Stay tuned!

As the number of visitors to my blog increase due to the number of Stella fans out there, I must apologize for not having a personal update on Friday. I have two very good reasons. One is that one of my best friends ever came down to St. George with her daughter for a girls weekend. Jody (Hill) and Ashley came down Friday night and are staying for the weekend. The other reason which frustrates me just a bit is that the nurse that was caring for Stella yesterday pulled rank when I called to check on her yesterday morning. They have a badge system to insure confidentiality and safety for the babies which is a great idea. All week long I've called early in the morning to get an update and have been asked for the badge number. After I identify myself (I'm on the LIST that allows only a few people access to come and go if you want to see the babies) and gave them the badge number and the nurse would give me a verbal update. Well, sadly, yesterdays nurse told me that they can only update the people who actually have the badges which would be Jason and Tawni. So she wouldn't tell me anything. I was so dissapointed as so many other nurses there have be so great about it. I thought I would try it again this morning hoping that that particular nurse had gone on vacation to another planet, but NO! She's working there again today. I'm so sad! :-) I'm hoping to get over there sometime today. I'm sure she's fine or I would have heard something, but I would love to be able to report that Stella had Another Good Day after hearing or seeing it myself.

So as not leave you without something today in the Stella Report, I thought I would share with you some excerpts from an email that Tawni sent to her friends and family. I hope it will give you a sense of how lucky Stella is to have such great parents and a special Mom like Tawni:

"I am so grateful for friends and family like all of you. I know that in addition to the hundreds of prayers being offered up on our behalf, Heavenly Father knows Stella personally and He is watching over her. I have gained such a stong testimony of the Gospel and the power of prayer. I have received several Priesthood Blessings to help me recover physically and emotionally (much harder than the physical) and Stella just received her very own Priesthood Blessing this afternoon. My dear sweet husband gave her the most touching blessing. It was beautiful and so tender and in the past couple of weeks, Jason and I have grown so close to each other and I have learned the definition of partnership all over again. He is my rock and I am constantly leaning on him for guidance and strength. We are getting through this together and I wouldn't want this experience with anyone else. I appreciate Jason so much and our marriage has never been stronger.

One other thing . . . I am stunned at how much I already love our new baby girl! She has only been here for 1 week and she hasn't even come home from the hospital yet but I adore her so much! I have always heard that having a child changes you and I tried to prepare myself for this kind of great love but nothing I did even came close to getting me ready for the love between a mother and a child. It is truly amazing.

In closing, I would like to ask you to continue praying for our family, specifically Stella, and keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I know that many people have called her name into the Temples that aren't closed for cleaning and I can tell that those prayers are being heard because of the progress she is making on a daily basis. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. It means more to us than you can ever know. "

Stay tuned!