About Us

In January of 2006, Krystal and I discovered that we were expecting our 3rd child. At that present time our daughter Kaylee was 7 and our son Gavin was 4. Krystal and I felt it was time to add one more addition to our family. 

A few weeks later, Krystal called me from her doctor’s office and asked, “Are you sitting down?” To my surprise she told me the news. "Not only were we expecting our 3rd child, but we were also expecting our 4th child. We’re having twins!” Most dads would have been like, “Oh Lord, why me? What am I going to do with 4 kids?” I however had the exact opposite reaction. I literally had tears of joy running down my face. I was so excited, that I couldn’t wait to share the news with the rest of the family. Later we discovered, Krystal was carrying fraternal twin boys.

So here we are, going out to all of those baby stores. Buying everything in 2’s and in blue. Picking out 2 sets of names and converting my office/music room into a double nursery. At that time I was driving a small pickup truck and knew this wasn’t going to work out. So I traded my truck in for a minivan. Yes that’s right... a minivan. I’m a proud dad who drives a minivan! It’s not like I’m a soccer mom or anything. This was all part of the preparation for the big day when the twins would arrive. 

Things seemed to be going very well until one Thursday morning in May. Krystal was feeling great and had no signs of any complications. While at a routine scheduled doctor's visit, the doctor diagnosed Krystal with having an “Incompetent Cervix”. Basically what this means is Krystal’s body was not able to hold the babies much longer. After 4 days of hospital bed rest, the doctors came to a crucial decision.  They could deliver baby “A” and prolong the birth of the baby “B”. This would give the twins separate birth dates, and would give baby “B” a better chance of survival, or they could deliver both babies at the same time and hope their lungs would be developed enough to resuscitate them. After discovering that baby “A” had turned and was breach, the decision was made to delivery both babies. The surgical staff began to prepare for an emergency cesarean section. In the mean time, the head physician of the NICU stopped by Krystal’s room and explained the odds of survival for our unborn twins. Our baby boys were 16 weeks too early, which put them into an extremely high risk category of survival. The NICU physician explained they may not be able to resuscitate the babies due to their premature lung development. My wife and I began to pray and cry out to God, “Lord, we know that you can do all things, even in spite of any odds or statistics. We pray that you’ll sustain the life of our baby boys... Amen.” On the evening of May 29th,(Memorial Day - a day Krystal and I would certainly remember), Krystal gave birth to 2 precious little boys. One had strawberry blond hair, we called him Tristan. While the other had very little hair, his name was Peyton.

Tristan only weighed 1 lbs. 12 oz. Peyton weighed slightly less than Tristan at 1 lbs. 11 oz. Their combined weights were less than the weight of a bag sugar. By the grace of God doctors were able to resuscitate and stabilize both boys. However, Tristan and Peyton both had a long road of recovery ahead of them. They underwent many surgeries and medical procedures. Due to trauma at birth, Tristan was diagnosed with a stage 4 cerebral hemorrhage. The neurologists said if by some chance he were to survive, he would most likely be in a vegetative state. Even when all hope seemed to be lost, we never gave up hope. Daily, we would drive more than 50 miles and pray over the boys. We would post scriptures of faith and hope inside each of the baby’s incubators. At times we felt so helpless, but all we could do is stand upon God’s word. Never in our lives have we been closer to God. We had people praying for our boys literally all over the world.

The NICU nursing staff told us the only time they would contact us was if they had bad news. On June 12th, we received a phone call from one of the NICU nurses. Peyton had taken a turn for the worst. His frail little body was shutting down. For the very first time, Krystal was able to hold her beautiful baby boy. As Krystal held baby Peyton in her arms, she watched him take his last breath. With tears in my eyes I looked at him and said, “It’s alright to go home little man. No matter what it takes, daddy will see you again.”Peyton was 2 weeks old.

 That same evening this picture of Tristan was taken by one of the NICU nurses. 

Tristan’s countenance was of an angel. It was like, whatever strength Peyton had lost, Tristan had gained.For the next several weeks Tristan’s condition was erratic. In one moment he showed signs of improvement. Other moments, his condition worsened. Krystal and I were on an emotional roller coaster ride. While grieving the loss of Peyton, we were trying to hold on to hope for Tristan. I asked God, “Surely, You would not allow us to go through this a second time?” In spite of any bad news received from the doctors, we remained steadfast in our faith. The doctors and nurses would observe our actions from across the room. At that time, Krystal and I did not fully understand the “peace that passes all understanding”, however, we knew that God had given us a peace and a hope to trust Him regardless of how bad our circumstances appeared. Doctors and nurses were amazed by our countenance. Most likely they thought we were in some state of denial. Never the less, nothing stopped us from believing in a miracle. I wanted to show those doctors and nurses that God is able to divinely heal. After all, miracles are for the unbelievers.

On July 13th as Krystal and I lay in bed asleep, we were wakened by another phone call. Nurse Amy from the hospital was calling to inform us that Tristan had passed in the night. When we arrived at the hospital, the nurses had taken Tristan and cleaned him up. There were no more tubes, no more monitors beeping, it was just a perfect little angel dressed in a little teddy bear outfit. The nurses had prepared a room for our family to spend some time with our baby boy. As our daughter Kaylee held Tristan in her arms, she gently kissed him on his head as if he were one of her little baby dolls. Kaylee asked me if it would be OK carry Tristan back to the nurses after our visit. I said that would be nice. Every nurse working that night had tears in their eyes as Kaylee slowly carried her baby brother, kissing him on his head for the very last time.

When we got home, my wife and I were both emotionally and physically drained. I never really questioned God why until now. I felt like I deserved some kind of explanation, because I did not understand how God would receive glory from this. From my point of view there was no miracle. All of my prayers seemed wasted. I said, “God, I thought you would have healed our baby boys to prove to those unbelievers you are God. How do you expect them to believe in your power when they watched us pray without ceasing and received no answer?” God quietly spoke to me that night, “My glory could have been revealed in Tristan and Peyton’s healing. However, I will receive more glory from the steadfastness of your faith.” I never questioned God from that day forward for I truly know that He is sovereign Lord over all.

We had 2 separate funeral services. Nurses from the NICU and family members joined us as we grieved the loss of our baby boys. My pastor asked, “How would you like me to handle the service?” I said, “Let’s have church!” At both services, nurses and family members, including Tristan and Peyton’s uncle Scott received Jesus Christ into their lives. On Tristan and Peyton’s marker it reads, 'Our Little Evangelists'.They came into this world, unable to speak a single word and brought the message of salvation. 

After the passing of Tristan and Peyton, God blessed us with 2 more babies, Tavish & Zoe Mutter. The name Tavish means "Twin", and the name Zoe means "Life". One day when Tavish and Zoe are older, they will have a glorious testimony to share about their twin brothers, who gave them life.