Jackson Update:
Last week Kelly brought me a thought from one of Karen Kingsbury's latest books entitled Summer that will forever change my perspective and posture when praying through storms of life. It was a prayer so simple, but foundational in our faith for the journey that we are walking through: "Doug, let's pray that God would make clear the lines between wanting a miracle and walking through fire!"
Do we believe that the Lord our God can and will heal Jackson? ...without a shadow of a doubt!
Do we want a miracle from our Heavenly Father? ...you better believe it!
Have we pleaded with our Savior for one? ...absolutely!
Is God calling us to walk through fire? ...it seems so!
Wednesday was a day that will forever change the landscape of our family - as if the last 5 months haven't drastically done so already! It was a day that forever will be engraved on our hearts with great disappointment, pain and sorrow - but surrounded in absolute Peace and Strength from our Heavenly Father! The tears tell the story and the broken heart shares the journey! But we will stand...with hands raised high, and hearts surrendered for we know that to continue walking by Faith we must Trust and Obey! Why would we turn our backs now on the One who perfectly formed and created Jackson? He is perfectly and wonderfully made - and even though from our human perspective we see the devastation of a defect, God divinely sees the pursuit of His purpose...and we will surrender, lay down our lives and follow Him through this this fire!
The echo cardiogram and ultrasound confirmed that the left side of Jackson's heart has stopped developing at this point. The worst scenario of a hypo-plastic left heart the doctor's shared with us early July has become a reality! There is no squeeze, and even though the Fetal Aortic Balloon surgery on July 24th was "technically successful" the desired outcome of a bi-ventricle heart does not seem to be realized. And after the intense and very "real" conversations with Dr. Emery, Dr. Speer, Dr. Sherman and Dr. Vatz...and as the disappointment filled our eyes with many tears...plans were developed for the series of surgeries - known as the Norwood procedure - to begin a few days after Jackson's birth. In the words of Dr. Emery..."we did not hit a grand slam, and for this I am very sorry!"
The news broke us...and thus the reason for the delay in writing! But, I can't begin to tell you how amazing our wise counsel, community of encouragers and team of doctors are - you want to talk about incredible care, support and encouragement! Our doctors have been - and will be - rocks of wisdom and encouragement as we walk through a very intense storm to save Jackson' life! It seems that God is going to work a miracle through the hands, minds and hearts of this incredible team of men and women to save a life that truly has transformed ours - even in the womb! We don't know how He will do it...but we trust that He will heal Jackson! He may not cure him the way we want, but Christ is our Savior, Healer and Redeemer - and we place our Hope and Trust in Him!
To be honest...I can't wait to see how the Lord works all this out! I know that even though we walk through this very dark valley - that our Savior has gone before us! He is by our side! He is faithful! He is Love! And His mercies are new every morning! He has made clear the lines, but He is not limited by our circumstances! He can move this mountain and I believe that He will in ways that will continue to shock and awe us all!
So what are we going to do....we are going to Praise Him with Great Thanksgiving! Our hearts echo that of Paul's found in Ephesians 1, that "All Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding!"
We will stand and Praise Him for the Glorious Grace He has poured out over us! So many in this world are crying! Striving to earn grace! Looking for love! Searching for answers! Is He not enough? Where will we go...where will we run? To Him - for He is by our side whenever we fall! He is there in the dead of this darkness! Please don't fight His Hands that are holding us! Oh how He Loves us! And He wants you to know that He will never let you go! God never said it would be easy...but He promised it would be worth it!
So here is how the "fire" seems to be lining up...
November 30th or December 1, Kelly will deliver Jackson by c-section at Magee Women's Hospital, where he will be stabilized in the NICU and transferred to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh as soon as possible. Jackson will then undergo a few days of testing, evaluation and preparation before the first surgery to begin by-passing the left side of his heart at 3 or 4 days of age. He will then be stabilized and monitored in the Cardiac Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital for 3 to 4 weeks following surgery. Most likely Jackson will not be home before January 2010 with weekly visits to follow at Children's hospital, until the second surgery at 3 or 4months. At this point an extended plan of care will be established before the third surgery between 2 and 3 years old.
Obviously this is going to be a very long road, and intense fire to walk through! We are not sure all that we will face, nor the emotion we will experience, but when we are discouraged we will let our heads lead our hearts by the Promise of Isaiah 43..."When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior!" [Isaiah 43: 3, NKJV]
Move Update:
This week is going to be a very intense week in its own right as we will be moving into the new house in Wexford, PA. Tomorrow we will be finalizing plans with Kevin and Beth and signing the lease agreement after church. They are scheduled to move out on Monday, and then we will begin moving in Tuesday evening. Thursday morning, the moving company will be unloading all of our belongings that have been in storage over the last 4 months! [Praise God...we will finally be able to stop wearing flip flops, even though this coming week will be "spring like"!]
Please continue to reinforce the foundation of prayer! Trust me - your prayers are felt and there is no way that we would be standing if were not for the demonstrations and expressions of encouragement, faith and support you all have shown through our Heavenly Father! We love you all so much and thank you for standing and walking through this storm with us!
Keep the faith...Keep it real...and Keep your eyes on Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment