Life in the Blood...

"Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty - he is the King of glory!" [Psalm 24:8-10]

This is the battle cry that I read this morning during an incredible "quiet hour" with the Lord! He gently leads us beside still waters...overflowing with peace that restores my soul! He guides us in paths of righteousness...for His Name's sake and even though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death...he goes before us! His Promise is Peace and Strength...and man was that Promise on display today!
The first miracle of the morning -was that Kelly and I were on time for our 10:00am check in! And many of you are probably laughing your heads off right now, because you realize how huge of a miracle that is! Lol...
But the miracles that followed - let them never be forgotten! So here is the scene...twelve of us in a circle in the 2nd floor waiting room at Magee Women's Hospital praying together as Kelly left the triage area around noon. It was a very difficult start to the process when the triage nurses (they even called in their specialist) could not get her IV started - and a huge thank you to Kathy for "standing in the gap" and covering Kelly's veins and nurses in prayer from the triage room! As Kelly headed to the OR to get Jackson in position...fervent prayers continued to be lifted! And when Kathy and Stacy both had to leave around 12:30...that left 10 guys sitting in the waiting room together in a women's hospital! It was awesome - here are 10 grown men (amazing brother's in Christ) laughing, crying, and praying together all afternoon! After several hours of trying to get the stubborn Baby Jackson in the perfect position (Kelly walking around, pushing and pulling on her stomach/uterus, laying on her side) and a ton of prayer being lifted - the Doctor's decided and moved forward with the laparscopy through Kelly's abdominal wall . They made a 6cm incision, just large enough for Dr. Speer to insert his hand and manipulate Kelly's uterus and hold Jackson in "perfect position". As soon as Dr. Speer got is hand in - Jackson settled down, presented his heart perfectly...and allowed Dr. Emery to insert the needle through Kelly's abdomen, into her uterus, right into Jackson's chest, on into the heart, and perfectly into his aorta! Dr. Croutzer immediately inserted the ballon device thru the needle, and ballooned Jackson's aorta two times...and pulled out! And immediately there was a positive change in the flow through the ventricle! How awesome is our God!!!!!! The flow through Jackson's aorta was restored/improved immediately - and in the words of Dr. Emery "once Jackson was in the perfect position-the procedure could not have gone better!" Truly God's miracle! And the emotional release of celebration/praise and thanksgiving was awesome! Our God is a God of life! And that Life flows through the blood of Jesus Christ!

Never before have Kelly and I been so overwhelmed with His Prescense, His Peace, His Love, Comfort and Care! He is our Healer! And as Dr. Speer and Emery reflected with Kelly and I in the recovery area - the emotion was intense! For the first time in the history of Pittsburgh's Children's and Magee Women's Hospitals was there a successful Fetal Aortic Balloon Valvioplasty and all Glory, Praise and Honor goes to Christ alone working from the foundation of prayer you all laid, to to the instruments and talent of our doctors, surgeon's and nurses! Praise God for the incredible team of Dr. Emery, Dr. Speer, Dr. Sherman, Dr. Croutzer and Dr. McCaffery! To see Him work in and through this team- was awesome!

Now...we are still not out of the woods! It is time to continue to focus and direct our prayers to Kelly and Jackson's recovery! Kel was a warrior today and I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of her strength and courage to surrender her life and comfort for Jackson's! She is in a lot of pain tonight from cramping following the manipulation of her uterus and the incision! Her cervix is firm - which is great, meaning no signs of pre-term delivery! Please pray for her health, rest, and comfort as she recovers through out the night! The recovery nurses/doctors have been amazing doing all they can to get her comfortable!

As for Jackson...his heart beat is strong and Kelly is able to feel him moving around inside her! How amazing is that? There are no signs at this point of any complications to/for him!

As we go through the night - our biggest need is prayers for Kelly's comfort, pain and rest! Thank you again for standing with us through this journey! And I can't wait to see how God continues to guide and direct our path! Soli Deo Gloria...

All Eyes on Jesus! He is The King of Glory!