Sorrow, The Truth and Blessings..

As we near our sweet baby girls arrival, many emotions continue to fill our hearts. The joy and excitement of meeting her are also followed with the fear of what is to come.

The other evening before I fell asleep I was enjoying the movement of our new little baby girl. My thoughts then moved on to how badly I wish our sweet Gracie was here with us to meet her new little sister. I woke up with a heavy heart the next morning as my thoughts went right to when Gracie was in the hospital and we were having to say good bye to her. We have tried our best to rejoice about our new little one...and trust me we are so excited to meet her, but there is no way to get around the feelings of just having to let go of our other precious daughter only a year and a half ago and now having to face a similar path of having a baby girl with a heart condition.

The day Gracie went home to be with Jesus the doctors and nurses had been trying to save Gracie for over four hours and when we finally got to see her it was as if she was not the same little girl. Words will never be able to express that awful day and what it was like to have to be in that hospital room with our daughter. I don’t believe you could EVER be prepared for loosing a loved one, but we were so shocked. Even though Gracie had a heart condition we were no were near the point of concern for her life that day. We were thankful for the only comforting feeling that floated away with us as we walked out of the hospital without our baby girl....the Lord reminded me that it was just her flesh and her spirit is now with Jesus. It was helpful..but of course it does not change the fact that her flesh is what we held in our arms daily and so desperately ache to hold again. I’ve heard time helps heal the heart. I think for us it is not so much time, it is just the ability to fall completely on God and have him hold us up when we feel so deeply sad inside and when we fear the same thing can happen to our new little blessing. We do trust in God and his sovereignty, however we can’t help to feel nervous knowing how things can change so quickly. It is then when we just go right to God and pray and ask for him to please help us and remind us that regardless of time we will be blessed with our sweet baby girl.

Why would a good and loving God allow us to go through such things as the death of a child, other trials and tribulations?

The truth:Jesus said, “In this world you shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). Trials and distress are not something unusual in life; they are part of what it means to be human in a fallen world. In Christ we have an anchor that holds fast in all the storms of life, but if we never sail into those storms, how would we know that? It is in times of despair and sorrow that we reach out to Him, and, if we are His children, we always find Him there waiting to comfort and uphold us through it all. Even the sufferings we endure and which seem so terrible “are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18) Could God prevent all suffering? Of course. But He assures us that “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). So even suffering is part of the “all things” that God is using to accomplish His good purposes. His plan is perfect, His character is flawless, and those who trust Him will not be disappointed.

Blessings:Although I have always been honest about our sadness about Gracie and the trials of caring for our special children I hope I have always shared how blessed we feel. We are always thankful for ALL the blessings we do receive and for all the special times God continues to make our hearts happy.

Gracie was and always will be our special Angel who brought us so much joy and taught us how to be courageous and love deeply. We know there was a complete divine purpose for Gracie’s life and we hold onto to God’s promises that we will one day be reunited with her again. WHAT A BLESSING!

Another big blessing... our precious sweet Luke. He has done amazing since his return from the hospital in May when he received his stent. He has had enjoyed time with his big family :) many play dates and fun activities. A week at Vacation Bible School was his favorite~followed by hanging out with everyone who he loves so much! I cannot tell you how happy our heart feels when we see him smiling and having fun. I believe trials make you appreciate life so much more and it makes us so happy to see our little guy having fun at whatever he is doing. We love our little guy so much and are so thankful we are blessed with him. Here are some pictures of Luke from the last 6 weeks.........

Swimming in the pool with friends Koral and Maddi.

Making some yummy cupcakes with cousin Kennedy

Having some fun with cousin Wyatt

Making smores with Cousins Victor Ryan and Marissa

Marissa, Miranda, Victor Ryan and Luke

Playing Ball with Daddy

Our dear friends the Gates family, put us in touch with their

aunt Marcia who was so generous to offer us the opportunity

to house her piano until she is able to sell it.

Luke loves playing us songs :)

Ryan Gates teaching Luke how to play the drums. For those

of you who attended our Hopeful Hearts event last year

you will definitely remember Ryan. He is the most amazing 13 year

old boy who also has a heart condition. He has taken his experience

and inspired many including our family. We love the Gates family

and feel so blessed to have been brought together.

As we prepare for our baby girls arrival sometime in August (more details by July 28th) we are going to be blessed once again. We are still unsure and will be until she is born as to when she will need surgery. It could be a day, a month or three months? At times when we are feeling overwhelmed and our hearts get anxious about what is to come...we then are blessed with the comforting feeling that we will get through this as we have before and we will just take in every blessed moment with our new little girl.

There are many blessings that are bestowed upon us, but the last one that I wanted to share was the blessing of all of you who continue to love and support us the way you do. “We have hurt like we never could of imagined but have been loved like we never knew we could.” THANK YOU!

We will have more information on the plan for our baby girl on July 28th. So I will send an update as soon as I can.

Thank you for loving us the way you do.

Love, the Chez Family

Adam, Terra, Luke, Angel Gracie, and baby girl Chez