Go Red For Women

Last Thursday, down at the Capitol, Adam and I had the opportunity to go and support some friends of ours whose daughter Annie, was being unveiled as one of this years Heart Survivors with the American Heart Association.  Sweet Annie's story is a complete miracle.  To hear her Mom, Tracy, talk about all the ways God has gone before them, provided for Annie and "healed" her, is remarkable.   It's inspiring.  God has certainly gotten the glory because her doctors have no other explanation for her hearts improvement some months ago when she needed the second procedure.

Even though there's many things to praise God for that He's done in the past few years, Annie still has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which in layman's terms means she is missing the left side of her heart.  She has already had two surgeries in a series of three procedures that will help bring a sense of normalcy to her hearts function.  Sweet Annie is the most adorable, smiley, active little thing and you wouldn't look at her and think that she was in heart failure.  Any onlooker at Target or Kroger would just think she was a precious strawberry-blonde toddler who is curious and delightful.  And though Ava Jane's heart condition was not nearly as volatile as Annie's is, I'm reminded of how I felt about Ava Jane when she was two months old and she too looked healthy and fine, she too had chubby cheeks and pink lips and nails.  Only the Echo's and EKG's and lab results could tell us, and still tell Annie's parents---that their sweet baby girl is sick--very, very sick.  It's actually that fact, those chubby cheeks and active little feet, that make it so hard to grasp the severity and seriousness of Annie's situation.   As I talked with Tracy last week, they still wait for her heart failure numbers to go down, for a catheterization in a few weeks that will look more closely at what is going on in her heart as they hope for the next surgery in this series of surgeries that will allow her heart to keep functioning.  So would you join me in praying for this precious little girl?  Please join me in asking for God to touch her with His Great Physician, holy hands that work miracles even still today.  We've seen God do it before; her parents have seen God do it time and time again.  The doctors stand in awe of what happened last time; He can do it again!  I look forward to praising God for what only He can do for Annie.  You can follow Tracy's blog at Heart For Annie to get updates and hear how she is doing.

It's hard to believe a year has gone by since Ava Jane too, had the chance to share her story at the Capitol and around the state last year.  What a great way to get to bring awareness to heart disease and congenital heart defects but also to share how God has worked in her life.  We enjoyed the platform that hopefully glorified Him.