14 days

MG had a good check up with the orthopedic today and her hip and femur are healing well. We discussed how she is loosing some weight and he is a little concerned about muscle atrophy or weakness because of her muscle disease so he said he wants to take the cast off in 2 weeks, instead of 3. Horray!!!

She will have to wear a harness for about a month until she's completely healed and then probably sleep in it after that. 

So thankful for one week less of the big pink cast than we expected! I know it will go by fast.  Please pray for the next two weeks and for her strength and muscles. I do have fears about when she gets it off and her hip and femur being in a different position now and relearning how to walk and just the unknown of the days to come. Praying for trust and patience in God's plan. 

Grateful tonight for all He has already done and that we are inching towards the finish line. 

Place of Lack

Last week Mary Graham got the stomach bug....I had a thought before she had surgery that wouldn't it be horrible if she got the stomach bug in the cast, how would that even work? She threw up in the yard, but thankfully it only lasted a day and she's feeling much better now. It was a slow week, but last Thursday she was able to go to school for 4 hours and she did really well. This was huge and such a nice break for the both of us. Hopefully she will go again this Wednesday.

During all the craziness of last week, I was reading a little devotion on the book of Ruth. The writer talked about how God provided for Ruth, at just the right time (Ruth 2:17-23), even if her life was not going how she probably would have chosen. She said she was living from a "place of lack." I have never heard it phrased that way. Aren't we all living in this "place of lack" so often,  lacking something, hoping for something, looking for something, waiting for something, the next moment, the next best thing that will make us happier? This is so hard. I know I am (especially these days) focusing on what I'm lacking and not focusing on the portion and my cup that God is holding in his hands, as the verse below says.
"But sometimes when we live from a place of lack, we find ourselves thankful for what is right in front of us." What a hard truth to understand. But God has us right where he wants us-we have trials and hardships along with joy, and, like Ruth, we may wish things were different. But the "Lord holds my lot" and when I focus on that, I see his grace and goodness and the beautiful inheritance he promises. 

Like when MG started getting sick last week-we were at my friend Laura's house. She went and got me coffee and then when MG got sick-she just stood there beside me and helped me hold her and care for her. God put her there at just the right time. And not many people want another child throwing up in their house-but she never complained.

Then, fun surprises will just appear in our mailbox-this one from my sweet friend in Nashville. Activities for MG and then a book for me (yes, it is called "Dad is Fat") and is a hilarious book by a comedian and his life with 5 children-I have laughed outloud reading this book-she knew that's what I needed.

Lucy danced in her ballet recital this week and it was beautiful and a treat to watch all the girls. They sang All in All with sign language-it was a sweet time of praise and worship. 

                                         

And, ones of MG's best friends, Mei Sims came over to play last week. I propped her up in her room and gave them lots of toys and Mei Sims just brought things to her and they played-it was a sweet picture of their friendship and how the cast didn't even seem to get in the way, even of them dressing up like princesses.

                               

So, even though we are tired and ready for cast-free days, there is so much goodness right in front of me. And these are just a few of the blessings we have received. God knows our lack and is right here with us. 

We are getting close to the halfway mark of 6 weeks (although the doctor mentioned one time she could have the cast for 8 weeks-I'm just pretending I never heard him say that). Please pray for tomorrow-we go for a checkup with the ortho and to have an X-ray. We pray her hip and femur are healing properly. Thank you always for praying for us and with us. 

Content

One week down and 5 more to go...part of me says "hooray" and the other part wants to run away-just kidding, well sort of ;)

But MG is doing so much better-she is hardly on an pain medicine and is sleeping much better. Praise the Lord! Friday everything had caught up with me and I hit a wall-just so tired from emotions of surgery and lack of sleep. Thankfully, she has slept really well the last two nights and we had a fun weekend with Lee's parents visiting from Tallahassee. They brought their puppy, Beckett, and MG loved him. He was a good distraction from being stuck in a cast.

Mary Graham has gotten lots of fun surprises from visitors and packages in the mail, balloons, stuffed animals, candy and lots of crafts. Puzzles, coloring and crafts have become our favorite pastimes these days. Mary Grahams said yesterday "it's like it's my birthday!" Crafts is not my fav thing to do with my kids, luckily I recruit Lucy to do some of them with her when she's home.
We are so overwhelmed with the love and support we are getting. Thanks to all of you who are walking with us, even in the times of exhaustion and stress, I feel your prayers. Someone will send a text or knock on my door and God sends his grace in the most beautiful ways.

MG is amazing me. My dad said to her earlier this week, "your pink cast is so cute, even though I know you don't like it so much right now." And she answered, "don't be silly, yes I do!" She is so proud of her cast, and so absolutely content. It reminds me of the verses in Philippians 4 about being content in all circumstances. These were some of the first verses I read while sitting in the waiting room of the first doctors office when Mary Graham was just 8 weeks old and we knew something wasn't right. I didn't want to know where God was taking us, and I certainly didn't want to know what it meant to be content in ALL circumstances. But God had other plans and I'm still learning and so much from this little 4 year old.

We are so thankful for her healing and sweet attitude towards all of this she has to go through. And her teacher came to visit last week and we are planning to let her go back to preschool some this next week. This will be such a help and she will enjoy getting out of the house-and I might just enjoy some alone time ;)

Always grateful for your prayers!

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11-12

Craft time ;)

Mimi, Lucy, MG and Beckett

More smiles

MG has improved over the last couple days-she is still not doing great at night, but it's getting a little better. This afternoon she didn't have to have any heavy drugs and we had lots of visitors today that helped pass the time and distract her. We are so grateful for God's work in her life. 

Yesterday 4 people texted me that they were going to the grocery store and asking if we needed anything. Then a girl stopped me in target and said "Are you Mary Graham's mom?" She then went on to say she was praying for her and us. God's love and mercy never ceases to amaze me. 

We went for a walk today and she got a new seat (one I found after researching spica casts and different ways to help kids sit up), so she can do more things at her little table on her own. I told Lee that I may have made some random Amazon purchases at 4:00 in the morning-just trying to make her as functional as possible :) 

I am hopeful for better days ahead and we are beginning to adjust to our new normal. MG is very heavy and I have noticed random bruises on me-but other than that we are making it. 

Thank you for continuing to pray!

Streams of Mercy

I don't plan to update every day for the next 6 weeks, but wanted to share.....I realized today, after going to Target by myself (yippee), where I was able to think some in the car, that God is pouring his streams of mercy on us and most of these "streams" are coming from you. Your prayers and encouraging words are covering us and lifting us up. Not only just the prayers, but logistical things-friends bringing me coffee, taking Loftin and Lucy to play this afternoon, my cousin who works as a PT texting me that she will come any day after she gets off work to help with MG. And tomorrow one of Mary Graham's Bell Center PT's in coming to keep her for a couple hours in the morning-and she is excited to come. Then visits from friends and her teachers. Our frig is full of yummy food that people have just dropped off and the many many texts and comments I get really do mean so much. It is a beautiful thing to see God's love and mercy through his people. So, thank you for being so willing to be a part of this journey with us. It is humbling and brings tears to my eyes.

Mary Graham had another bad night. She was up a lot and I know it's pain and not being able to change positions in her bed. I got up with her and put her in the bean bag and we turned on The Little Mermaid for "just a few minutes" I told her. Well, 1.5 hours later I hear her say "the movie is over Mommy." I was sound asleep on the couch beside her and she had watch the ENTIRE movie.

After being up a lot in the night (and enjoying a movie) she had a much better day. Lee took the older kids to church and I was able to get her maneuvered into her polka dot chair with a tray and we did a couple puzzles together and she was able to eat without me feeding her. I have another tray table coming tomorrow that will hopefully work better. And we are trying to get a potty seat to help stabilize her a little more, so my arms will not break off while trying to hold her. She was much more content today and smiled and took a very long nap, which I know she needed. And she just looks better, less swollen and no fever today. We were sitting the big porch swing later today and she says, "can I walk, can I ride my red car?" Then I remind her she is in a pink cast and can't do those things right now...and she just accepts it. How I wish I could be content in all my circumstances that God places me in.

So, I know it is just day 4, but today was good and I'll take it. We are praying for a better night-no movie marathon :) and more good days.


Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Perserverance

Mary Graham had a rough night and was up a lot in pain and fever. And it's most painful when we have to move her, with her being heavy and awkward to hold. So we are all still adjusting. Today, which is a bit of a fog, she has been up and down. Still running fever off and on and crying in pain. But later this afternoon she has been a little more content and enjoyed some chocolate ice cream from our sweet neighbors and could lay on our big porch swing outside. And when she's not in pain she likes to give us all orders in a baby voice-I guess secretly she enjoying being babied again. 


I know she doesn't understand why she's in this big cast and with tears in the night she said "I don't want my pink cast anymore." And at one moment she asked if she could play when she got out of bed, I told her she could sit in the bean bag and watch a movie. We are working on some other "chairs" and ways to help her sit up better to be able to do more. Although right now we are just focusing on resting and her healing from this big surgery. 

My friend texted me and told me she was praying for perseverance. This is a perfect word to describe what we are facing. Some moments are just going to be hard, but God is giving us grace throughout all of this. We continue to pray for healing and comfort and rest for MG. 

Home

We are home and MG is doing better and is already asleep. Here's her life (and ours ) for the next 6 weeks :)