Finally, an update!

Hello. Well, this is the very first time I have ever posted anything on this blog we set up over a year ago. For that I apologize. Also, I apologize for not keeping you updated on little miss. Ok, now that the apologies are done, let me catch you up. Back in November 2014, when Aly Mae was 5 weeks old, we went back to Houston for a check up with her surgeon. He could not be more pleased with how her incision looked and her growth and development at the time. Of course we were more than thrilled to receive this news. And of course, we stopped at our favorite taco spot..Torchey's Tacos. And yes, they were "dang" good. We visited with our friends, the Towe's and they got to love on Aly Mae again. We stayed with Devin and Sally Towe, who live just under an hour away from the medical center in Houston, for all of our appointments prior to relocating to Sugarland, TX before her big arrival day. Devin and Michael were college buddies and study partners. He and his precious wife, Sally, and daughter, Avery, opened their home to us, fed us, prayed for and with us, and just loved us during that super difficult time. We will always remember their kindness, hospitality, and love.

Aly Mae's surgeon wanted to see her again between 6 months and 1 year for MRI and check up. We scheduled for April, had to be rescheduled to June, then had to be rescheduled again so we asked to be worked in on a Friday in July during the time when the TX homeschool convention would be held in the Woodlands (near Houston). We were excited to get this appointment and MRI and and great news behind us, and attend part of the homeschool convention with some of our friends. Even though we fully believed our little girl was healed and whole already, days leading up to that appointment I began to experience doubt, fear, and worry. So I reached out to Aaron and Amber Cooper, dear friends of ours who had been through a similar situation with their miracle baby, Jace. They were such encouragement and rocks for us during our journey with Aly. Well, turns out they had also had their check appointment and MRI rescheduled to the same date as Aly's! I can't remember if we had mentioned this in other blog posts, but Amber and I both had the same OB to deliver our babies at TX Children's and Dr. Whitehead had also performed both Jace and Aly's surgeries to remove their meningocele/encephalocele. We were so thrilled to be able to see them and be there for each other on that day! They both received excellent reports!! Praise God! Unless we have any concerns in the future and want to be seen, Aly Mae never has to go back again!! I mean, is there a better report to receive?? I don't think so!

So now Aly is crawling everywhere at pretty high speeds, pulling up and cruising, and walking behind a walking toy. She says Dada, Mama, makes a "t" sound when I say tickle. She waves bye bye, says "more," "all done," and "eat" in sign language. She's doing a lot of this earlier and better than her brothers did. Which makes me wanna scream and shout! You may not remember or know, but one of the possible outcomes of her birth defect was severe brain damage. If that would have been the case, we would have loved her just the same. But these little development things that she is doing so well in just prove her healing and health! These things were big deals with our sons, but even bigger with her because of what could have possibly been! She's a mama's girl, but her Dada comes in a hard 2nd place. Goodness, I love to watch those two together!! Michael is a wonderful Daddy to all our babies, and I love love love to watch him with his boys. But this baby girl thing, it's just different. It's so sweet. It's so warm. I also love having a little buddy. I thought for a long time I would be happy happy happy with all boys. I was a boy mom. I still am a boy mom. I. Love. My. Boys. But this baby girl thing, again, it's just different. But it's the best kind of different. I want to say this another way just because I hear this phrase so often so I fear it won't really get my point across like I desire it to, but here it is. My heart is full. It really is.

Thank you all for your prayers for our, His, daughter! She is such a blessing to her Daddy, brothers, and me, and really so many others we cross paths with! And I have to mention, all her grandparents love her so, but her Papa is smitten. My goodness. She will be 1 year old in less than 2 weeks! That is so hard to believe! I'll include some updated photos for you from her 11 month photo session with Mamaw for you to enjoy at the bottom of this post.

Also, would you please pray for my new friend, Jill, her husband, Carlos, and their 3 daughters? They have a 4 year old and a 2 year old, and Jill is pregnant with their 3rd daughter. Baby Bryn, has been diagnosed with an occipital meningocele. Baby Bryn is due in November and The Parrillas are going through what we went through. She has gotten good reports, but like in our situation, only time will tell. We are praying and believing for healing for Bryn and a wonderful healthy life just like for Aly. May God receive all the glory!!! ALL the glory!!

Christi

What A Week!

What a week it has been.  Born on Monday, brain surgery on Wednesday and discharged on Friday!! That's right.....Christi and Aly are out of the hospital! I cannot imagine having a fuller week than this past week.  So glad to have my whole family home in West Monroe.

Breakin' my girls out of the hospital!

Doing Great...

She is out of surgery and doing great.  Dr. Whitehead said she did great, responded well to anesthesia and the surgery.  They did a CT scan immediately following surgery and everything was clear and looked normal.

We could not have asked for better results. Christi was actually able to nurse her soon after recovery! 

Both Christi and I had so much peace throughout the day today. God is good!  He has been our comfort in our time of need and has made a way when there was no way.  

Many times people have chosen to abort and end the life of a child who gets a diagnosis like our little girl did.  It was never an option for us.  This is God's child and not ours. He has sovereign control over all things. 

More posts to come on the progress and the details.  

Here is a detail you may not know: Christi Michelle is one tough lady. 

my sweet girls

Our little "texan"

She Is Here! Now to the Surgery...

She is here! Born on 10/13/2014 and weighed 7lbs. 1oz.

Christi is doing absolutely incredible recuperating from having the c-section and has been able to nurse and get plenty (but not near enough :)) of loving on Aly.  She was even able to nurse her and hold her on the OR table while they were finishing up the c-section......very cool and unexpected. Many other details and things that we could say that were big blessings for us.

Aly is doing great.  She is just sitting in her little bed in the NICU awaiting surgery.

She will have surgery tomorrow 10/15 @ 8:00am to remove the meningocele. Will update more after the surgery.  Apologize for the briefness and lack of details.....hopefully more next time.

Thank you for the continued prayers and encouragement. 

-Michael

Moving the Moving Date

You read the title correctly, the moving date has moved.  

Christi had regular contractions all morning and called the doctor's office around 10:30 in the a.m. Wednesday, the 17th.  The contractions continued in regular 5-10 min intervals. Dr. Lebleu wanted her to take some benedryl, rest and if they did not slow down then to call back.

At 4:30  she was still having contractions and at that time Dr. Lebleu wanted her to come to the hospital. So they gave Christi what I call a "knock out concoction" of stadol and phenergan; she was slurring words and slurring texts (so if you got a random text Wednesday evening.....it should all be making sense to you now).

They kept her overnight to watch the contractions and make sure that she did not progress into labor.  On Thursday morning Dr. Lebleu came and advised us to get on down to Houston......so that's what we are doing.

Christi has been in packing mode getting everything together for her and the boys to go down.  Nothing like packing in 3 days to be gone for the next month to two months.  On a positive note, it's like ripping off a band-aid, the quicker you snatch it off, the quicker you can just move on.

The contractions have slowed down and Christi is on "take it easy" orders.  A whole lot of water and couch sitting.

We are leaving for Houston this Sunday, September 21st.  Christi, the boys and my sister will stay in Houston. 

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

That’s what we are doing. This is Jennifer, Michael’s sister, Christi’s sister-in-love, and aunt to their three boys and soon to be baby girl. They have asked me to write a post for the blog and the word “Wait” has been a reoccurring theme for me since I first heard of Aly’s diagnosis. In this experience each member of our family has all been called to wait. As extended family members we wait for news, we wait for answers, we wait for plans, schedules, potential outcomes, prayer needs, something, anything that we can DO or HELP with. Oh my goodness what a job to ask someone to do! It’s so simple really, but our humanness just can’t fathom not being able to DO something about what is wrong in our lives. I know that as we go through this process that we as a family will be the front lines of support for Christi and Michael as Aly is born and the process that will follow. But for now God has told us to simply rest in Him and wait.

Why is waiting so hard for humans? A definition of the word wait is “to remain stationary in readiness or expectation.” The Bible says those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31) It’s not easy to see how the Lord is preparing us and resting us during this time of waiting. We have struggled with feelings of helplessness and simply not knowing what to do. The story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:10-13 has really struck home with me as I have struggled with this idea of waiting.

¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.” ¹¹ But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! ¹² Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.¹³ But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’”

We haven’t been told to do anything very difficult, just to wait on God’s plan. But just like Naaman how much more willing we would be if it was something very difficult or supernatural that God wanted us to do. Something so simple like waiting on God can frustrate us. We have all been on our knees over and over before God and will continue to do so, but is that ALL? And for right now the answer is yes. Wait on God. 

What blessings have come to our family when we have simply stepped back and let God do His work in us and in Aly. The blessings and the healing that Aly has already received have been amazing. God has great plans for Aly. Wonderful friends, family and even complete strangers have stepped up to help Christi and Michael through this time of need. I am so overwhelmed by the generosity I have seen. People wearing the Strong Like Aly t-shirts, donating money, and even providing a home so that Christi, the boys and my mom can live while in Houston. These actions have touched our hearts and mean so much, but may not have come to be if we had rushed forward without thought to God’s plan for Aly and her family.

So for now thank you for supporting us as we wait. Thank you for encouraging and loving Christi, Michael and the boys as they walk this road. It means so much as those of you who have been called to act have done so. We happily anticipate the day of Aly’s arrival and will be ready and rested to face this battle with our sweet Aly because of our willingness to do what God has called us to do right now. WAIT.

If you would like to help Michael and Christi financially, an account has been set up at Community Trust Bank for medical expenses. You can go to any branch and make a deposit into the account under the name “Strong Like Aly.” And if you want a t-shirt, those are still available so feel free to contact Jennifer Socha Lowery on Facebook to order yours.

What makes the wait sweeter is getting to see precious baby Aly’s pictures from time to time. So I leave you with this sweet smile.

 

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