Well, a week from today and Jaden turns 1!!! How amazing and wonderful that God has given us Jaden for this 1st year. We hope that God has some huge plans for Jaden and keeps him around for many, many more birthdays.

We are going to celebrate his birthday as a family and we are also doing a special project for him. It will be written below. We will then have a combined birthday party for him and Ethan when the weather is nice. Ethan's birthday is around Christmas time so he does not ever get a birthday party that includes friends so we have chosen to do it with Jaden's.

This letter below is what quite a few of us have been sending out to different people around the world. This is the project that we are working on for Jaden and hope this turns out to be an inspirational thing for all who are touched by it. Please participate in sending a letter to Jaden or putting a bottle in the ocean if you feel lead to do so..........

**We are celebrating the life of our baby boy who was born with a congenital heart disease called Hypo-Plastic Left Heart Syndrome. He will be turning one year old April 4, 2007. We want to honor him with something very special and have decided to do it by also by encouraging others to become more aware of the heart diseases that affect millions.

We are asking that anyone who lives by the ocean write a letter (sample below) in Jaden's honor, put it in a bottle, seal it and throw it into the ocean. We are asking that those who find the bottle write a letter or post on the blog something special such as; an encouraging thought, a prayer, poem or an experience they have had with heart disease. We will take these letters and/or posts on the blog and make a special album. This album will honor Jaden and all others who have gone through what babies/children with heart disease's have to face each day.

This will be an exciting thing to see how many people respond, how they respond and where they respond from. Thank you to all who are participating. We also will encourage not only those who find the bottles to send letters or to post on the blog, but also those who come across this as well to send something.

Sample Letter To Put In A Bottle...

"Jaden Austin Gonzalez. Baby boy born April 4, 2006 with a congenital heart disease called Hypo-Plastic Left Heart Syndrome. This heart disease is where only one half of your heart has been developed. This disease requires a minimum of 3 open heart surgeries to take place within the first 4 years of your life. At some point, people who have this heart disease will require a heart transplant. Jaden has been through so much already as he has already had his first 2 surgeries, 2 heart catherizations and has had a stent put in.

He is turning one in just a few days. We are celebrating his life thus far and are outreaching to those across the world. We are hoping this letter finds you and helps encourage you to become more aware of the heart disease's that are affecting our babies daily.

Our family is asking you to send a letter with a special poem, words or encouragement, a prayer or experience you have encountered with heart disease to our baby Jaden. We will compile all of the letters we receive in a special album which will honor Jaden and all of the other babies affected by these diseases. Most of all we will honor God as He is the one who made it possible for Jaden to be alive on his 1st birthday.

The address to send this letter to is:
Stephanie Gonzalez
PO Box 24
Sauk Rapids, MN 56379-0024

You can also go to the blog and post something there as well:
gonzalezsheart.blogspot.com

Thank you for being a part of our journey.
The Gonzalez Family" **

Things have been going very well here. Jaden has been working very hard each day on trying to spend more time on his tummy and we have been trying to get him to want to crawl. He is rolling over very little and will not stay on his hands and knees without crying and then dropping to his tummy. He has come a long way in the last 2 weeks though. We are very proud of him and what he has to go through in order to accomplish these goals of tummy time, rolling over and crawling.

He still is not wanting to eat any solids. Speech will start next week and come to help figure out how to get him to want to eat. He has issues with the textures and always starts gagging. Every few days he will eat about half a jar of baby food. This will be a hard step for him to take as well.

We were supposed to have a cardiology appointment this week but of course Chip is out of town (as always) and cancelled it. Chip had said he definitly does not want to wait until Jaden turns one to have his appointment due to his bad heart function, but it looks like that is what will happen.

Less then 2 weeks and Jaden turns one. We can't believe how fast and slow this has gone by. It is amazing when looking back at all we have been through and where we are now. Jaden is a big boy now and has 5 teeth working on his 6th. He weighs 16lbs. 3oz. He is doing well overall.

We took our very first family trip out of the state since Jaden has been born. It was a very needed and overdue trip. We drove to Florida for a little over a week. We stopped in Louisiana on our way to see the hurricane damage. We then went beach hopping and stayed at Panama City Beach, St. Pete's Beach, Cocoa Beach, Savannah Georgia and Myrtle Beach S. Carolina. We had such a good time. Jaden was very amazed at how the sand felt and was shocked when feeling the ocean. Ash and Ethan did not want to come home. I will post pictures soon. It has been crazy as ever since we have been back.

Much love to you all, Steph

I have finally created a montage of the "Birthday Ball" we had for Ashley and her cousin Audrey. I am sorry I do not have all of the pictures of everyone from the party for the montage. I may update as soon as I have the rest. If I do update with the missed pictures, I will let you know.

Thanks to all for joining us in this ball.

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com