This past Sunday, October 10th, Buddy and I shared our story with our Frazer family through a video we did last month. I hope our passion about Jesus Christ was portrayed in the way we hoped.
Lily made us so proud of her as she walked out on the stage after the video played and said a prayer.
You can watch our video here:
http://vimeo.com/15544182
ANOTHER YEAR WITH THE MURPHYS! Buddy, Heidi, Sean & Lily "Bug"
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Lily's story
One June 11th of this year, our faith was tested. Our lives were shaken to the very core and our family nearly shattered as our five year old daughter, Lily, fought for her life in a hospital.
That week started out with much anticipation. Sean, our son, had been looking forward to "camp son shine" for weeks and Lily had been looking forward to a very special birthday party. The party was to be Friday, June 11th. On Monday the 7th, we drove Sean to camp. We were excited that he was getting the "big boy" adventure of staying three days at camp without us. He felt so grown up. Lily was a little down that she was too young, so we promised her a great week of mommy & daddy time with just her. Each day that week we did something special. She loved every minute of it.
Friday arrived. It was the day of the much anticipated pool party for her friend. Thursday night, she carefully chose her swimsuit before going to bed.
I woke up Friday morning to something very rare. Lily was snuggled up beside me in our bed. Usually it's Sean who climbs in the bed with us. Lily has been extremely independent and full of confidence from a very young age, so it was nice that she had climbed in next to me that morning. As she lay there sleeping next to me, I dreaded getting up going to work. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. I just enjoyed snuggling with my baby girl. I finally dragged myself out of bed and went to work. I was getting off at 3:00 that day and was coming strait back to pick her up for the party.
Finally the time arrived to leave for the big pool party. We drove to her friend's house with her favorite CD in and the volume in my Pilot almost maxed. We sang and laughed all the way to the party.
At the party, Lily ran, swam, slid and laughed with about 23 other little girls while I ran around clicking pictures of all the fun. About 30 minutes into the party, an unimaginable thing happened, Lily was noticed laying at the bottom of the pool. I remember a mother coming to me screaming "Heidi, someone went under and is being pulled out of the pool". I looked at her in a confused way and the next words out of her mouth made me sick to the pit of my stomach. "Heidi, the child is Lily". Thinking she just bobbed her head under and would be fine, I ran over to the pool area to get her.
I was not prepared for what I saw next. My baby girl was being placed on a lawn chair for CPR. She was grey, not breathing and her belly was distended. I gripped her little feet as two parents began CPR on her. I began to call upon Jesus. I was full of fear, terror, dread, guilt and anxiety. I think I felt just about every single emotion that a person can feel, rush through my body all in one moment of time. Everything felt like slow motion as I screamed out for someone to call 911. Of course, 911 had already been called. I was just unaware of everything around me. I was only focused on her. Her eyes were wide open and appeared to be fixed and dilated. Finally, after what seemed like hours....... a breath. But my nightmare was far from over.
Lily was transported by ambulance to our local hospital. On arrival, she was cold, blue, had dilated pupils, was posturing and had very shallow breaths. Her lungs were full of water. She was immediately put on a ventilator and the doctor came out to talk to us. He told us that she was in very critical condition and would need to be airlifted to a Children's hospital about an hour away from where we live. We could not fly with her.
Buddy and I drove while Lily flew in a helicopter. In the car, I gripped the bible while Buddy drove. We prayed almost the entire way. When we arrived, they directed us to the intensive care unit where Lily had been placed. The doctor there informed us immidiately that Lily was critical and that it would be a minute by minute journey with her the first 24 hours. We were hopeful for her because she did have a pulse on arrival to the ER in our hometown. However, she was showing signs of possible brain damage and no one knew for sure how long she had been submerged under water and went without oxygen. All we could do was pray and hope for a miracle. We learned that a friend created her a prayer group page on facebook and before we knew it, we had thousands of prayer warriors from all over the country, and even some in other countries, praying for our daughter. "Pray for Lily Murphy" now has over 5000 members.
For about 48 hours, Lily batteled a very high fever of over 105 and was placed on a cold bed to bring her body temperature down. After a few days she began to open her eyes and squeeze our fingers. On the fifth day, against the odds, she woke up and was taken off of the ventilator. Her first words were: "chocolate candy". What sweet words. I think that was even better than watching her take her first steps at one year old. It was like watching my newborn baby. I was just in awe of her. Little by little, she recovered. She had some setbacks and developed phnemonia. But it was all manageable. She was moved out of the intensive care and into a private room.
Miraculously, 12 days after she was lifeflighted into the hospital, she walked out. Healthy, vibrant and one hundred percent neurologically intact. What a little miracle she is.
Since her original recovery, Lily has batteled some effects from endotracheal tube damage in her little trachea. It is being managed with surgery and medication. She had narrowing of her trachea and scar tissue. We are believing for a full recovery from that as well. She has had two surgeries already and will have a third one September the 10th. Lily has come such a long way but still needs your prayers. Please keep praying for our little miracle girl.
That week started out with much anticipation. Sean, our son, had been looking forward to "camp son shine" for weeks and Lily had been looking forward to a very special birthday party. The party was to be Friday, June 11th. On Monday the 7th, we drove Sean to camp. We were excited that he was getting the "big boy" adventure of staying three days at camp without us. He felt so grown up. Lily was a little down that she was too young, so we promised her a great week of mommy & daddy time with just her. Each day that week we did something special. She loved every minute of it.
Friday arrived. It was the day of the much anticipated pool party for her friend. Thursday night, she carefully chose her swimsuit before going to bed.
I woke up Friday morning to something very rare. Lily was snuggled up beside me in our bed. Usually it's Sean who climbs in the bed with us. Lily has been extremely independent and full of confidence from a very young age, so it was nice that she had climbed in next to me that morning. As she lay there sleeping next to me, I dreaded getting up going to work. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. I just enjoyed snuggling with my baby girl. I finally dragged myself out of bed and went to work. I was getting off at 3:00 that day and was coming strait back to pick her up for the party.
Finally the time arrived to leave for the big pool party. We drove to her friend's house with her favorite CD in and the volume in my Pilot almost maxed. We sang and laughed all the way to the party.
At the party, Lily ran, swam, slid and laughed with about 23 other little girls while I ran around clicking pictures of all the fun. About 30 minutes into the party, an unimaginable thing happened, Lily was noticed laying at the bottom of the pool. I remember a mother coming to me screaming "Heidi, someone went under and is being pulled out of the pool". I looked at her in a confused way and the next words out of her mouth made me sick to the pit of my stomach. "Heidi, the child is Lily". Thinking she just bobbed her head under and would be fine, I ran over to the pool area to get her.
I was not prepared for what I saw next. My baby girl was being placed on a lawn chair for CPR. She was grey, not breathing and her belly was distended. I gripped her little feet as two parents began CPR on her. I began to call upon Jesus. I was full of fear, terror, dread, guilt and anxiety. I think I felt just about every single emotion that a person can feel, rush through my body all in one moment of time. Everything felt like slow motion as I screamed out for someone to call 911. Of course, 911 had already been called. I was just unaware of everything around me. I was only focused on her. Her eyes were wide open and appeared to be fixed and dilated. Finally, after what seemed like hours....... a breath. But my nightmare was far from over.
Lily was transported by ambulance to our local hospital. On arrival, she was cold, blue, had dilated pupils, was posturing and had very shallow breaths. Her lungs were full of water. She was immediately put on a ventilator and the doctor came out to talk to us. He told us that she was in very critical condition and would need to be airlifted to a Children's hospital about an hour away from where we live. We could not fly with her.
Buddy and I drove while Lily flew in a helicopter. In the car, I gripped the bible while Buddy drove. We prayed almost the entire way. When we arrived, they directed us to the intensive care unit where Lily had been placed. The doctor there informed us immidiately that Lily was critical and that it would be a minute by minute journey with her the first 24 hours. We were hopeful for her because she did have a pulse on arrival to the ER in our hometown. However, she was showing signs of possible brain damage and no one knew for sure how long she had been submerged under water and went without oxygen. All we could do was pray and hope for a miracle. We learned that a friend created her a prayer group page on facebook and before we knew it, we had thousands of prayer warriors from all over the country, and even some in other countries, praying for our daughter. "Pray for Lily Murphy" now has over 5000 members.
For about 48 hours, Lily batteled a very high fever of over 105 and was placed on a cold bed to bring her body temperature down. After a few days she began to open her eyes and squeeze our fingers. On the fifth day, against the odds, she woke up and was taken off of the ventilator. Her first words were: "chocolate candy". What sweet words. I think that was even better than watching her take her first steps at one year old. It was like watching my newborn baby. I was just in awe of her. Little by little, she recovered. She had some setbacks and developed phnemonia. But it was all manageable. She was moved out of the intensive care and into a private room.
Miraculously, 12 days after she was lifeflighted into the hospital, she walked out. Healthy, vibrant and one hundred percent neurologically intact. What a little miracle she is.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
"Looooong time, no blog"
Our new "normal"
WOW!!!! Just WOW!!!!That is about all I can say for an opening of this, my first blog post since spring.
Everything is "new" in the Murphys lives.
The kids started a new school year, in a new school.
I start a new job this Monday.
Buddy started teaching classes at a new college.
The kids are starting something new... Piano lessons.
And so, we are just rolling right along with all of the new things in our lives.
I am sure many of you know about our tragic, yet miraculous summer with our daughter Lily. She had a very serious accident at the beginning of the summer. I am not sure that I am ready just yet to blog about it. It is quite an emotional topic for me and it is late right now. I don't think I have the strength to say everything I want to say and do it all justice. I promise though, I will do a post very soon. If it turns out that you just cannot wait, have not heard and really want to know about our daughter's accident, you can click on this link and it will take you to her facebook page. Click on the "info" tab.
Today I started a new blog called: "Lilyisms and the funny things your kids say". You can find it by clicking the title above or by going here . For months, my friends have been telling me I need to write down the funny things my daughter says. Both of my children say the "darndest things" as I am sure many of yours do as well. My son Sean has a more serious personality and while he does say funny things, it is usually the things my daughter says that has me laughing most of the time. She just has the most quirky little personality and says things that have me thinking "where in the world did that come from"?
That is the main reason I titled the blog "Lilyisms". The blog, however, is meant to journal the cute things that BOTH of my kids say as well as all of your kids. All of our kids say some things that are just too good not to share. This blog is a way of not only journaling, but also connecting each of us through our kids and helping to bring a smile or a laugh to us through sharing and reading.
Since it has been so long, I will leave you with a recent picture of my darlings.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Lily, now & then....
Over Spring Break, we took a trip to Birmingham to visit the McWane Center. There is one exhibit that the kids absolutely love. It is the bed of nails. It looks intimidating, but my kiddos are so brave that they will try anything. Lily hopped right up to try it and I snapped her picture. I remembered that we had taken the kids back in 2007 so I searched for a picture of Lily to compare how she has grown in 3 years.
I will be updating the blog all week with pictures of some of the fun things we did on our Spring Break "staycation" 2010 so please come back and visit!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
mommy & daddy date night
We love spending extra special alone time with each of the kids and they love it too. We switch it up. Sometimes I take Lily out for some girl time. We get pedicures or something. Sean's favorite thing to do with daddy is to go to Academy sports. This particular night, Sean took me out on a "date". We went to Chili's and shared a dessert - Sean's favorite molton lava cake. Buddy took Lily out to the father/daughter sweetheart dinner at Chick-fil-a.
mommy and Sean
daddy and Lily
Hippity Hoppity Easters on it's way
Lily has been busy modeling for Julia again - she has some adorable Easter sets and so much more. Check her out on ETSY and ebay. I will get some links up soon
New PINK dresses
Lily LOVES anything pink! I think she would make that her middle name if she could. Recently, my sister and I found matching pink dresses for the girls. They were more than happy to humor us by posing for these adorable photos.
Lily with her cousin Sophie Grace
where has my baby boy gone???
I can't believe this little fella will be SEVEN years old in about 8 weeks!!!
It seems like just yesterday he was getting his first tooth.
It seems like just yesterday he was getting his first tooth.
Now he is loosing all of his baby teeth!
He is still my little cuddle bug. Although,
he may have wanted that to be our little secret.
Tenderhearted and funny -
This kid has brought me so much joy!!!
This kid has brought me so much joy!!!
Snow Day
That would be ME!!! The crazy lady in the above pictures, sliding down the hill making a fool of herself.....
The "Big blizzard" of 2010 (haha) was crazy and amazing. Our day pretty much consisted of getting soaked, making a snowman, having snowball fights, coming in to warm up and change and then repeating those steps all over again about five more times.
Up close and personal with Lily
Lily Christine
Age 5
The interview
"What is your favorite color"?
Lily: "Pink or course"!
"Where is your favorite place to eat"?
Lily: "The Chinese place"!
"What do you eat there"?
Lily: "Egg rolls, the bumpy part".
"What t.v. show do you like best"?
Lily: "iCarly. But, it's inappropriate for me".
"Who do you love"?
Lily: "My daddy and my Lord Jesus.Oh, and you too mommy"!
"Where do you want to go on vacation"?
Lily: "ummm, duh - Disney World! But, can we try the Nickelodeon place once"?
"Who is your best friend"?
Lily: "It's too hard to choose, I have so many. Chelsea, Brooke, Taylor, Madeline, Mary Oliver, Kareena, Ainslee, Hivana, Gibson, Caden - ok, there are too many to name"!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Little MISS personality
I love all the Little Miss and Little Mr. books. My kids often do things or act certain ways reminding me of the characters in the books. Lily usually earns the title:
Little Miss PERSONALITY - It's not hard to see why when you look at these pictures. She is a mess!
Little Miss PERSONALITY - It's not hard to see why when you look at these pictures. She is a mess!
My little Daisy Scout
Lily is now a Daisy Girl Scout. She is loving it! She could not have joined at a more perfect time either - COOKIES.... I took her out in our neighborhood one day last week and she did fabulous. I bribed her into letting me put ponytails in her hair somehow thinking it would help her sell more cookies. I guess it worked though since she sold to every single door we knocked on. (hee hee) I figure, It was either the ponytails or those huge irresistible blue eyes.
Lily with her very first customer. This one was easy though - Mr Bill, our favorite person on the street. We adore him!
Lily showing off her "tuna" as she calls it (tunic)
Lily with her very first customer. This one was easy though - Mr Bill, our favorite person on the street. We adore him!
Lily showing off her "tuna" as she calls it (tunic)Sean gets another haircut
I LOVE this boy. His hair grows out so fast. Everyone loves his curls. I think I do most of all. I have to admit though, I love this new haircut on him. He is such a big boy!
The BIG 60
My amazing husband has turned 60! Yes, S-I-X-T-Y....his age is just a number to us. He is a wonderful daddy and the kids adore him. If I searched the whole world I don't think I could find a more honest, loving, gentle, protective or hard working man. He is my LIFE. The past eight years have been a dream. We have traveled to far away countries, enjoyed some great theatre together, endured the heartache of miscarriage, experienced the miracle of having two precious human beings born to us, explored every square inch of Disney World with the kids, walked sandy beaches, explored Boston twice, driven around Ireland (and lived to tell about it) and this is just a short list. HA! It feels like we have shoved 20 years into just eight. I thank God for my time with him so far and pray for many more birthdays to come.
Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Happy New Year
2009 is over. It was a great year with a few challenges. We are very blessed and I am grateful. December was extremely busy and I have finally posted Christmas and all of our holiday activities. We got a kitten last week and are smitten with him. We named him "Mickey" of course! As in Mickey Mouse! Buddy and I are planning a trip to New York for our Anniversary in March which I am thrilled to my very core about. We are trying to be strong and not do Disney this year since we did two trips in 2009 as well as a Boston trip and 2 beach trips. 2009 was a busy year for travels and an important year with great strides in my health. I have now been seizure free for about 6 months and have avoided any significant lung infections for most of the year. Sean Broke his leg and lost three teeth this year- the third one being just a few hours before 2010. Buddy has been great with just some minor illnesses that come with age I guess. And Lily, well she is just perfect. I still keep up with each of your blogs and so enjoy all the pictures and stories.
Hope your 2010 is off to a great start
After Christmas trip to Starbucks and fun photoshoot
Lily and her Starbucks usual - Lemon Pound
The kids actually being sweet to each other for a change
Sean drinking his new favorite - Mocha Frap
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