Surgery Tomorrow

On one of my favorite sweet young love movies, "A walk to remember," Mandy Moore's boyfriend asked her how does she know God and her faith is real? She replies back to him..."It's like the wind...You can't see it, but you can feel it." I love that description.

I may not be able to always explain my faith perfectly to others, but I am so thankful for the blessing to feel it in my soul, which of course is the holy spirit.

Although, we have our faith it does not make us exempt from trials and from failing is so many areas. Being a Christian is not easy, God never promised it would be. To be a Christian we are to act "Christ Like" and considering Christ was perfect it's a pretty tough act to follow.
One thing we are so thankful for is, never doubting the hands of God and his plan. Even though we have walked down this very difficult (at times) path with so much hurt and pain, I still trust in him with my whole heart. God is soveriegn and I trust that this is all for his glory. I'm thankful for all he has given us despite our circumstances.

Again, we are not exempt from hurting and feeling frustrated at this path we have to travel. Tomorrow will be very difficult for us and our hearts will be so heavy as Abbey is taken into surgery, but I know God will help us to breathe our way through. We trust in him and know that although we will not be by her side during surgery, HE will. AND we will keep reminding ourselves that throughout the day. He will also be holding us up as we walk in to see Abbey when her surgery is complete.

For those of you that are in to specifics, here are the details of the surgery:
-Approx 5 hours up to 13
-She will be on bypass

-She will be receiving up to 6 pints of blood (thank you to our donors)

-Dr. Hanley will first open and repair her pulmonary arteries (this will take the most time)

-Then if he has time (this one of our big prayers-for him to have the time) he will close up the Ventrical Septic Defect

-Then move on to putting in her pulmonary valve

-The biggest concern for time, is we do not want to keep her on bypass for too long

-Then if there is not too much swelling he will close up her chest, if there is too much swelling she will come back with her chest still open and surgical tape over it. Which happened to Gracie (very difficult to witness, no parent should have to)

Depending on how much he is able to complete, will determine our length of stay. It could be two to four weeks.

Our Specific prayer requests are:

-That he is able to do a complete repair

-That her voice box is safe

-That God comforts and protects Abigail

-That God gives us strength and comfort

Sorry...I know...long request.

I cannot tell you how blessed we feel that Dr. Hanley will be performing this surgery. Not only is he the most brilliant surgeon you can tell he cares for every child. You can't help to look into his eyes and know your child is in amazing hands.

During surgery I know so many of you are praying for us and this too is hard to explain, but we can feel it. I know it sounds weird, but if you have ever been in a situation where much prayer has gone out to you, then you know exactly what I mean. We cannot thank our family, friends and blogger family enough for all your continued love and support during this time.

Also, big thank you to our moms who once again are here to support us. We could not do it without them. Not only are they with us, my mom drove us up in the motorhome! Like mom has always said, "there is nothing a man can do that I can't do better. :) It was a great memorable road trip! Thank you Mom and Marsha! Luke is so excited to have them here and cannot wait until Grandpa Jim and Papa Dave arrive tonight.

Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, June 6th at 8am. We will do our best to update as soon as we hear any news.

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Our driver....sorry buddy you still have many years until you get behind

the wheel of that bus

Daddy helping us get settled before he headed out

for his quiet drive without the kiddos

Getting ready to go

Love my kiddos!

Abbey and Grandma Laura

Luke wanting to drive with Grandma

Grandma Marsha and Abbey

Grandma Marsha and Luke

Hey brother can I play with that?

We wanted to take Luke out and spend some time together

before hospital life

All our Love, The Chez's

Sweet Baby Abbey our prayers will be with you

and we know that God will protect you tomorrow

when Daddy and mommy cannot....

Love you princess!!!

Meaning of Abigail: Father in Rejoicing