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!