Giving Thanks To God

Oh my goodness, what a difference a few days can make! The song that's been playing through my mind the past few days is actually off the kids Bible memory verse cd, Seeds of Worship. It's Psalm 136:1-7 "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, His love endures forever. He spread out the earth upon the waters. His love endures FOREVER!"

I've been reading "Jesus Calling" and the last few weeks have really focused on the idea of being thankful in any and all situations. Here is an excerpt from the night before Ava Jane had her surgery:

"Rest in the deep assurance of my unfailing love. Let your body, mind and spirit relax in my Presence. Release into My care anything that is troubling you, so that you can focus your full attention on Me. Be awed by the vast dimension of my LOVE for you: wider, longer, higher and deeper than anything you know. Rejoice that this marvelous love is yours forever."

"The best response to this glorious gift is a life steeped in thankfulness. Every time you thank Me you acknowledge that I am your Lord and Provider. This is the proper stance for a child of God: receiving with thanksgiving. Bring Me the sacrifice of gratitude, and watch to see how much I bless you."

Honestly, in all that's happened in the past 2 weeks since being admitted to Children's, Adam and I have not struggled with the "why's" of this congenital heart problem that Ava Jane has, but rather, we've just wanted to take away the problem and make it go far, far away. We however, were helpless to do anything, we had to just trust the doctors and believe that what they knew and thought was best for her, but ultimately we had to trust the plan that God had pre-planned for her sweet little life.

In both mine and Adam's quiet times the Lord was impressing upon us to just give thanks for all things and in all situations...so we started recounting all that there was to be thankful for and we were overwhelmed with what God has done over the past weeks. He allowed us to find this problem (in a medical environment, not just at home or out somewhere if she had turned blue or stopped breathing); He enable Adam to have this job that put us back in Little Rock where we could have access to one of the best Pediatric Cardio Vascular surgeons and an excellent Children's Hospital; He kept her PDA open in her heart, which normally would have closed right after birth, which continued the blood flow to her extremities; He gave her RSV so that she'd be pushed over the edge of her Coarctation in such a way that she couldn't compensate for the narrowing in her aorta any more and it's what revealed the problem to us. We feel extremely blessed and truly thankful!!

Just as Jesus calling says, "We are continuing to rest in the deep assurance of God's unfailing love...and we are rejoicing that this marvelous love is ours forever!" We are going to let "thankfulness rule in our hearts...as we thank Him for the blessings in our lives it is as if scales fall off our eyes enabling us to see more and more of God's glorious riches....a life of praise and thankfulness becomes a life filled with miracles!" And truly, Ava Jane is just a little miracle! Our miracle! God has blessed us immensely and we are humbled!

Today has been another HUGE day. They've let me nurse her "ad lib"--whenever she wants. And right now the APN is drawing up the paperwork for her to be moved from PICU out to the floor (step down area)! We are slowly weaning her down off the oxygen, she's currently at 3 liters but is breathing room air (21% oxygen), her blood pressure has been up so they're watching that, but her respitory therapist says she's sounding good and her OT is just checking in once a day to "monitor" her feedings to make sure she doesn't aspirate. She is still hoarse sounding and muffled a bit, but is sounding stronger then yesterday as far as her cry and coughs which is a good thing! Her arm that had the "mottling" from her Arterial Line causing the artery to spasm is looking much better! So over all she's doing great! We have been tremendously encouraged to meet several people in the past day who have had Coarcs just like her, and they have gone on to live a healthy, happy and normal life. We praise the Lord for what He's done in her and how He's saved her life! We are truly blessed and thankful for how God has orchestrated and cared for her!

We had the best nurse yesterday! She truly loves Ava Jane and she actually came by to check on her today even though she wasn't working! Every one of the nurses and doctors up here kept walking by her glass door and commenting on how pretty and cute she is so she got nick named "Little Miss PICU"! Now we just need to find her a tiara, for now, we'll just wear big flowers!