Happy Holidays!

The holidays have been festive and fun for our family. We went caroling with friends, spent time baking cookies for Santa, and enjoyed spending time with family and friends. We celebrated the birth of our Savior by going to the Christmas Eve candle light service at church. Then we came home and Joseph informed us he'd like to start a new Christmas tradition by opening just one present on Christmas Eve! We decided to give it a try and the kids were delighted with their gifts! Grandmama and Grandaddy Greenwood spent the night. Our kids were happy about that! The children laid out their cookies and milk for Santa. Santa ate up all the cookies and in his rush, accidentally left a beautiful gold button behind! Joseph found it Christmas morning. It still had a red thread from Santa's suit! Joseph carried it around in his pocket for the next 2 days. We went to my parent's house the day after Christmas where Joseph and Abby played with their cousins Ashby and Anna Caroline. They had so much fun! We hated for the holiday to end.

Joseph clowning around with Cousin Ashby!

Abby posing with Cousin Anna Caroline and her new puppy Lizzy!

Spreading Christmas Cheer by caroling for the neighbors!

Carolers warming their toes by the fire!

The Florence Morning News printed an update on Joseph in Sunday's paper (12-28-08). Jamie Durant (writer) and Rebecca Ducker (photographer) did a great job of capturing Joseph's personality. They came out while we were baking Christmas cookies to see Joseph. Joseph and Abby had fun with them! Click on the link below to read the article:
This year'sChristmas a healthier, happier one for boy with heart transplant SCNow

Now we are looking forward to New Year's Eve. We are having some friends over to ring in the new year! We are hoping that 2009 will be peaceful and uneventful! Please say a prayer for our donor family. We hope they had some sort of peace in their hearts during the holidays as they are missing their heavenly angel.

Until next time... Angela, Stephen, Joseph, and Abigail

"Why Can't We Eat It, Mommy?"

My response-- "Because it's just too pretty to eat!"

Rachel (our fabulous babysitter) spent some time with Joseph and Abby making a Gingerbread house. She had it all over her by the time they were finished. Abby is all about immediate gratification and wanted to chew it all up the minute it was complete! So far, it is still standing. The kids are out of school for Christmas and we're heading to our first Christmas celebration today! They are so excited!

Please continue to pray for our donor family. This must be such a hard time for their family. We are thinking of them and are so grateful for their gift to us. We're not taking a minute of our time with Jospeh for granted. He was so cute yesterday. He finally learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He was so proud of himself. He was riding up and down our street! What a big boy he is becoming. He makes us so proud. His attitude toward life is certainly contagious! What a miracle he is.

We have two little boys who remain at the top of our prayer list:
Bayler Teal http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/baylerteal
Kole Miller http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kolemiller
We know the feeling of fighting for your child's life...we pray for peace for them, hope, strength, and courage to fight the battles they are in.

Also, we have a little heart buddy who just received his new heart/gift of life a few weeks ago. He is out of the hospital and recovering nicely from his transplant. His name is Will Threadgill...could you pray for him as well? He's doing great, but we all know what a long road transplant recovery can be.

We wish you a merry Christmas!
Until next time...
Angela, Stephen, Joseph, and Abigail

A Priceless Gift

If you live near Florence or Myrtle Beach, consider joining us for a blood drive. It is a gift that will save someon's life and it won't cost you a thing! Check out our local tv station's profile on Joseph. Let's just say, Joseph feels great. It's pretty obvious based on the elf he has dancing around me during the entire interview with TV 15. :) Let's just say I had a HARD time concentrating on the message I was trying to get across to viewers!

Blood donations save lives : News : WPDE

Calvary Christmas Pageant

Our church held the most beautiful Christmas pageant I have ever seen. It was called "The Jesus Story". It spanned the birth of Christ and went through his crucifixion and resurrection. The little ones performed the first part of the pageant in "A Shepherd's Story", which covered the birth of Christ. These small children helped deliver a big and powerful message.


Joseph and Abby had a wonderful time participating!

This little angel is ready to fly!

We hope you and your family take time this year to celebrate the real reason for the season...Jesus Christ! What a wonderful gift God has given us . . .

"Jesus humbled himself to come to earth and be born into the humblest of circumstances so we could know the heavenly Father who sent him in the first place. There is only one thing we can give him in return for this act of love and generosity, and that's our hearts." -James Stuart Bell

Merry Christmas,

Angela, Stephen, Joseph, and Abigail

Joseph Goes to High School

I just couldn't resist sharing this. Joseph has a wonderful babysitter named Rachel. We pick her up once a week and she talks about her AP Biology lab. Every week Joseph inquires about what they dissected that particular week...brains, eyeballs, etc. Then he asks, "Have you dissected a heart yet?" She replies, "No, not yet!" Well, Rachel being the super kind, wonderful girl she is secretly got permission from her teacher and principal to let Joseph come in and watch as they dissected a deer heart! Can you imagine? So... Joseph went to high school and got suited up in an apron, gloves, and safety goggles and became lab partners with Rachel and Megan (Megan, by the way, has had several heart surgeries herself). I thought he might chicken out. But, once we walked inside and met the teacher and the class he did great! We saw all the different parts and he pieced together the parts of a model heart they had in the room. Once we were finished Joseph got to look through a microscope and take Rachel's blood pressure. He's had lots of practice with those BP gauges. He informed the teacher he had his own stethoscope. :) He enjoyed it so much. He really enjoyed afterwards because Rachel bought him a soda and let him wear her sunglasses as she drove us around to our car. He was one cool dude in the back seat! :) Thank you West Florence High for allowing Joseph to become a Knight for a day!

We're counting down to our Christmas vacation! Only 8 days to go! Joseph feels great these days and doesn't go back to Cath Lab until Jan. 9th! We are waiting for Santa to bring us an elf! Joseph and Abby wrote to him and are hoping Santa will grant their request for an elf to come to our house and visit with us until Christmas!

Until next time...
Angela, Stephen, Joseph, and Abigail