We (Tyler and Briana) met in high school and were married in October of 2012. We have three girls: Kinsley, Piper, and Ellianah.  We live in Tennessee where Tyler serves as Associate Pastor of Crossville First Church of the Nazarene. Briana stays at home and wears lots of different hats! We spend most of our time raising three girls to be filled with determination and strength as they learn what it looks like to follow Jesus! We love going to church, being involved in sports, and being outdoors!

In 2018, we found out that we were expecting a third addition to our family, and she had a congenital heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS).  We were devastated and everyone we knew began praying for our baby girl. Over the next months, we were deciding on what we would name her and we landed on a first name that comes from the Hebrew language combined with great-grandma's middle name. Ellianah means, "My God has answered me" and Louise means, "Mighty Warrior." Ellianah Louise was born in December of 2018 and quickly wisked away by a team of medical professionals. This was the start of what would become several months in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. During that time, Ellie had two surgical procedures on her heart (Norwood-Sano and Glenn), she experienced an arrest, and ended up several days on ECMO. In what were some of the darkest days for our family, we found the meaning of Ellie's name to be true! God answered many prayers and we watched as our little Heart Warrior fought like we had never seen before! Recently, Ellie had her Fontan and is doing well! Today, Ellie is a healthy and happy little girl with a spunky, no-quit attitude! It's hard to sum up what God has done for Ellie and our family in such a small space, but one thing we know is that we want to use Ellie's story to bring hope to others who are walking down a similar path!

One of our life verses comes out of the book of Romans. It says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." Our mission is to bring hope and help to other families that are travelling a similar path with CHD through care packages and other means of support! We are partnering with Crossville First Church of the Nazarene to make this mission a reality! We want to share Ellie's story of hurt, hope, and healing with everyone possible and be a voice for those who are navigating life with a Heart Warrior! Feel free to reach out to us through the contact tab for assistance or to talk to us about sharing Ellie's story with your church or organization!