There sits in heaven a little girl in a pink dress She left us early for a seat better than the rest Hearts were broken when she left so quick A special event today will help with the fix A couple like this comes along rarely She felt the love of both, who today will marry Throughout her life they gave her their love Today she watches as an angel above With the groom she wanted to squeeze in a dance She yields to the bride, her beautiful new aunt While a wonderful marriage goes by with the years There will be an angel to lead through your fears As family and friends wish you the best There sits in heaven a little girl in a pink dress ~Hailey's Daddy~

In the middle of such a difficult time in my life I find happiness in my HOPE. I have so much to hope for and I look forward to what God has in store for our lives. I have always been a planner for today, tomorrow, and the years to come. Many of my sweet friends could tell you about all the goofy calendars, electronic calendars, and gadgets I have had in my life to keep my schedule. However, God has had MANY different plans for my life from the destination wedding that was canceled due to a hurricane to the idea of three kids by age 30. These events are two of the larger events in my life, but I often smile at the smaller events that never go as planned like the simple dinner with friends that was rescheduled several times due to different reasons. The point is that even though I get frustrated at the things that do not go MY way I have to realize that God can see the bigger picture. Why was that dinner rescheduled so many times? Now I see it more clearly…God was giving me more quality time with my precious baby girl. I have Hope in the future and the things that I cannot see clearly today! HAILEY'S HOPE: Because of a promise I made to my daughter, my husband and I have a new mission in our life, a mitochondrial mission. I recently created Hailey’s Hope emblem and we are in the beginning phase of Hailey’s Hope. Why is it Hailey’s Hope? Because we have Hope…we have so much HOPE. Hope that we can spread awareness to doctors, families, the state of Oklahoma, and the entire nation. Hope that we can raise money to help in much needed research for mitochondrial disorders. Hope that we can make a difference for those other families that will one day have to face a mitochondrial disease. We also hope that you too will want to join us on our mission! So my day has been so full of Hope… I have been reading a very sweet book called kisses of sunshine by Carol Kent. (Given to me by my sweet friend, Carmen) Today the short story I read about was about Hope. It was about how a women who got on a plane and prayed that the seat next to her would remain open so that she could read her bible and have some quality time with God. Well…God had a different idea. Instead he sat a young girl next to her that was scared and wanted to know why she wasn’t scared. She proceeded to tell the young girl about the day she learned that because of her personal relationship with the Lord she no longer needed to fear death but she could actually look forward to spending eternity with Him. This was life changing for the young girl and once off the plane the women was even asked to share her story with the girls family. Wow…isn’t that amazing. It goes back to Garth Brook’s song, Thank God for Unanswered prayers. The end of the story is followed by 1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. As I read this the song My Life is in you, Lord written by Daniel Gardner popped into my head. What a great song… My life is in You, Lord My strength is in You, Lord My hope is in You, Lord In You, it's in You 
I will praise You with all of my life I will praise You with all of my strength
 With all of my life
 With all of my strength
 All of my hope is in You…

Words can't express how thankful we are to all of you! Although this is one of the toughest times in our life we are so blessed to be surrounded by so many friends and family. We are grateful for all the cards, flowers, food, phone calls, letters, hugs, thoughts, and prayers. Thank you again and again, Kyle and Katie

As many of you know this was slightly unexpected. Hailey opened her big beautiful blue eyes and was doing well. She had an episode on Wednesday when I was driving back from the city. I was unsure of what was going on, but I knew it was different and that Hailey was possibly having a large seizure. When we got home we were met by Tammy, Hailey'’s nurse. The episode of Hailey gasping was only ten minutes and by the time we arrived at home she was breathing well and had no obvious problems other than she looked tired. She slept well on Wednesday and Thursday morning she opened her eyes , talked to me, and even took a long relaxing shower with mommy. Thursday afternoon Hailey looked very pale. Kyle got home early from work and spent some time snuggling and watching TV, but around five we decided that we better call her nurse to come check on our girl. Tammy got here quickly and agreed that she did not believe that Hailey was getting any oxygen and the monitor agreed. We tried putting some oxygen on her and it seemed to work so the medical supply company was called and oxygen was brought to our home. While the guy was still here setting up the oxygen Hailey started to gasp again (like on Wednesday) so I called Tammy back to the house so she could witness the abnormal breathing. After we tried several things with the oxygen and Hailey was still not maintaining her oxygen levels it was decided that it might be Hailey’s time to meet Jesus. We called our family and all the grandparents made it to the house in time to squeeze on her. We all held her close and about midnight with all of our hands on Hailey we prayed and Hailey quietly went to heaven. We are so sad, but so thankful that everything happened as we had prayed. Hailey was in the comfort of her home, with her family, there was no suffering, and it was not a drawn out painful experience. It was peaceful. The warrior is a child by Twila Paris was playing in the background. It was very appropriate. Our little girl was a warrior!

Hailey's Service is going to be held on Monday, February 23, 2009 at 2:00pm. The service will be held at The First Church of God 1900 Lexington Clinton, OK 73601.