Weekend full of "hugs"...

10 years of wedded bliss is what David and I celebrated on April 12th!!! 

We celebrated with a date night that included a sushi dinner and just walking around Town Center and talking.  It is such a treat to have each others undivided attention because we have a house full of very talkative, theatrical, and funny little and big people that are always "on," so we don't get to finish a thought or sentence very often.  Abigail and Andrew had a sleep over with my parents and Grace blessed us by sleeping through the night for the first time since her surgery 6 weeks ago! 

Here is a picture of David's wedding present from me... 

Yep, getting old is the pits even for dogs... he is wearing Andrew's old underwear because we were trying to figure out if he was having an incontinence problem.  The good news is that we don't think he does or maybe he just learned to control his bladder in a hurry because we have more old undies of Abby's than Andrew, so he felt like we were taking away his doggie man card by putting him in her princess panties :-)

We enjoyed another soccer game on Saturday where both Abigail and Andrew did a great job and thought it was SO cool that David is now their assistant coach!  They actually got to play on the field at the same time and for some reason it just blessed me so much to watch them really trying their hardest and showing good sportsmanship (helping even the other teams players up with they fell down, encouraging their teammates, etc). 

I wasn't able to take pictures of the soccer game because David was helping coach and I had Grace, so here is an early morning picture of the two best snugglers ever...

Grace has her next Cardiology appointment this Thursday where they will do a sedated echo and if her mitral valve gradient is still high then we will be heading to Boston again...  The uncertainty isn't very fun, but David and I have really tried to be intentional about praising the Lord for ALL of the "hugs" that He has bestowed on us the past couple of weeks.  For instance, Grace's gradient is actually really high and yet she has continued to look and act like a healthy happy little angel.  We have heard about a number of other kiddos like Grace that have a gradient of 12-15 and they are super sick (vomiting, not eating, cranky, no energy, etc) and require immediate surgery.  We are keenly aware that the life of a heart baby is such that their heart has a tipping point and they can get very sick, very quickly.  We pray that doesn't happen of course, but for right now we have nothing but praise that Grace is doing well in a circumstance that can only be attributed to God.  She has also blessed us with the biggest and sweetest smiles that truly melt your heart and make the worst of days seem insignificant.  Some of you know how overwhelmed and overcome I have felt in the past when Grace would hardly eat, so David ended up doing the majority of the feedings because, well...  he's the best and doesn't get worried and sad about it like I do.  He would just continue to persevere with a smile on his face and confidence that it will all work out.  Today Grace polished off two bottles that I gave her (one of which was the most that she has eaten since her surgery) and I actually enjoyed feeding her!  Don't get me wrong it's not like you just give her the bottle, she pounds it and you are done.  Instead you have you have to be strategic about how and when you introduce the bottle, give her frequent breaks, and continue to distract her while feeding her (so she doesn't even know that she's eating :-).

Miss happy pants...

Will you please pray that if it's the Lord's will that her gradient pressure will be normal on Thursday's echo and if not that she will need the most minimal intervention?  We trust that if God says "no" to these requests that it is not for the purpose of being mean, but because He has a different plan in mind.  We trust that if He sends us back to Boston next week it's for a reason (whether it is because someone there needs some encouragement, there are lessons for us to learn that can only been done through that situation, etc).  We know that God is good all of the time (even when it hurts) and He calls us to make our requests known to Him.  So, please join us in praying for a miracle on Thursday and if not the miracle that we have in mind, for peace that surpasses all understanding as we trust in His plan.

Thank you for your support and we love you!!!