again. Remember the recent counsel to simplify our lives! Put the most important things first, and let go of all the other “stuff!” Make it a priority to tell people that you love them! Smile! Serve others! Be happy!

We love you all, and are so grateful for all of you! Thank you again for all the love and support! Have a very Merry Christmas, celebrating that Jesus Christ who made it possible for all of us to have such wonderful lives!

Love,
Ryan, Melanie, Taylor, Callie and Janey

Ok, ok, ok! I know we haven't updated anything for a long time, but I have a good excuse..sort of. Good excuse: we've been having problems with internet connection on our computer, so I haven't been able to blog during the day because I have children! Bad excuse: I haven't taken the time to blog elsewhere after Ryan gets home at night. Sorry! I'm now working on an extensive report with lots of pictures, so it'll be up soon!

Who are you voting for?

As you all know, elections are coming up.
If you are anything like us, you've had a harder time figuring out which candidate to fully support this time 'round. Well, there is a website that you can visit to help you see who your views most allign with. There are also links to learning more about certain issues and topics so that you can become more educated. If you are interested, go to www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com. Hope this will be of some help!

Janey's blessing

Yes, its finally going to happen!! Janey will be blessed in our ward on September 7. She is finally ok to go out in public, because hopefully her immune system is strong enough now! Hurray! Anyone who wants to come is welcome, of course- we would love to see you!

Birthdays Galore!

July is a BUSY month for our family! We celebrated Melanie's birthday, Callie's 3rd birthday, and Janey's 1/2 birthday. Lots of parties and lots of fun! The family is doing great, and we're thrilled to report that Janey is a very happy and easy baby!!! She gets sick really easily, but she deals with is well. Taylor and Callie absolutely adore their baby sister, and love being able to hold and feed and play with her. We're getting excited for the next few weeks, because Taylor is starting kindergarten and then turning 5 years old! Where did all the time go? Whew! Its a very bittersweet time of our lives as parents! Taylor is way pumped for school; he's a big, independent boy now! We're excited for him!

Mel's birthday- who knows how old?

Callie's birthday! She is such a dancing princess,

and got plenty of dress-ups!

Janey's day! She wasn't up for tasting the treats,

but she loves that colorful balloon!

Janey's 6 month photo shoot

Callie is a sweet big sister!

Everyone kneeling for family prayer!

...and cold toes!

The Homecoming!!

First, we would like to apologize for not writing more frequent updates!!

Second, Janey is home!!!!!

Now here is the story:
Janey was at the NICU in St. George where we were waiting for the head to hopefully get better. After a while it became apparent that her head was actually getting worse. It came to a point where Dr. Miner wanted to talk with us again and figure out a plan. We decided that even though we were prompted a few weeks ago not to get the surgery, that maybe now was the right time. We spent a lot of time praying. Sunday afternoon we met with the doctor. We talked for a while about spiritual promptings, and a mothers intuition. He told us that he always follows prompting from the mothers, because they can and do receive guidance for their children. He said looking bad, if we didn't follow that prompting, he is certain something would have gone drastically wrong. He told us he felt confident that now was going to be the best time for the shunt surgery. So....the following Tuesday Melanie and Janey flew back up to Primary Children's Hospital. The next day the neurosurgeons placed a shunt that runs from her brain down to her stomach, and everything went very well! Over this last weekend they began to make preparations for her to come home, not back to the NICU in St. George, but HOME!! Monday afternoon we went through the discharge process and at 5 pm we rolled out the door! We stayed the night at Melanie's parents house, then made the journey back to Cedar City on Tuesday. We can't even express how overwhelmed, overjoyed, tired, scared, happy, nervous, and relieved we are to have her home! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have prayed and offered your assistance and support during this blessed trial!

A note from Mommy...

So, this is Melanie's first update!! A lot has happened in the last month! Janey has recovered really well from her surgery, and she is now up to 5 pounds, 4 ounces! She finally looks like a newborn, at 17 1/2 inches long, too!

We have been back from Primary's for almost 5 weeks now, and Janey has made tons of progress. She is up to 1.5 oz per feeding (every 3 hours), and she's even doing pretty well at breastfeeding! I have to be at the hospital a lot lately, so that I can feed Janey--scheduling is getting more and more difficult! She's also taking some bottles now as well, which means that Daddy gets to feed her sometimes, too! He absolutely loves it! It's getting much harder for us to have to leave her each time we have to go home!

Taylor and Callie are handling the situation amazingly well. They are, of course, getting extremely tired of chaos as a way of life, and they are sick of Mommy and Daddy having to leave them so much to go see their sister. Needless to say, there has been a lot more stress and contention in our household as of late! But, they love going to visit Janey every Sunday, and getting to hold her and love on her. They are cute doting siblings! They get so excited, and they sing to her and hold her hand, and give her kisses on her head. They love their baby sister! She's just so stinkin cute!

We've been able to spend a lot more time with Steve and Jessika (Ryan's brother and his wife), and that has been a lot of fun for us! The kids absolutely adore them! They live in St. George and have extended never-ending amounts of help and support, as well as their home, their culinary skills, and their babysitting expertise! They are wonderful!

The doctors were ready last week to send Janey back up to Primary's for the shunt surgery, because she just has not made much progress with her hydrocephalus (head problems). I was extremely disappointed, but we figured this is something that needs to be done. However, I could not get rid of the anxiety I felt about her going up. I kept thinking: maybe if we keep her here and keep working with her, it'll correct itself... but I've had some minor postpartum depression, and didn't know if that was the cause of the anxiety. What mother wants to send her baby off to get more brain surgery (with more throughout her life)? Anyway, I finally went to the temple last Tuesday, and had a really neat experience! After much pondering and praying to my Heavenly Father, He helped me come to a conclusion. First of all, He knows me and my situation, and is concerned about my family! He loves us very much!! Secondly, now is not the time for surgery. I feel strongly that if we make it a matter of prayer and exercise faith, that Janey's head could correct without surgery! What a wonderful opportunity for us to see God's love and power in action! If we put our trust in Him, and hand over our problems, he can comfort and guide us, and even make miracles happen!

Ryan reminded me also that when he gave Janey a blessing last week, he was prompted not to mention surgery-it confused him then, but makes sense now! Neat experiences all around, huh!?!

I want you all to know that I have a very strong testimony that my Heavenly Father is there, involved in my life, and he loves me very much! I have seen it over and over and over these past few months-what a blessing of love to me! I've come to realize that if I have faith in Him, and that He is in control, I don't need to worry about what is going to happen, because it will all work out! And He'll keep reminding me of that, as many times as I need it! I'm so grateful for my Savior's atonement-His love for me! Jesus Christ has made it possible for me and my family to be able to get through this very trying experience, and with much more gained from it than we could ever have imagined! I am extremely aware of Their love for my sweet baby girl, and what a special little girl she is! I really do stand all amazed at the tremendous love that is poured out upon me from above!

Now, back to the story...

I talked to Janey's doctor, and he agreed to give us two weeks to see if we can help Janey make some more progress, and then they'll re-evaluate her.

So, we have 2 challenges for all willing to accept them: 1- Make the extra effort to find proof of God's love for you...it ends up being a lot easier than we expect! And it makes you feel so good! 2- Please fast and pray for Janey this next Sunday that her head will be able to correct. We need your faith! And please pass on the invitation to fast to anyone you'd like-the more the merrier, and the more faith working in Janey's behalf!

Thank you for all of your love, faith, support, prayers and monetary donations!! We love you, and hope you have a very happy day!

When you believe

After two weeks in Salt Lake City, Janey was Life Flighted back to St. George today! During her time at Primary Children's she had a few really rough days, but has made a lot of progress. The swelling in her head has gone down, they took her off the ventilator, and she weighs over 3 pounds! We are all very excited to have her closer to us again, especially Taylor and Callie who haven't got to see her since she has been at Primary's. Despite the many trials Janey and our family has faced, we have always had the calming assurance that she was going to be okay, and that everything would work out. During those hard days, there is a song entitled "When you believe" by Stephen Schwartz that would always bring comfort and hope. I would like to share a portion with you:
"Many nights we've prayed, with no proof anyone could hear.
In our hearts a hopeful song we barely understood.
Now we are not afraid, although we know there is much to fear.
We were moving mountains, long before we knew we could.
There can be miracles when you believe.
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles you can achieve,
When you BELIEVE!"

Journey to Primary Children's

Despite a few setbacks, Janey has been making good progress. Last Monday Melanie and little Janey flew in a Life Flight plane up to Salt Lake City to Primary Children's Medical Center. On Wednesday neurosurgeons placed a reservoir in Janey's head to help drain the excess fluid she has around her brain. We are pleased to report that all went very well with the surgery! They are going to monitor her for a few more days, then hopefully she can go back to St. George! Taylor and Callie have been troopers during this ordeal. They have been faced with many new experiences but are handling it all really well. Thank you all again for your continued prayers in Janey's behalf, for they have been heard in the heavens and she is being blessed!

Has the day of miracles ceased?

No!

January 28, 2008 is a day we will never forget. After family home evening, Melanie's placenta ruptured (she was 6 months pregnant). At first we did not know what was wrong, or if our un-born child was ok. We spoke with Dr. Sanders and he told us to get to the hospital immediately. Because of all the bleeding we thought we had lost our baby. It was a sweet surprise when at the hospital they hooked up the monitors to Mel's stomach, and sure enough our baby's heart was beating! A short while later, (because of the continuous loss of blood) Melanie and the baby's strength failed. The doctor's rushed her to an operating room where they performed an emergency C-section. After they took the baby out, they had to perform CPR on her little body for about 25 minutes, before she started breathing on her own. Thanks to the skilled hands of our doctors and nurses, a priesthood blessing, and the divine hand of Providence, Melanie and our baby's lives were spared! So, I proudly introduce Janey Rae Sorensen as the third child in the Sorensen family!

Our challenges did not end that night. Janey weighed one pound and 15 ounces, and the Life Flight team took her down to St. George to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. A couple days later we learned that she had a stage 4 (the most severe) bleed in the right side of her brain. The doctors said that if the bleed gets any worse, we would need to start preparing for the worst. The next few days were long days of prayer and fasting. The following week we received the latest ultrasound results back, telling us the bleeding had stopped!!!!! Truly, we witnessed another miracle! Janey has had various other illnesses and infections. She is still in critical condition, but the whisperings of the Spirit have testified to my wife and I that she is going to make it.

We want to thank all of you who have fasted and prayed in her behalf. We very humbly ask that you will continue to pray for our little Janey. We want to bear you all the witness, that there is power in the priesthood. We have seen the impossible become possible. Our Heavenly Father has blessed our family beyond which I can express gratitude. God lives, and guides the affairs of our lives! Thank you again for your continued prayers in Janey's behalf!

Has the day of miracles ceased? NO!