Praise the Lord! Surgery Canceled.

Dear Friends. We would love to give God praise and share our great news with you. Recently, we believe we saw God intervene on behalf of our precious Luke. Most of you know, and many were praying for the surgery he was to have on Feb. 15th. After many Dr. appointments, a CT Scan, and an MRI, the plan was to remove the mass on his forehead by surgical biopsy. However, we had been concerned about him undergoing anesthesia at such a young age (we had been advised it would be better developmentally if we could postpone until he was 2), as well as what type of scar/disfiguration the surgery itself might cause, let alone what the pathology results could entail.

On the morning of Feb. 15th we arrived at the Surgery Center at Children's Mercy by 6 am just as planned. Luke had fasted, was fully "gowned" (and looking pretty stinkin cute in a sort of sad way I might add) and went through all the pre-op procedures. BUT, when the surgeon came in to speak with us before the surgery, he determined to CANCEL THE SURGERY!

We believe this is a result of many factors -- all for which God receives the glory. We believe God gave the Dr. wisdom to really consider what would be best for Luke. We believe God gave us grace by giving us a Dr. who is extremely knowledgable yet kind enough to alleviate our concerns by thoroughly explaining his thoughts to us. We also believe that God allowed for atleast partial healing of the area of concern. Whether it was a supernatural healing, or whether it was a matter of healing over time, we give God glory. While the mass does still remain(and we continue to pray for complete healing of that), the abnormal swelling of the area that had taken place from August through December has subsided. In other words, it is NOT swelling anymore. With this in mind, the Dr. felt comfortable to cancel the surgery for atleast the time being. We will continue to monitor the area, with follow-up appointments at 3 and 6 months. If all seems well, the Dr. may do one more MRI. If there is still some concern, he may reschedule the surgery at that point (but by then Luke would have reached the 2 yr mark!). Praise the Lord!

On a side note, I wanted to share with you how I have battled with this post....Honestly for almost 2 weeks now. I knew what I wanted to write, but I also inwardly questioned if Thanksgiving and Praise would have flowed so freely from my lips if we had received different news. Lately, God is challenging me to become ever more aware of how "present" He is in my life. To live fully in the wonder of life with a personal God. To recognize His presence when my life looks like I want it to and even when it doesn't. Sometimes we are given news that makes us want to shout Praise from the rooftops. Other times the news makes us want to scream in anguish. Either way, I am praying that the Lord will help me to recognize His grace for the moment and the beauty of the pattern He is weaving in my life. May you too, be able to see His hand, ever present, in your life!