We want to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone who reads our blog and has supported our family since Callie’s SMA diagnosis.

We’d like to especially thank All God’s Children preschool at North Side Baptist in Greenwood, S.C. The preschoolers and their teachers created handmade cards and ornaments for Callie. Callie loved them all, and they look great on our tree.

The preschoolers also have given an offering every Wednesday this school year to help with the various costs of Callie’s care.

Thanks also to my friend Beth, who hosted a special Christmas Pampered Chef party to help raise money for Callie and the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Beth donated 100 percent of her profits to the SMA cause, and plenty of people helped by ordering Pampered Chef products.

Overall, Callie has been in good health so far this winter. She had a bout with (almost) pneumonia. We were fortunate to catch it very early.

She was immediately put on antibiotics, and everything cleared up quickly.

We are still struggling to get Callie the calories she needs. We’ll be talking with her doctors about getting a feeding tube in the near future.

She had a poor appetite a few weeks ago (that was not related to the pneumonia). Going without food and liquids for eight hours or so caused her oxygen saturation to decrease while her heart rate and resporations increased to dangerous levels. We were able to get things back under control but she ended up losing some weight and strength that she’s still trying to gain back.

These recent health scares reminded us of the delicate balance we have with Callie’s life, and we’ve found that holidays and other celebrations tend to be bittersweet. Watching Callie feed her new baby doll, knowing that if nothing changes she likely will not have the opportunity to grow up and have a baby of her own, reminds us of the uncertain future Callie faces.

But with help from friends, family and strangers, we’ve savored today.