The "Little" Life

Friends in Each Season

Eden Little — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:48:57 +0000

I am a single mother of 3 children who all have special needs. RougI hly about 6 weeks ago, my oldest daughter Taylor became ill with extreme headaches & vomiting which was causing her to lose basic daily skills.. For the first 4 weeks the doctors were unable to find the cause of her illness. During those 6 weeks, I felt various emotions. At the beginning I felt alone and extremely overwhelmed. Not knowing how I was going to care for all 3 of my children, my home, and work to cover my household finances.

Looking back over the last 6 weeks I continue to become amazed at the amount of support I received from my church family. In the past I have volunteered for First Impressions, attended Mission Trips to Mexico, and belong to a Small Group. However, have not assisted at church or attended small groups in the past 4 months due to caring for my family. I used to never want to share with anyone when I was upset or never wanted to ask for help. I figured since I had 3 children who all had special needs they worried enough about me and didn’t want to cause anymore worry. The most important lesson I learned the last 6 weeks was that I couldn’t do it alone anymore.

With one phone call…my Small Group was there. They met together and each person took a role or job in order to assist my and my family. They assisted with various things such as sitting with me till 4-5 am, making phone calls, caring for my children with entailed: staying the night at my home, waking up at 6 am to assist them with breakfast and getting ready for school, grocery shopping, taking them to get glasses fixed, taking them to small group, church, helping with homework, therapies, and MANY other daily activities that goes along with raising children. My small group leader would go to my home each day on her lunch to let my dogs out, contacted many different members from church to ask for assistance, AND kept others updated on Taylor’s health by emailing and texting.

I even came home to all laundry washed and folded, my home completely cleaned, backyard cleaned after the pets, and they had even taken my children shopping and assisted them with purchasing me Mother’s Day gifts. The love and support I felt from them was amazing, AND most of all from God!

During the evening of Taylor’s surgery my entire small group showed up to pray and sit with me before and during her surgery. Not only was my Small Group such a huge support, but the church as whole. I have met some amazing new friends who attend Central who have heard about our story and have come to the hospital to simply show their support.

I share this with you to encourage you to look around and see who is there in life. I encourage you to ask for help. Life is not meant to do alone and you will be amazed at who shows up when you simply ask.

Until next time,

Eden

Taylor’s Baptism Video!

Eden Little — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:57:13 +0000

Taylor was baptized! Check the video out. Friends came out to celebrate with us and shared their support for Tay by shaving their heads or wearing blue bandanas. It was a pretty cool night! We love you all!!! Enjoy.

Eden

Quote of The Day

Eden Little — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:32:04 +0000

Last night was Taylor’s baptism. Wow! What an awesome moment it was for me and my family, especially Taylor! Taylor made the commitment to walk with Christ, the last of my three children to do so. Friends from all over came to show their love and support for Taylor by sporting bandanas and even bald heads due to her recent surgery. It was AWESOME! I will post pictures and a video later today. I just heard a quote in one of my first schools today and was moved to share it with you.

“I believe that friends are quiet angels who sit on our shoulders and lift our wings when we forget how to fly” – Author Unknown

This quote brings so much truth to the people in my family’s life. We are grateful for all of our friends and family. Thank you again for all of your love and support!

-E

A Get Well Letter

Eden Little — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:21:19 +0000

Last night I was cleaning up and I found a letter that was addressed to Taylor from her brother Jorden. He had left it for her at the hospital while she was in surgery. He was unable to give it to her because he left to go see his Dad in Tennessee. It touched me so much so I asked him if he would allow me to share it with you. Here goes….

May 19. 2009

Dear Taylor,

I know that you’re in the hospital right now but I just hope that God will try with all his might to help you get better.
I am thankful that you and I get along with eachother. I know times have been tough, but if you pull through, I promise that I will ask God to try to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. At first I thought my life was bad, but when I started learning about the Holocaust I learned that there is nothing really to complain about when I saw what happened to those people.
After I saw what happened to those people I felt sort of ashamed because we should be grateful that we have our own homes and families.

Love, Jorden

Hoped you enjoyed!
Eden

The New Look of Tay

Eden Little — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:38:17 +0000

Well, when Tay got out of surgery…I have to admit I wasn’t really fond of her new doo. Some of you might remember that old band…Flock of Seagulls. Well, if not google the band and you will realize that Taylor looked like the lead singer. We had talked about giving her a blue or pink mohawk. However, unless she had a side mohawk that wasn’t possible. So we re-grouped and decided it was time for Taylor to make her new transformation into the new “kick-butt” G.I. Jane A.K.A: G.I. Tay! Taylor decided on Monday to have her head shaved in the hospital before we went home. She was released from the hospital on Tuesday with a new doo! We decided to have a little fun with the new look. Friends came together and purchased wigs, bandanas, and various hats to give Tay the opportunity to make fun and in the meantime sport a new style. Take a look at our fun, and let us know which one you like best!

Take a look at all her new looks. She wants to know which one you like best!

Bandana Fun

Red Head

Conductor Fun

Cowgirl Fun!

Rainbow Bright

Blonde Ambition

Just Taylor

Meet Ernie

Eden Little — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:37:44 +0000

I would like to introduce you to our new friend. Meet Ernie.

Meet Ernie

Ernie is a volunteer at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, NV. Taylor and I first met Ernie roughly 5-6 weeks ago when she first became hospitalized during the complications that she has faced with her shunt. Ernie has taught me more than I can express in the last 6 weeks! Let me tell you a little about him. Ernie is at the hospital roughly 5-6 days a week. He walks to the hospital and arrives every morning around 4-5 am. Some mornings he stands at the doors as nurses come in and greets them with warm coffee. He assists on the pediatric floor with such things as bringing food to the patients, paperwork, answering phones & making phonecalls, running various errands for the families (he walks, because he chooses to walk too and from work and to various stores for needs of others), and he does what he can to bring peace and cheer to all of the patients and their families with such things as writing poems, reading stories, and telling jokes. These are only a few things that he does to brighten the lives of others. AND to top it all off he is a volunteer. He doesn’t get paid, he strictly does this from his heart. I have gotten to know Ernie more and more over the past 6 weeks, and am proud to call him a new friend to our family. One thing I would like to tell you that I learned is that Ernie is dying of cancer. He has been told awhile ago that his time left is short…AND he keeps defeating the odds that the doctors are giving him. I was told by one of the nurses that Ernie said he had finished his bucket list and ready to go when God wants him to. I could go on and on and continue to say all the stuff he shared with us and have done for us this last week, and instead I am going to simply say… Well, God obviously wanted me to meet Ernie, his spirit, joy, and the peace that he has had has taught me what is important to me in life. I have never met anyone like him and I know I never will. Call him an Angel if you’d like. I am calling him one!

Eden

Letting Go

Eden Little — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:23:20 +0000

Yesterday, I took Jorden and Erin to the airport to put them on a flight to Nashville, TN in order to spend the partial summer with their Dad. They were supposed to leave near the end of June, but due to the craziness and toll that Taylor’s illness has had on everyone I felt that it was best if they went to visit him early. I have not been able to give them the care and attention they deserve. I finally had to admit this and let them be in their Grandmother’s and Father’s care. This was a very difficult decision for me to make, but one I feel that was definitely necessary. I took them to the airport to find that since they are now officially 12 (they just turned 12 April 30th) that they could no longer be accompanied by a flight attendant. Ugh, what a thing to find out the last minute. I privately went into panic mode AND I decided best not panic and let GOD handle it for the next 4 hour flight. All is well, they safely arrived!

All By Themselves!!

Sometimes…the most valuable treasures are the ones that we must let go!

Eden

Taylor Awake!

Eden Little — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:56:03 +0000

I am on my way to take the twins to the airport; therefore I don’t have tons of time to write but I wanted to post some pictures of Taylor and give a quick update. Yesterday, Taylor had her intubate tubes and external ventrical drain taken out.

Finally, resting peacefully!!

She is now breathing on her own! YAY!! This morning she spoke for the first time after looking at some pictures. Geez, I felt like these were her first words…due to the emotions that I felt! Overall, she is doing well. However she has come down with an infection. We are praying that it is not the shunt. This is the last thing we want! It does turn out that she has pneumonia…so hopefully that is the infection they are seeing. We are waiting for cultures to come back with the results. Until next time, I have a few pics to share with you.

Everything is gonna be alright!

Continued prayers are always appreciated! Thank-you,

Eden

Not Doing it Alone

Eden Little — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:14:33 +0000

May 20th 11:55 am
“Sigh of relief!”…A BIG one! Taylor was taken into the Operating Room last night at roughly 7:15 and came out a little before 10. The doctors seem very optimistic to the results. They found that part of the shunt tubing in the stomach had been disintegrated amongst tons of scar tissue and a hernia. They removed and replaced the tubing in her tummy and head and replaced the valve in her brain, but left some of the old tubing in her head that was attached to the bone. She is still intubated and continues to have the external ventricle drain in her skull, which hopefully y both will come out today. About an hour ago they stopped the pain medication, which will assist with her waking up. She just has been opening her eyes when I speak to her, and just recently jerked when she heard her Dad’s voice on the phone. Even though we are here in this hospital, there is a HUGE peace and tons of joy in my heart. I am optimistic that we just finished our climb up the mountain and are excited that we are on our way down. I will continue to keep you updated on our journey through this trip that we are on.
Meanwhile, what a blessing and joy we have experienced through all of our friends and family. I can see that as my relationship and faith have both grown with God that he provides people when in need. Life is not meant to be done alone. Even though I have felt it at times, I realize that I have never been alone, and when I do feel it…someone ALWAYS seems to show up! Amazing that God always provides what we need…sometimes we might not be asking for what he knows we need. I have definitely been provided with a massive amount of friends that have come together to assist me throughout this entire process. They have been part of my strength. They have worked together and assisted with things such as: taking over for me at my home with such jobs as caring for the twins, caring for our animals, taking kiddos to appointments, making phone calls, assisting with the daily chores at home, shopping for groceries, and simply just sitting next to me to let me know I am not alone. I don’t know if they really know that simply folding a load of laundry is one less burden that is lifted for the day. To them, thank-yous seem hardly enough. Last night, more than a dozen friends showed up to support Taylor and me during the surgery. That does not include phone calls and texts that were sent. It was great to laugh and enjoy the humor and fun in everything. I had always dreaded the moment if and when Taylor ever had to have her shunt replaced. In actuality, it is not the most complicated surgery for a Nero-surgeon, it was just something that did not sit right with me, but when I saw all of my old friends, new friends, and some that I just met last night reach out to me it was great to see the fellowship that we all are capable of. During the wait, the waiting area became very loud with laughter and my friend Jase looked over at me and said, “Isn’t this what it should be like when a bunch of Christians come together during a time like this?” He was right. All the worries went away and the joy in each other was present. Our faith was all united in God, and by the end of the night that faith shined through!

Eden

May 19th

Eden Little — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:12:37 +0000

Last night was definitely an eventful night and with only two hours of sleep I am going to give a brief update to keep everyone informed. Yesterday, Taylor slept all day…she was extremely tired and experienced her headache and vomiting spells. As the day and night progressed, Tay began to vomit consistently and was showing signs of regression by her slow and lack of response to others and her heart rate was getting lower and lower. Therefore, the Doctors decided to do an emergency procedure by putting in an external ventricular drain. Without giving you the yucky details, I will simply say that they inserted a tube into her brain which is inserted into her Shunt that relieves the pressure and fluid from the brain…which they believe is causing her illness. During this 3 hour process last night, they decided to intubate her so that she wouldn’t feel anything today or experience anymore trauma. It is has been quite difficult seeing her unconscious…and am looking extremely forward to her being her old self!!

I was able to arrange for the twins to end their school year without repercussions in order to leave on Friday morning to spend the majority of their summer with their Dad in Tennessee. I haven’t been able to give them the attention that they need, and need to focus on getting Tay back to her spunky self. I don’t think it has set in that they are leaving in 3 days for at least two months. Ugh, I am going to miss them dearly.

Taylor’s surgery is in two hours, and I want to be strong for her. I can tell she feels my energy in the room. You can call it a coincidence and even though she is medicated and asleep it seems that every time I become emotional her vitals seem to show it. I plan on writing some great news tomorrow! Until then I say thanks to all my friends for your unconditional support, prayers, and love! You are truly a light for my family.

Eden