Praise Alert!!

God has answered again! We are beginning to see external rotation in Addie's left arm! This was the hoped for outcome from her surgery in October! They were not expecting to see the results already! Here is a video of her doing it and then clapping for herself! She loves pool therapy and I am so grateful we are able to do it so often as it seems to really be helping her arm function. Once again God has been faithful. We are continuing to count on that faithfulness as we head to her St. Louis appointment tomorrow to talk about her hip. Thank you all for your continued prayers for her healing and strength as we go through this one step at a time. He has been carrying us all along and we have not been consumed by these trials the past year! Lamentations 3:22-24 "Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Addie is 1!!!

Today is Addie's 1st birthday. I can not even believe that time has gone so quickly! We have had a year I could not have imagined. God has been so faithful and steady. When I think of all Addie has faced this year I am reminded of all the way we have seen God's hand. Before she was born we were warned about her heart but God touched that. We were also warned that there was most likely a genetic defect, an underlying cause of all her physical issues. When she was born there was no genetic defect! Upon birth her left arm could not move now she is able to lift it over her head when lying down and is beginning to get external rotation! Her middle fingers on her right hand tended to stay pointed into her fist upon birth, now they move freely. Her feet were severely clubbed but now with casting, surgery, and her braces they are looking much better! There was concern she was aspirating but after a swallow test we were able to cross that off the list. God has worked in so many ways in her life and it has been so exciting to watch, but He has also worked in our lives. I am amazed as I go back over all we have dealt with this year and am able to realize how much God has carried us through and been so true to His word. His faithfulness through this past year helps me to hold onto Him in the coming year. I receive a daily devotional and the title of today's was "He still heals." Addie still has many issues to deal with including her dislocated hip, which we follow up with next week in St. Louis, but God still heals. He has made promises and He will be faithful to those because He is faithful! I shared these two verses with Mike shortly after the ultrasound showing us some of the difficulties Addie would be facing. Psalms 89:1-2 " I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself." God's faithfulness comes from who He is, it does not change!

God is so Good!! 11 Months

 We have had a fun month with Addie! She is continuing to make more sounds and using them to express her desires. Although at this point there is a lot of Da-da and no Ma-ma sounds (I am working on that!) We also celebrated her 1st birthday a little early but it was a great day! She loved playing in her cake although she did not really eat it. She made such a big mess she needed a shower afterward which just meant she got to try one of her new outfits on right away! She is starting to fill out in the past few weeks and loves to try new foods. She loves things that have a lot of flavor. One of the latest things we tried was juice from my grapefruit thinking she would make a silly face but she loved it and wanted more! We are continuing to work on her arm and for the next 3 months we have increased her to 2 sessions of Occupational therapy and 1 session of physical therapy a week. They like to increase the OT for 3 months following surgery. We had OT today and I realized again how much God is working even in the little things. Angie her therapist was teaching me how to tape Addie's wrist and also we were working on using E-stem. The taping helps pull her wrist into the correct position which increases her ability to grasp. We have tried the taping a few times and have been very pleased with the results. Now that I know how to apply it we will be able to keep Addie's wrist taped consistently. The E-stem is for the muscle up by her shoulder where she had surgery. The E-stem is a machine that hooks up to 2 electrodes and sends electric currents to her muscle to help it contract. When we started today Angie warned me that Addie may only be able to have the current level to where she could feel it but not enough to actually make her muscle contract. She also warned that while our goal is 30 minutes a day Addie would probably only make it 5 or 10 minutes for the first few days. Well, once again I saw how God answered my prayer for her to have the personality to be able to handle the trials she would be faced with! Addie was able to handle the E-stem for 15 minutes and we were able to set the current high enough to make her muscle contract without it bothering her! Angie was amazed at how well she handled it. It is always neat to see God answer your direct prayers the way you desire, but today I also experienced Him working in a way that I never thought to pray. When we started talking about taping Addie's wrist and then E-stem I was excited about trying anything that may help or just speed up her healing. I had no idea that I would be required to do it! I didn't even think to pray that I would catch on quickly or be able to understand what my role was, but today as Angie was walking me through it all everything went smoothly. All of the understanding seemed to come very easily to me and I know that as I prayed for Addie to have the right personality and spirit to go through what she needed God is also doing that for me. Angie was able to leave the E-stem machine with me today. She had anticipated it taking a few more weeks of practice. Addie handled it so well and God gave me such an easy understanding of it we are able to start doing daily E-stem now instead of waiting! I love it when the Bible becomes alive in my life!  Matthew 6:8b "for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  I never even thought to pray that I would understand my part but God knew! He opened up my mind to be able to understand and comprehend what I needed to at the time that I needed to! I never want to be so busy looking for the big ways of God's presence in my life that I miss the day-to-day ways He is already there and working! He has been so good to us and I just can't help but thank Him. His love is so precious and so caring! Psalms 63:3 "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." We have been blessed by seeing God's hand at work in miraculous ways, in medical/science ways (doctors), and most precious to me in His sustaining ways in our lives. He has carried us through all of this with such a precious peace. My older brother shared this verse with us right after we found out some of the issues Addie was going to have Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Jesus has been this to us the past 11 months in a way I had never experienced before. With Addie we have faced issues I had never heard of or thought about before her, but with Him carrying us we have been able to go through them. We get tired, we get busy, we get worn out but it has been easy! We have had joy because it has been Him. Our souls have had peace, a steady peace, throughout each up and each down with her. That peace, which passes understanding, can only come from God. I can hardly explain how amazing it has been to live these Bible promises! I know what we should have been feeling and then I know what we actually felt and it does not match up. I know it is not me it is all Him! We are awaiting the miraculous while living in the normal and that makes us see so much more of what God is doing because we are looking for Him! God's goodness and glory is all around the more I look for it the more I see! He is the King of Glory and Creator of all! 

                                                                      Psalms 24

¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Savior.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

⁷ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty—
    he is the King of glory.

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!

9 Months!

Thought I better get this done while it was still September :) 9 months along! Addie is about 15lbs which is tiny!! She is much more active and desiring to interact with others. She has always been a little busy body but now even more so! She is able to sit up, which she enjoys immensely! She is her left arm more and more which is exciting. It is common place now for her to lift it up straight out and by her head when laying on her side or back! Addie is also becoming stronger with her fingers in the left hand. We know this is all from God. I was discussing Addie's improvement with her occupational therapist and she said that you could see the prayer was working! She said Addie was already further along then Angie anticipated without surgery! We are amazed at some of the results we have seen already. We are preparing now for her follow-up appointment in Cincinnati next week. We are going on Oct. 7th for and EMG and meeting with the doctor. That meeting will decide whether surgery is necessary at this point or not. If it is we will have surgery Oct 9th. Mike and I know the importance of prayer. We are learning that even when you don't see the answers the way you anticipate or as quickly as you anticipating it does not mean God is not working. It also doesn't give you a reason to quit praying! Matthew 7:7 "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." (NLT). With this verse in mind we have asked to have Addie anointed again this Sunday. We have seen God answer prayers immediately after anointing her like with her heart and slowly like last time we did it for her arm. But we have seen God answer! We know that James 5:15-16 tells us "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." The prayer in faith by a righteous person (a person right with God & right with others) will be answered. God has been opening my eyes more and more to the need to immediately make things right with Him and others when I realize I have offended or handle a situation wrong. I want to live a life where my prayers are answered, even if I feel silly apologizing for something or it seems small to me. I would rather be over cautious than allow something to fester between me and others that then comes between God and I.  My heart's desire is to live a life pleasing to God and that means I have to swallow my pride and my desires to work toward my biggest goal of pleasing God. I have had to confess speaking out of turn to some and speaking harshly to others. I have had to confess to God not sticking to the fast He had called me to. I want to live my life as an open book that points toward Him! That leaves no room for silly selfishness but it  is impossible to live like that without God. It is a learning process and I am far from perfect, but I want to continue trying because I know by confessing my sins He cleanses me and I am perfect in His sight! I am learning though I must keep short accounts to do that! 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." What a mighty God we serve that is so able and willing to confess our sins if only we can swallow our pride in order to confess them! So I ask you now to continue praying with me for my sweet Addie, but pray from a righteous heart, one that is right with God and right with others. And pray anticipating to see the miraculous! Our God is a miracle working God! As for me if I have done something to offend or upset you please let me know so that I can make it right, I truly want to live out a life of love and want to have nothing between me and those in my life! Let me end with this song with sang on Sunday "I Will Look Up" by Elevation Worship. One of the verses really hit me "
'I will look back and see that You are faithful
I look ahead believing You are able
Jesus Lord of all, Jesus Lord of all' 
As we head into Addie's appointment and potential surgery we look back at the answers we have seen: her heart, movement in both arms & hands, and no genetic disorder! Then we look ahead into next week with her arm knowing how able and capable our God is and so we don't fear we praise, pray, and anticipate!!

What a Week!!!!

We have had an awesome week here! We started on Tuesday with a new occupational therapist. She has more experience with brachial plexus injuries and we thought that while our last therapist was good that Angie would end up being a better fit for Addie. On Tuesday also we were able to schedule Addie's follow up appointment for her arm. She will have an EMG and meet with the doctor on October 7th if surgery is necessary they scheduled it for October 9th. But on Wednesday Addie started lifting up her left arm!!! She has had good elbow movement but not much on her shoulder. Now she is able to bring it all the way up to the top of her head! It really was a miracle. She has been doing it continually ever since! Now that she is able to move it on her own we see that the nerves are working and she may just need to continue therapy instead of surgery!! The week continued on a positive note after meeting with her feeding therapist, Megan, the first time on Thursday. Megan thought we were right on track with Addie and is hopefully that as she continues to eat more solid foods her jaw will stretch and open more on her own. Then, today we finished the week with an appointment with Dr. Akeson, her orthopedic doctor here. It went even better than I could have imagined. He was pleased with her feet and we are just continuing to wear her braces at nap and bed time. I also was needing to talk to him about treating her hip in St. Louis instead of with him. He was very encouraging about the doctor there and agreed that would be the best place to have her treated. He also said he was more than willing to work with the doctor there and do some of the follow-up or casting after her hip surgery here if St. Louis is okay with the idea. It could not have gone any better! We have been blessed by wonderful doctors here who are willing to say that others can handle some of her issues better than them and then working with them to get Addie the best treatment! It has been such an exciting week. It is always so encouraging to my faith to see my prayers answered. We have had Addie anointed multiple times for complete healing and then specifically for her arm before our last appointment and we had not seen big improvements and then the day after we schedule her follow up appointment and potential surgery she begins to move it! God is giving her an awesome testimony of His healing power and His faithfulness. Even though things may not happen on our timeline He hears and He answers in a way that brings about His glory and His good! So we praise through it all!
            Psalms 100

¹ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
²     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

We will be telling her story for years to come sharing with others because we are His and He has been faithful to us!