About Us

In 2017, the NICU was never supposed to be part of our future until what seemed like in an instant it became our immediate situation. Our son, SJ, was born at 30 weeks gestation weighing 2lbs3oz. He stayed in three different NICUs for a total of 65 days. We realized then that not only was SJ fearfully and wonderfully made, but so were we and our (at the time) six and three year old boys. Since then, we feel led to show support to the families in the Christus St. Michael NICU as well as the NICU at Wadley Regional Medical Center, both in Texarkana, much like our village of family, friends, and church family did for us. 

When SJ was in the NICU in Dallas in May of 2017, we had a friend, Cody Eaves and his family, that left a precious note and a gas card on our back porch. This may not seem significant unless you know that Cody’s dad had passed away just a few months before from a brain tumor and Cody had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor himself. We realized so many people were fighting their own battles but loving us through ours. Scott and I knew then that God would use our situation one day to help other families in similar situations.

In September 2020, God used Lindsey Shepherd to spur the beginning of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Lindsey posted on FB that her baby, Axton would be born at 28 weeks due to preeclampsia. It hit very close to home. But, it was like God was saying “In 2020, when all of the doors are figuratively and literally closed, I am going to open all of the doors and make a way where you can’t see a way!

Churches, individuals, and businesses stepped in to fulfill every item we hoped for in the blessing bags! In January 2021, we delivered our first blessing bag to the Lorance family. To date, we have delivered 100 blessing bags to families with babies in the NICU. We have delivered bags to Texarkana, Little Rock, Tyler, Longview, Dallas, and Rogers.

We hope to continue to reach families with babies in the NICU and love them like Jesus! We also hope to be able to offer more services in the future. We cannot do it alone. If you feel led to be a bigger part of this group, please feel free to reach out to Scott or Catie Swenson.