Children Making a Big Difference

Our church started a children's contribution about two months ago. This was started as a way to show the children how the money that they contribute can make a big difference. The director of children's ministry, Meredith Hayes, and the 3, 4, and 5 year olds presented us with a $450 check tonight at church to be added to our donation toward CHD Research in honor of Colby. We are in total amazement at how God continues to bless our efforts to help CHD Research. We are also very fortunate to be part of such a wonderful church family!

Leaning on the Generosity of Others

The 2nd Annual Blood Drive and Bake Sale on Saturday was a huge success. Jason and I are blown away by the generosity shown by so many. Thank you to everyone who donated baked goods, donated blood, bought baked goods, or made a donation. We need to say a special thank you to our moms...Joan for taking charge of the sign-in table and Teresa for keeping Brody happy with a special date. Thank you to Chris Smith and Karen Van Hooser for also helping out at the sign-in table. Thank you to Tracy Head, Catherine Wiggleton, Jennifer Brown, and Emily Richardson for keeping the Bake Sale running smoothly. For everyone else who helped out with this event, we thank you!! We couldn't have done it without any of you, and we are so thankful that we have all of you in our lives to lean on. Please know that you can always lean on us as well!

We had a wonderful turnout! The Red Cross Staff stayed busy the entire time. In fact, they were so busy that they had to stop accepting walk-ins around 12 pm. Jason and I were the last to give, and we did not get started until around 2:30. It was a long but very productive day!

79 people signed in to donate blood
11 people were deferred for various reasons
68 units of blood were successfully collected



The Bake Sale stayed just as busy! We are so thankful that so many people in our lives were generous enough to donate delicious cookies, brownies, pies, cakes, cupcakes, and candy. The amount of food donated was unbelievable! We sold all day and still had food left over. Our church elders were kind enough to allow us to leave it out so church members could enjoy some of the treats on Sunday morning. The food that remained after church was donated to the Room in the Inn program. I am sure that it was appreciated and enjoyed.

As of Monday, we have raised $1,500 for CHD Research. This amount will change this week, because several people have told me that they will be mailing us a donation in the next few days. This far exceeds our expectations! We are really looking forward to getting this money to the CHD Research efforts at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in the next week. We will update the final total when we make the actual donation.

Thanks again to all who were involved! We hope to do it again next February!

Colby makes the BIG SCREEN

The past 24 hours have been crazy for Becca. She got an e-mail from a local news journalist yesterday asking if they could do a news story about Colby's second annual blood drive....

from:http://www.wsmv.com/news/22594046/detail.html#

Child Battles Congenital Heart Defect

Family Holds Fundraiser At Hendersonville Church

Reported By Cynthia Williams

POSTED: 4:56 pm CST February 17, 2010

UPDATED: 8:43 pm CST February 17, 2010

Colby Hitchcock was born in August 2008. Soon he'll be living with only half a heart.

Before Colby was born, doctors noticed something was wrong with his mother's 20-week ultrasound.

"The doctor came in with tears in her eyes and said, 'We're going to have to send you to a specialist,'" said mother Becca Hitchcock.

Colby, who is now 18 months old, had a congenital heart defect called Tricuspid Artesia. So far, he's been through two surgeries. A third one will completely bypass the right side of his heart.

Usually babies born with Colby's ailment don't live to see their first birthday. But he currently smiles, is mischievous and has lots of energy.

His parents say he will never become an Olympian, but his older brother, Brody, and doctors are expecting Colby to live long enough to comb gray hair.

"We hope that he's going to be 80 sitting on the front porch ... with a lovely bride, so we have high expectations," said Jason Hitchcock, Colby's father.

A blood drive will be held Feb. 20 at the Hendersonville Church of Christ from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Learn more by visiting the Hitchcock Family Web site.

At the event, the public will be able to buy baked goods and give blood to the American Red Cross. The Hitchcocks will donate the proceeds to research dedicated to finding ways to prevent this disease.

The family is planning more blood drives and bake sales to give back to the community because they say so much was done for them.

You can view the entire story on the attached link: http://www.wsmv.com/video/22595479/

We still have a few times available for the blood drive. Let us know if you still want to sign up to donate.

Need More Blood Donors

The Blood Drive and Bake Sale is this Saturday...only 3 more days! We need to fill some more time slots for blood donors. If you or anyone you know is interested, please let me know. The Red Cross is asking that we schedule a minimum of 50 appointments, and we aren't there yet. There are several appointments open between 11:45 and 1:45. Please spread the word!!

Thanks so much! We are really looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday.

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

This is CHD Awareness week, so I thought I would share a few facts about congenital heart defects:

• A CHD consists of an abnormality in the structure of the heart.
• Approximately 40,000 babies are born in the United States each year with a CHD. This represents about 1 in every 115 births, making CHDs the most common birth defect in the United States.
• There are over 35 different types of CHDs and no cure for any of them.
• Sadly, thousands of the children born with CHDs each year will not make it to their first birthday. CHDs are the leading cause of all birth defect related deaths worldwide.
• Even after surgical repairs, most CHD patients are never really "fixed." Many CHD children, like Colby, will live the rest of their lives with only 1/2 of a heart.
• There is no known cause for most CHDs.
• Despite the fact that CHDs affect approximately 1.8 million families in the US, a relatively small amount of funding is currently available for parent/patient educational services, research, and support.

18 Months Old

I am still in disbelief that Colby is now 18 months old. Seriously, where does the time go? In the last couple of weeks, I have noticed that Colby is making that transition from looking like a baby to looking like a toddler. I don't know how I feel about this, but I guess it doesn't really matter...he is going to grow up whether I like it or not!

In these last 3 months, Colby has made lots of progress. It is amazing to think just how much he has accomplished in such a short time. Just to recap:

• Started sitting himself up in November
• Crawled for the first time in the middle of November
• Pulled to a stand at the very end of December
• Climbing Stairs at the beginning of January
• Cruised for the first time the 2nd week of January
• Walking behind toys/walkers by the middle of January
• Walking by just holding our hands now!

Other changes we have seen in the last 3 months is the elimination of all bottles! By the end of December, Colby let us know that he was done with taking a morning bottle. He would just refuse to take it. This made me a little nervous. I kind of depended on this bottle for getting a large amount of milk/calories into him, but I guess he was ready to get these calories from sippy cups and food. This is just another example of Colby showing us he is getting older and knows what he wants! Fortunately, he has done a pretty good job of eating and drinking lately. Well, I guess some days are better than others. Jason and I have tried to relax and just let him lead, because it is not like we can force him to eat or drink...we have definitely learned that by now! He still loves hot dogs, baked chicken, chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, bananas, yogurt, and ranch dip. He loves that he can feed himself most of these foods now with a spoon and a fork!

Colby is definitely a talker! I thought Brody talked a lot, but Colby may talk even more. We of course don't understand most of what he says yet, but he is definitely communicating with us all the time. Here are a few of my favorite things he is saying right now:

• momma, da-da, and Bubba (for Brody)


• Uh-oh...anytime he drops something


• tank-to (thank you)...he says this every time you hand him something


• ta-dah...he still says this every time he finishes climbing up all of the stairs


• knock-knock...as he is knocking on a door


• ka-chow...when he sees Lightning McQueen or we put in the Cars movie


• bye-bye

Colby's 18 month check up went well. He is healthy and happy, which is always great to hear! His weight and height from his 18 month well visit: 18 lb 2 oz and 28 1/4 inches. He is still very small, but he is at least growing (at a very slow pace!). I am just hoping he makes it to 20 lbs by 2 years old. The poor little guy is still having to ride backwards in the car. He is missing out on all of the good movies Brody is watching! Oh, and I guess you can tell from the pictures, but Colby has a mouth full of teeth! Dr. Hudson was surprised that he has all of his teeth (that he should have at this point) except for one canine, which is just about to pop through the gum. Since he looks so small and so much younger, it is funny to see all of those teeth when he smiles and talks. So cute!

Fun in the Snow

This past weekend, we got more snow than we have seen in seven years. It was beautiful, and Brody had so much fun playing in it! Colby enjoyed being outside with the big kids too, even though it was a little harder for him to get down and play.