Day 1: Introduce Yourself

Over the next 30 days I'll be linking up with Katie's Journey for her blog hop and I hope you'll join me!!

Today is Introduce Yourself so here goes...

Howdy, I'm Michal! I'm a 24 year old Texas girl and would not want to live anywhere else. I got married this year on June 11th to the love of my life, Quade, and I absolutely love being a wife!! I can't wait to tell you more about him later on Day 10. :) I graduated last year from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor in Science and I'm 100% Aggie proud since the day I was born.

Even though I love my husband very much, the first love in my life is my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and without Him my life would be completely meaningless. I have one younger sister, Courtney, and the best mom and dad anyone could ask for. My family has always been unbelieveably close and I feel blessed for that every single day. My sister had a heart and double lung transplant last year on July 22nd and has been doing wonderful ever since. You can read more about that here.

When I was 12 months old, I was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA). It has given me several bumps in the road in my life, but through my faith in Jesus and the support of my family and friends it is tolerable. I have had a right and left knee replacements and a right ankle replacement all in the last couple years and it's been a great help. 

  Right now my life is pretty much dedicated to trying to be the best wife that I can, looking for a job, and living every day according to God's will.

I'm excited about the rest of the 30 day challenge and hope to get to know more of you through doing it!

A LONG Awaited Answered Prayer!!

Greetings from St. Luke's Hospital!! I can proudly say as of Thursday afternoon my sister received her transplant for a heart and both lungs!! Everything began right before 5:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon when my sister called me on the phone saying they had asked her to stop eating. We were always told this was the first sign to look for when a donor was possible. The next thing that happened was her cardiologist coming into her room saying that there was a possible donor in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is 1100 miles away from us which was out of our range meaning if anyone else needed a heart or the lungs they came first. There was 1 person ahead of her that if they matched they got it. First we were told we would know about 6:00 or 6:30. This later turned into more like 8:00 PM we will know. At 8:00 PM I called and my sister still didn't know, but that there was still hope. At 9:45 PM she called and my mom answered and Courtney said "THEY'RE MINE!!!!!" I immediately started jumping up and down, called friends to tell them, and got on Facebook to write everyone in the group that was created for my sister "Praying for the Guthrie Family." After that my mom, fiance' Quade, and I hit the road! We got there very quickly since it was 11:45 at night; however, it turned into a long night. We first were told the surgery would be between 2 and 4 AM then around 4 AM then between 5 and 6 AM....on and on because of issues with blood typing the potential donor. After a couple of hours of hearing very little, finally at 8:45 we were really told they were ours and would be leaving Albuquerque soon. Finally, at 9:30 they wheeled her into surgery after a very emotional goodbye. I figured the time waiting would just crawl on, but after such a long night of already waiting I was happy this wasn't true! Every half hour the organ coordinator that had become very close to Courtney came and gave us an update. The organs arrived between 12:00 and 12:30 and they were sewing her back up at 2:00 and she didn't even need the pump to keep the organs going anymore. The surgeon came out about 3:30 and said how great everything went, how fast it was, and almost immediately her heart and oxygen levels were where they always should have been! Even though she was still out, we got to see her at 5:00 and she was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen!!!!! Full rosy cheeks, the pinkest fingernails that were no longer blue/purple, and breathing the way she always should have been!!

Now, it is Monday afternoon, 4 days after surgery and she is hopefully going to be moving to a new room by the end of the day! We've only been allowed to see her 3 times a day for 30 minutes each from 10:00- 10:30 AM, 5:00 - 5:30 PM, and 8:15-8:45 PM. If she moves to her new room on the 8th floor, we will get to see her as much as we want! The first few days she was out of it. Just yesterday we asked her how long it felt since the surgery and she thought it was just the day before when it had been 3 days! She still gets sleepy understandably after what she's been through!! She's had some hallucinations from the medicine but only candy bars so we're taking that as a good thing lol! She still cannot eat or drink anything. Yesterday they started letting her chew some ice but very little since the risks for aspirating (puncturing) her lungs are still high but getting less high everyday. We've been blessed to have her do so well so far and have faith that God will continue to bless her recovery! Thank you for those I know who have prayed diligently for Courtney and I ask that you would continue so she can come home as soon as possible! Five and a half months is a long time and will turn into 6 before this is all over!