On April 29th, Kadyn went into surgery to clear her intestinal blockage. Our prayers were answered when the news came that she did amazingly well, and we were assured once again that she is such a strong baby girl!

Dr Ford (the heaven sent pediatrics surgeon at St. Johns) explained that what he found, questions Kadyn's previous diagonsis. Therefore, he has asked that they run additional screens/tests. Though we by no means want to jump to any assumptions, we rely on our strong faith that God has a plan for our sweet baby Kadyn and whatever that may be, she will prosper.

The power of your thoughts and prayers continues to move mountains for our families. We are touched by your love and kindness. Knowing you are thinking of us and praying for Kadyn, strengthens us beyond belief.

We're in this together, forever...

A dear family friend came across the following message and emailed it to Katie

"Welcome to Holland"

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place.

It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987

Peaceful Protector...

Bright eyed and beautiful!

On April 24^th, the doctors informed us that Kadyn had been born with Cystic Fibrosis. The day we learned of her diagnosis we were immediately reassured by her amazingly strong parents that God would never give us anything we can not handle and there is a reason she will carry through life with this disease. Though the news of Kadyn’s condition was like a hard punch to the gut to us all, taking our breath away, our faith in God has carried us through and we’ve grown even stronger through him. Katie & Ryan have been mesmerizing. There were no tears of anger, no questions asking why me? In fact, it was the complete opposite. Ryan and Katie knew their strong, special baby girl was about to embark into this world and leave a name that no one would forget. With no doubt she will move mountains for her special disease and join all the other champions already making a difference.

Big brother Koy is definitely showing Kadyn the ropes, so that when she’s all better and out of the hospital, she will know just what to do. They are currently enjoying slumber parties at the hospital until lil sis can catch up with big bro in weight and diaper dumps. She sure is a tough little girl! She has been poked and prodded in every way imaginable and she is amazingly strong for her small size! We don’t know how long she will be in the hospital, but she is in Great Hands…. both human and Divine. The goal is to clear her intestinal blockage (hopefully without surgery) and to regulate her system, so that she can eat and keep it down. We don’t know how long that will take; we take it all day by day.

Below is a text Katie & Ryan sent out less than 12 hours after Kadyn’s diagnosis.

Hey! I just wanted to reassure you that Kadyn is more than ok!
She is such a strong little girl- it is amazing! We all have to be
positive about this! God does not give us more than we can
handle and he knows she is a little one that will not let a little
thing like this stop her! She is bright eyed this morning and
very warm! This is not a punishment, there is definitely a
reason she has it! Maybe she will be a champion for cf.
We will wait and see what spectacular things she is meant to
do in life! In the mean time we are not telling her that
she has it- don’t want to give her an excuse to complain :)
Please don’t worry!! When you see her you will know
immediately that everything will be ok! We love you!

We cannot be more appreciative of your thoughts and prayers at this time.

God is good all the time!

On April 17th, God blessed the Stack/Carroll family with two beautiful blessings named Koy Stack and Kadyn Land Carroll, truly gifts from above. Koy is the epitome of the big brother, weighing in at 6 lbs 8 oz while lil sis came in at 5 lbs 15 oz. 20 tiny fingers, 20 tiny toes, with full heads of hair. I never thought my heart would allow me to love them as much as I do; it was instant, love at first sight. The most exhilarating moments have been watching their parents, immediately taking action into parenthood. Katie’s strength is indescribable, while Ryan has the most loving, tender heart I have ever seen. I am getting goose bumps just thinking of them all.