Village, we are in need of your prayers as we approach what could be a wonderful or disaster of a week... we leave for Family Camp tomorrow (Sunday afternoon), which we are looking forward to; however, I have to be honest about the fact that I can easily become overwhelmed trying to wrap my mind around how Grace is going to do in the heat, how she will do with her teachers/counselors (the kiddos spend a good bit of time with their AMAZING [times a million] counselors), GERMS, our ability to pour into Abby and Andrew like we desire (in the event that Grace is having a hard time and it becomes distracting), how she's going to eat and sleep in a completely new environment, will I be able to enjoy date night or will I be worried about how Grace is doing, will I be able to communicate her needs to her counselors well.... you get the idea! The list of "what if's" goes on and on, so I'm praying that I can change the "what if's" to "even if's" and that God would cover and bless every second of Family Camp, drawing us closer to Himself, our family, the other families that are there, and the camp counselors. Last year was our first time attending Family Camp and it was most certainly a Divine appointment, in that it was exactly what we needed at that exact moment. We found out on a Friday about Grace's very serious heart defects, which at the same time further convinced me that we were having a child with "Up's." Needless to say, two days later I was at Family Camp as a very scared and broken vessel that didn't even know how badly I needed the love and encouragement of everyone at Family Camp. The other families there walked through the valley with us that week, praying over and encouraging us at every turn, all week long. I can remember so vividly the words of each prayer spoken over us, the feeling of the faithful hands that were laid on us, and the hope that was experienced as we prayed and trusted that some how, some way it was going to be alright. Now, a year later, we are so honored to get to go to Family Camp again with our little angel Gracie in tow, as a living, breathing testimony of answered prayer (even though many of the answer's were "no"- Remember... When I begged God to heal her heart, He said "no,"and when I asked Him to spare her/us from her having "Up's," He said "no.") . The good news is that we got a "yes" on the most important prayer, that we are practically guaranteed a "yes" on, and that's that God would align our hearts with His will. God willed Grace into our family and our hearts overflow that we get to be her parents (heart defects, extra chromosomes, and all :-) and get to experience God more intimately than ever before as we cling to Him daily.
Update on this week- After Grace was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday evening... we started dropping like flies! Despite my best "crazy, lysol and hand gel loving mother" efforts (I seriously felt like one of those guys in yellow in Monsters Inc. that takes contamination SUPER seriously), Andrew and I got the stomach bug on Wednesday, David on Thursday and so far Abigail has been the sole survivor. Will you PLEASE pray that she doesn't come down with the stomach bug, since we are supposed to leave for family camp tomorrow? Abigail had her ticker Dr appointment on Friday (which lasted 4 hours!) and the Dr did hear a murmur and arrhythmia, but he said that they were both "innocent"... Phew! The Dr said that there is no reason for us to follow up... is the roller coaster really slowing down for a moment... the Dr then went through the notes from the appointment that Abigail had with the ticker Dr at just 13 days old and when he saw a note that said, Abby's Aunt had an issue with her aortic valve, he proceeded to say that since there can be a genetic link to valve issues (especially as it relates to the aorta) and the pictures that they took before were not very good because she was so small and wiggly at the time, he wanted to get another echo. The end result is that her aortic valve looks good, however she does have mild regurgitation in her mitral valve (as the blood flows into the heart, a door like valve closes to prevent the blood from leaking out- her valve for what ever reason is letting a very small amount of blood back out). This isn't something that can even be heard on exam because it is so mild, the only way to catch it is with an echo (if we didn't have a family history of ticker issues, we probably wouldn't ever know about it unless it got much worse). The plan is to just keep an eye on it just to make sure that it doesn't get any worse. We are suppose to go back in a year for another echo, so that they can get better pictures, from various angles of the mitral valve to get a better idea of what may be causing it. One big praise is that it's not a "cleft" which is a bigger concern (where the leak is on the side of the valve), instead it is leaking out of the center. We are praying that it never gets any worse and never causes her any problems. Will you please join us in praying for that too? Now, if they just had a rewards program or punch card for visiting the ticker Dr, our family would be living large :-)
Wow! We are keeping you busy with prayer requests, huh? Well, thank you for joining us on this roller coaster ride, we wouldn't want to be on this ride without you and without God as our contractor and conductor :-)!
"Our silly mitral valves (one is leaky and the other is stenotic) keep our Mommy on her knees before the Lord!"
Wow! We are keeping you busy with prayer requests, huh? Well, thank you for joining us on this roller coaster ride, we wouldn't want to be on this ride without you and without God as our contractor and conductor :-)!
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