Mountains

^"The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights." Habakkuk 3:19 

Mary Graham is doing pretty well these days after battling the stomach bug and double ear infections, all that come with this time of year, but she is on the mend. We have been back to the pulmonologist and dietician this week. She has gained about a pound since the end of Novemeber....so not as much as we had hoped, but she's been through hip surgery and lots of sickness. We are making some changes in her diet (all pediasure and no more formula) to hopefully put as much weight on her as we can. The challenge with children and babies with scoliosis is that they are working harder to breathe and therefore, burn more calories, and since her spine is so malformed it really makes an impact on her overall health. We are continuing to pray for improvement in her growth.

Now on to the next several weeks.

I feel like I'm at the bottom of a huge mountain and about to start walking up. Finally I have gotten my act together and have all our childcare, schedules, traveling, appts, etc worked out (I think). Have been avoiding all of this, just enjoying these normal days. And God has truly allowed us to enjoy this time in between surgeries. I have been able to focus on the present and really not think about what's to come and this is very hard for me, so I know the peace is only from Him.

However, we leave in a week for CHOP, return home for one week, then back again for her surgery... reality begins to set in. As I have planned all the logistics for these events, I hold them loosely. One thing I have definitely learned this last year is that the Lord will orchestrate our steps. We will trust in Him with what is to come, His plan will prevail, it can not be thwarted, and it is best. I have faith that God will show us great things, but it's still so hard not to worry. Pray our hearts and minds to be prepared for what is to come. It may look like a huge mountain now, but God can move mountains and as He says in Habakkuk, He enables me to tread on the heights.

Here are some specific prayer requests that I ask you to pray over the coming weeks....

~Mary Graham to stay healthy 
~Mary Graham's growth and development (we just started at The Bell Center for more therapy - it's such a wonderful place and so glad we have it here in our hometown)
~Testing the week of Feb. 27-March 2nd at CHOP (CT, MRI, pulmonology testing, dr appt)
~VEPTR  spinal surgery on March 13th at CHOP (5-7 hours long)
~No complications during or after the spinal surgery - infection is a major complication in many children who have veptrs placed, so pray for no infection or big surprises during the surgery
~Loftin and Lucy to adjust well to us being gone for long periods of time - although I'm sure they will be enjoying all the time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends :)
~Logistics of traveling and schedules for our family and those helping us
~For God to sustain Lee and me as we go through this with our baby - it can be very hard as parents

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray. God has poured out his blessings on us and through you.  I plan to update as frequently as possible while we are gone on the blog, so check back soon.
love,
Jen