Friday, November 16, 2012

Praises...

"But the one who boasts must boast in the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 10:17

I have been meaning to boast on God for the past couple of weeks, sharing with y'all some simple blessings that are worthy of praise...

-In the past couple of weeks Grace had her first Cardiology and Endocrinology appointment and an in home evaluation by a Physical Therapist.

-By God's grace, her Cardiologist was very pleased with all of her numbers!  Grace will get an echo at her next Cardiology appointment in mid December where we will get a better idea as to what her heart is doing (is it growing, etc).  Will you please pray that if it's the Lord's will that the left side of her heart will show serious growth and great function? Thanks ;-)

While I was full of anxiety (trying to give it to the Lord) trying to figure out what was taking the Dr's so long to come back in the room to talk to us after reviewing her numbers/chart, calling her pediatrician to ask her some questions, etc (I was convinced that they were going to tell us that they needed to readmit her and move her surgery date up, etc)...  this is what sweet Grace was doing...  Just hanging out with a joyful smile :-).  LOVE HER!!!


-At her Endocrinology appointment we loved the Dr that she was assigned to as he was very knowledgeable, encouraging and commented several times on how great Grace looked.  Her lab work looked great, so they are keeping her on a tiny dose of medication for hypothyroidism.

-At her first PT evaluation the Physical Therapist said that if we didn't tell him that she had "Up's" that he wouldn't have known based on her muscle tone, reflexes, etc.  We are well aware that we are in the very beginning stages of this journey and I know there will be a ton more Dr and therapy appointments of which we may not always get news that we "hope" for, so we feel it's important to give God the glory for great news and put our hope and trust in Him when we get less than desirable news.  Today we will celebrate all of the great reports that we have received thus far!!!

A few more praises...

-I hope this isn't too much information for some of you (if it is, please forgive me...), I got a call from the milk bank at Texas Children's Hospital (where Grace spent her 6.5 weeks in the hospital) and they said that they still had 60 bottles of milk that they forgot to give me when we were discharged...  What!  It felt like Christmas!!!

-Grace FINALLY got her RSV shot yesterday!  It took me 3 weeks of making a ton of phone calls, etc to get it done, but I remain extremely grateful for great insurance and that it all worked out in the end.

-I have a new running partner that makes running SO much fun...
Yep!  My new running partner is my big Kindergartner, ABIGAIL!  She has run 2 miles with me twice now.  She could go much further I'm sure because she's hardly even tired after 2 miles, I just don't want to push her too hard.  I can only imagine what people think when they see us running together because she is 5 and a half years old, but as many of you know she is closer to the size of a 3 or 4 year old, so I hope people don't think that I'm abusing my child, but she loves it!  My favorite part about it is the unrestricted time I have to talk to her about what ever she wants to talk about...

-Andrew's smile ALWAYS blesses my soul...
This is a picture of the Pine Cove Family Camp brochure for 2013...  This was taken last year at Family Camp.  I love this picture because it is just a great action photo of the two boys in my life that know how to melt my heart.

-Abby and Andrew LOVE family bible study time so much that they are always asking us if we can do family bible study.  There requests serve as such a great reminder that we need to stop whatever we are doing (or thinking about all the things that we need to be doing) because nothing is more important to us than our family spending time in God's word together.

-We did our first Buddy Walk this past weekend where we celebrated Down's Syndrome awareness. Even though we kind of assembled our team at the very last minute, we were beyond blessed by our friends and family that came to walk with Team Gracie Doo.  I also praise the Lord that when we asked Abby and Andrew if they noticed any kids or adults there that had Down Syndrome, they both thought about it and couldn't think of anyone that looked any different than them.  Those of you who know me well, know that I'm all about team spirit (especially when it comes to our kids), so I can't wait for the Buddy Walk next year when we can do it full out fever :-).


We made it!!!  All of the kids (and babies) received medals!!!

-I was blessed to be able to go to a prayer and praise night with my sweet friend this week, where I cried tears of gratitude the entire time (gratitude for who God is and all that He is teaching me).  The theme of the night was "hope" which couldn't have been more perfectly titled for one of the main lessons that God has been teaching me over the past 6 months (beginning back at Family Camp when we had just learned about Grace's heart defects)...  more on what God is teaching me about "hope" at a later post...

***If you are still reading, thank you for staying with me and my long winded posts :-).  I know that each of you also have many reasons to praise the Lord for both big and small things (none of which are insignificant), so I would LOVE the honor of praising the Lord for His blessings in your life too.  Will you please do me a huge favor and post a quick comment (either here on the blog or on the facebook post) with a praise(s) from your week?  I know that posting on blogger can some times be annoying because it requires a couple of steps, but I would really love to hear from you if you have a few extra seconds...  or bypass the blog post and post on facebook :-).  Lastly, if there is some way that I can be praying for you, please send me a private message on facebook or e-mail me at k_askin@yahoo.com.

My sweet prayer warriors, will you please keep your prayers coming for Grace and the rest of our family?  We can always feel your prayers as they are what get us through each day.  We love and appreciate each of you!

7 comments:

Julie said...

Your post was full of things to be thankful for and praise God for! And..I can't believe Abigail can run 2 miles with you...that is awesome! :) I'm so happy Grace is doing so well. Mallory continually brings her name up during prayer time.....
We are praising God for his ability to change our children's heart when we circle them in prayer. It's craziness. :) Thanks for sharing in our praises.
Love you guys!

Tricia Keierleber said...

Abby running with you, Bible studies with the kiddos, Pinecove cover, Grace's news...blessings abounding at the Ross house! :)

LOVE Y'ALL!

Kathy A. said...

Hi,
Haven't had bible study in a few weeks so on Monday night I will update my "girls" and let them know your latest prayer requests. We never can get over just how cute little Grace is! And I love the bible verse on your Tshirts, as it ranks right up there on my favorite list.

As the holidays approach it always brings some heartaches for me. But praise God for my kids/grandkids/extended family/friends! We are told in the bible that we WILL have trouble in this world, but praise God he has overcome the world. He is always faithful!

Love to you all,
Aunt Kathy

Elise said...

God is SO good! I can have some of your and Abby's stamina?

Mary Ross said...

What an assignment! It has taken me so long to post a comment because it could be a book, not a brief post to share what I am thankful for. How do you choose just one thing to praise out of so many blessings? How do you pick the most significant praise? Reflecting on this Thanksgiving, the verse in Psalm 23 that says "my cup runneth over" says it best. It is a joy to know that all of my children and their families are walking with the Lord. It is God's unexpected reminders that He is there for us, like the rainbow placed in the sky that I drove into half the way home from Dave's house one of those weeks when there was a lot of concern about Grace. It is a husband who had successful surgery on his hand and eventually get back to all those special things he does to make our house a home. Happy Thanksgiving.

Caryn said...

Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow!
Those t-shirts were so adorable!

My Praise - Christian started feeding himself for the 1st time this summer!!! We've been praying for this for 9 yrs! Now we get to eat dinner together as a family instead of someone having to feed him 1st. God is faithful!

Rebecca Harrison said...

My Praise for this week was the opportunity to hang out with everyone in my family, getting away with Brian and Joe, and black Friday shopping with you!