What a Month!

Addie is 10 months old now well 10 and 1/2 months. She has had a huge month! She had her surgery and 2 week follow-up appointment and everything is going great! She was cleared for all activities again starting last Friday. Today was her first therapy session after surgery. The therapist was very pleased with how her arm was doing and the scar today. We discussed the second EMG that we had done right before her surgery. The therapist said when she received a copy she thought it was a miracle in how much recovery and healing had happened in her arm. Even though there was surgery there was healing! God is good. Addie has also started to get much noisier. She blows bubbles with her mouth and has started to make syllable sounds like "baba." That was huge for her! She also has now learned to drink out of a sippy cup with a straw which was something her feeding therapist wanted us to try. Another big deal has been her eating. She was not really wanting to eat much baby food and so her feeding therapist recommended trying so other foods. It turns out Addie just wants foods with flavor! She is her daddy's girl! She can't eat the plain stuff. She enjoys chili,
baked potato soup, taco soup, and other flavorful things! She only has her two bottom teeth so she can only eat soft things or I will puree some of the soups so that it is easier for her to swallow and that seems to work. We are just so excited about each step that she has made and so thankful for what God has done already! It is such a blessing to be able to see His hand at work so consistently and to get small reminders of what He has done and promised to do. God has been so gracious to us in the way He is working. Lately He has been reminding He is not done yet with her Psalms 27:13 "I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Three verses I read yesterday said wait and wait with joy.  "Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being both alert and intent in your praying with thanksgiving" Colossians 4:2. 

Surgery Day

We had Addie’s follow-up appointment with Dr. Little in Cincinnati for her arm on Tuesday. We started the day with a second EMG to see how her muscles were responding and how much they had healed. Almost all of her muscles had improved to at least 50-75% function if not all!! The doctors were surprised at how well she was doing. There was one muscle though that they were not sure if it was fully functioning or if the muscle above it just overcompensated because it does the same function. There was also one muscle that had no function. They decided on Tuesday that surgery would be our best option for dealing with that muscle. So today Addie had a single nerve transfer. They were able to take a nerve from nearby the affected nerve so she only had one incision on the back of her shoulder. The surgery went as well as they were expecting and Addie is now out of recovery and in her room. We are spending a night for observation due to the fact that we live so far away. In the midst of this God has once again given us peace and promises. One of the ones He gave me yesterday was 1 Peter 4:13 “But rejoice in as much as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.“ And 1 Peter 4 :19 “ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” We may not understand why we go through hard times even when we pray for healing , but we still know that God heard us. We have been praying for healing and at the same time praying for more of His glory and sometimes the sufferings are the way that His glory comes. Our job is not to question the why of it, but to continue to trust our God who is faithful. We will continue to praise in the big and praise in the little. We are continuing to see God’s hand at work. Everyone that interacts with Addie can’t get over her sweet and content spirit. The issues and things she are dealing with should make her fussy but they don’t she still has a smile for everyone she sees. I prayed for her to have the temperament to handle her life and every time someone praises her sweet spirit I know God has answered. He really does hear us! And HE is working. Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose.” He has a purpose in all of this and so we will just keep trusting and just keep praising!