Awww...so where to begin? I'll start at the beginng of December as the whirlwind of events started and our lives began to change...December 3rd, my mom went into cardiac arrest around 12:15 am. Mom and Dennie had gone to bed as usual and had a fun night of playing "Corn Hole" with friends at the RV Park in AZ. Dennie woke up when he heard a strange noise (mind you he NEVER wakes up from his sleep!)...it was mom, she was unconscious/unresponsive and not breathing and turning blue. He started CPR and called 911. When the paramedics and firemen arrived mom still had no pulse and not breathing and they continued CPR, they used the paddles - shocking her 6 times...with no response from mom they put her into the ambulance...and her heart started to beat very weakly. They then bagged her and continued CPR compressions all the way to the hospital. On arrival at the ER mom was in cardiac shock, kidney and liver failure. Her heart was functioning at 10-15%. The ER docs then put in a cathader that lead a balloon up into moms heart to help aid it in beating. They then intebated her...she was on life support. They also put her into a Thermal Cooling Blanket which is a fairly new/trial procedure. (They bring the body down into hypothermia at 33 C or 91F to help on the amount of toxins that the body releases to the brain after an episode of a lack of oxygen called a Hypoxic event.) The Dr. at that point told Dennie to get their kids and any family there ASAP and that mom's Dx did not look good...ultamentatly, they did not expect mom to live and it was a race against the clock for us kids to get to AZ as soon as possible. Chad was able to find a flight out of Colorado Springs at 8am that morning and Joe, Lanae, Rob and I were all at the Banner Heart Hospital in Mesa, AZ by 10:30 that morning.

From that point on God proved ultimate love for mom and for us. Her miracle of life is an amazing story and she is still the talk of the hospital, Dr.s and nurses. They told us it is very rare for a person to live a cardiac arrest of that magnatude with no major problems or even to live at all. Sometime during this ordeal mom did have 2 mini strokes on the right side of her brain, which has caused some memory loss. Very minor at that and she has all body functions in tact and is living proof of God's mighty hand and the help of technology today. We had lots of prayer chains and individual prayers going up and still do. Not very often do you hear Dr.s tell you that they hope you belive in God, because having mom with us today is literally a miracle! Please visit mom's CaringBridge site listed to the right for updates and more details if you are interested.

Needless to say we spent Christmas in AZ and I spent the whole month of December helping Dennie and Mom with recovery. Thanks to Grandma June and Chad for helping keep the kids on track with school, taking care of the horses and keeping things running while I was gone! You 2 are awsome! This is one Christmas that we will never forget and the most precious of gifts do come from above. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

These are pictures of our Christmas time in AZ. Thanks to Frank and Lorie for opening up their home to us. The kids swam everyday, almost all day. They were in the pool almost every day at 7:30am. They had a blast! Christmas Eve we went to the candle light service at Church and had a lasagna dinner and opened gifts. Christmas Day we spent the day with the other Rawson's...Dennie's daughter Denise and brother, Orval, wife Cathy, and their daughters, Dondi and her family and new puppy (Rascal) and DeeAnn. We also got to see my brother Todd (my dad's, wife's son) and his family. It was a Christmas we won't forget! Hug and kiss those you love each day and tell them, "I Love You." Life is indeed precious and a miracle...