Gingerbread Houses

Last year right after Thanksgiving Carlie had a heart cath scheduled to prepare for the Fontan. As we were waiting in the lobby for Carlie's cath to be finished, we noticed several tables set up. About a half an hour later patients from the children's hospital came down and began to decorate gingerbread houses that would be displayed in the children's lobby through Christmas. One of the volunteers came over to Caiteyn and asked if she would like to decorate a gingerbread house too. After we explained that she wasn't a patient of the hospital, they said that any child was welcome and so Caiteyn gladly accepted.

This year Caiteyn kept saying to me, "Remember last year I got to decorate a gingerbread house at Carlie's hospital? I really wish we could do that again." Subtle hint huh? So one night Nurse Jen (as she is known in our home because the amount of Jens that we know) brought over two houses for the girls to decorate. Nurse Jen is an extraordinary nurse that we met right after Carlie's Norwood. During Carlie's several admissions to the hospital between the Norwood and Glenn, I got to know her better and we soon learned that we lived in the same city. Since then we have spent time together hanging out; she even had dinner with us the night before Carlie's Fontan. She has become a great friend and the girls adore her.