Cough, Fever, and Snow

MG and I are heading to Philly tomorrow morning, along with my sister, Kristi, whom we will meet up with in Atlanta on the way up there. Today MG is coughing and has been running fever tonight, it's suppose to start snowing and icing over in Philly Sunday night and all day Monday and be seriously cold. We are packing hats, boots, heavy coats, scarves and my sister was asking if I wanted her to bring some ear muffs :) 

So.....just enough to shake me, make me question if we should really go up there, and begin to question what in the world is God doing in all of this? How did this all happened so suddenly? It wasn't really in my plan to go to Philly, or have MG go through another surgery this week. 

But, I trust that He is sovereign and that none of this is a surprise to Him, I believe in his promises, but the worries and fear still linger. 

Today I happened upon a blog written by Vaneetha Rendall and she was sharing her thoughts on the story of Lazarus (the same story I had just read earlier this week from John 11) so I thought I should pay attention to what God wanted me to hear and see. She talks about how Mary and Martha loved Lazarus, how Jesus loved Lazarus, and yet he allowed him to die, for Mary and Martha to suffer, to question, to wonder where Jesus was, why didn't he heal Lazarus immediately, and was he really going to save Lazarus like he said he would. 

And he didn't go immediately, because He loved them and he said, "if you believe, you will see the glory of God."

She says....."Jesus loved them enough to know that experiencing His glory firsthand would change everything. He loved them enough to let them suffer so they could know His comfort. He loved them enough to teach them that nothing is ever hopeless with Him. Jesus plan was bigger than they could imagine. It was both for their good and His glory. They needed to trust Him."

I love these words. God has a bigger plan. All of these crazy, scary, fearful things going on in our lives are for good and they are for His glory. And He's loving us perfectly through it all.

Piper says of suffering....."It's not meaningless. It's doing something, He's doing something"

So, I may not always understand why things are going the way they are, but I trust in the One who does understand. It may be hard, really hard at times. And I will fight to believe, especially during a week like this one ahead.

Thank you for praying for us! Please pray for our travels, MG's cough and fever to go away by Wednesday, a room at The Ronald McDonald House, the surgery and recovery and our kids and grandparents that are all pitching in to help. We covet your prayers!

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The unexpected...

Mary Graham is going to be having surgery next Wed at CHOP in Philly :( To make a long story short, one of her rods looked to me like it was bulging out of her back, so I took her for X-rays Monday and had them emailed to CHOP and Dr. Campbell said it had migrated and detached from her ribs and we don't want it to break through her skin, so it needs to be fixed right away. She wasn't suppose to go back until April for a replacement of one rod. So, Dr. C is going ahead and replacing the left rod and reseating the right (not exactly sure what that means 😁). But it will be more invasive than expansions and longer stay.

We would love your prayers. Lee is staying here with Loftin and Lucy, and my sister is going with me this time. Mainly because Lee tore his pectoral muscle three weeks ago and had surgery (screws, staples, etc) and he can't move his arm-that is a whole other story itself, it's been quite interesting around here lately. 

Please pray for all the details....travels, a room at the Ronald McDonald house, the surgery, her pain, recovery...she doesn't really know we are going yet and my big kids are not so thrilled about us leaving so suddenly. 

I have complete peace and have since the week began, I know this is from God. I have learned to hold my plans loosely. God will go before us and be with us every step of the way. 

MG is doing so great right now and she's not in any pain, thankfully. I hate most that she has to go through this surgery so soon. 

We appreciate your prayers so much, they truly carry us through. 

Home

We are home and thankful this trip is behind us. Our travel was a bit crazy with someone finding a knife on the plane while boarding, evacuating and searching several passengers and delaying us for over an hour, crazy! We missed our connection in Atlanta, but got on a later flight and made it home right when Loftin and Lucy walked in the door. Thank you to my parents for keeping them-my dad was Mr. Mom this week driving my van all around :)

Thank you for praying....MG is sound asleep and I think I could sleep for days. Worn out but so glad we are home a little earlier than we thought. 

One more cute pic of mg at RMH. We will go back in April for revision surgery and ask that you pray against infection or complications from this surgery. Your texts, comments, emails, prayers carry us and we are grateful that you all walk along beside us. You have no idea how we feel our burden lifted at times. 

Happy Halloween! I have two Elsas and Davy Crockett that are super pumped about tomorrow night. 

They may not let us leave...

They may not let us leave....not because MG isn't doing well, but because they love her and don't want her to go ☺️.

The nurses come in and just chat with her for fun, she's invited them all to her birthday party (in March) and now she's having a good time in the playroom.

She had a good night, her back is hurting, but pain meds are helping. We will hopefully be discharged later today after X-rays and head back to RMH.

Lee was able to change his flight (props to delta for being accomadating) so we could all fly home together tomorrow. Praying things continue to go well. Thank you all for praying for us!

Quick and easy

MG is all done with surgery, in recovery now and she's downed two Popsicles, Graham crackers and apple juice. She's recovering really well. Dr. Campbell was able to do an expansion afterall (he pushed it to it's limit) and not the replacement. He often doesn't know what he's going to do until he gets in there. He said next time he will definitely do a replacement. So, we will be back in about 5 months for that. I trust Gods hand in all these decisions, even if this wasn't what we were expecting. Now she has a few more months to grow and get stronger. She's already been saying "I'm so brave." 



Thank you all for praying! Whew, we are so tired, but glad this one is done and pray for a good recovery the rest of the week. Looks like we may be home in time to trick or treat as a family 😊. Will update a little more later.

Josie and Xena

 

 

Mary Graham has had a great day-it started with a visit to see Dr. Campbell at 7:30 am this morning (that's 6:30 central-yawn) and he was so pleased to see how well she is doing. She slept ok last night, and coughed a lot, but seemed to feel good today. We saw anesthesia and the nurse listened to her and her lungs sound good, so they don't seem concerned and think she probably just has some congestion that is causing her cough. She barely took a nap because she was coughing a lot then also, so we played outside, in the playroom, watched movies, and played some more. I think she thinks the Ronald McDonald House is a fun vacation spot ;)

 

I'm so amazed throughout this day that she is so happy, loves going to the hospital, loves all the nurses and doctors, asking everyone "What's your name?"-God has brought her so far from the days of screaming the minute anyone looked at her, let alone touched her and I was always exhausted and sweating from any doctor visit. So, her sweet, joyful temperment makes such a difference.

 

MG made a sweet new friend, who also has veptr rods and is having surgery tomorrow also. Her name is Josie and she is 5 years old. She and MG ran around the waiting rooms and had a great time playing, the only time they were sad was when they sat next to each other getting blood work. These are some amazing kiddos and they are so brave. I love that she got to meet someone similar to herself and talking with other parents is so comforting.

 

Our day ended with a visit from Xena the pet therapy dog here at the RMH. Mary Graham got to see her last time we were here-she LOVES this little dog. We facetimed with Loftin and Lucy, then off to take a bath and get wiped down with special sanitary wipes and now she's asleep.

 

I was thinking back to on our way to the airport early yesterday morning, MG was looking out the window and the sun was coming up. She said, "look at the sky, God made the sky....God made the trees....God made the sun...and God made me." Then Lucy chimed in saying, "God made everything and the most important thing is you Mary Graham." She answered back, "yes, God made me."

Then of course the sweet moment ended and they went on to naming all the things God didn't really make, like cars and houses and clothes and on an on.

But, I love how she understands the truths of God and his promises, even in her little 3 year old mind. My prayer is that she always sees herself and "wonderfully and fearfully made."

 

We have been very encouraged today and felt your prayers. These trips are exhausting, but God is lifting us up. Please continue to pray for MG, for her cough to not cause complications tomorrow. For Dr. Campbell and the surgery (he is expanding one rod, replacing the other) and her recovery, which is always hard and for our fears and worries to be turned to trust.

 

  

Spiders and Albuterol

We are so thankful for today-we made it to Philly and had safe travels. Also, we got in the Ronald McDonald house-hooray! This is the third trip in a row that we have gotten in, such a blessing. MG gets so excite to be here. And her favorite therapy dog is coming tomorrow night.

We had dinner here tonight and the night activity was making spiders. Mary Graham was the only one who made a craft. It was a neat group of a premed students from University of Penn who hosted the activity and we met two other veptr families, one baby is 18 months old and they have been here a year, but are going home soon. It's always great connecting with these families, because we have all share similar journeys.

MG is in good spirits, she's has been coughing the past couple days (this seems to always happen right before surgery) so I'm giving her albuterol treatments along with her other asthma meds to help her lungs before surgery....well, this makes her a little hyper (right now she's jumping up and down in her pack in play ;) please pray that her lungs stay clear and no complications arise in surgery.

Thank you for praying, we have felt them today. Hoping to get a good night sleep and we will see Dr. Campbell early tomorrow morning.