Immeasuarbly More...

Happy Easter to our prayer warriors and fellow sojourners!  Typically, on holidays, I think back to last year. What were we doing last Easter? What did we eat? What did we wear? Today I was thinking and I couldn't remember the sermon from last year or our Easter lunch. Then, it hit me. Last Easter, we were travelling to Dallas to meet our new team of specialists. We were scared, entering new territory, entrusting our daughter's life to new hands. I kept thinking, "God, how are we going to do this?" He asked us to follow Him and He proved Himself more than able.

So, when I think about how to describe the past few months, I think about His goodness, His faithfulness, and His ability to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.


The past few months have been filled with moments of open-mouthed, wide-eyed, fall-to-your-knees kind of shock...but the good kind of shock. I'm not really one for surprises, normally. I like to plan and feel that I actually in control of everything.

Then God throws His head back and laughs and laughs...

First things first, we traveled back to Dallas in December for post-op visits and an MRI. Some of the planned things happened, and the rest? Well, Caroline had other plans in mind.

We met with our craniofacial surgeon, Dr. Fearon to discuss her progress after surgery. During that surgery, they had access to plenty of her blood, so he ran some genetic tests to determine if she has an underlying genetic mutation or syndrome that all the other genetic tests had missed. Once we sat down in his office he looked at me and said, "OK first I want to let you know I have the results of her genetic tests..."

I braced myself. I sat up straighter and actually tightened my stomach muscles as if preparing for a soccer ball to come sailing and knock the wind out of me.

"And they are all negative."

I was shocked. See, even though all of Caroline's previous genetic testing from UAMS and ACH came back negative, I was still worried. The geneticists at ACH told me they were pretty sure she had something linking all of her anomalies. So I sat speechless for a moment and tried to regroup. All I could muster was a whispered "Really?"

I was just sure he was going to say, "sorry but your daughter has..."

So, Caroline is genetically "normal." Normal is a pretty nice word to hear. I thought at the time, "I could really get used to hearing that word."

Well, at our neuro follow-up, MRI, and ophthalmology consult in January, we got to hear that word a few more times.

Here we are getting ready for the MRI. This is MRI-take 2, the redo of the "planned" one in December. Turns out that one was ordered without sedation and Caroline let us know pretty quickly that was not happening. So, here we are getting ready for the MRI with sedation.

After the MRI, we headed to Dr. Sacco's office to discuss the results. Since she has a programmable VP shunt and recently had cranial surgery, he wanted to be sure her shunt was at the proper setting. First, he showed us pictures of previous MRI's compared to this MRI. The differences were astounding. Finally, Caroline's lateral ventricles are almost a "normal" size. Also, we were once told that Caroline had less white matter than the average person, but Dr. Sacco explained it only appeared that way in images due to her untreated hydrocephalus and cranial pressure. So, now that her pressure is decreasing and the hydrocephalus is being managed, her brain actually looks "pretty normal." At one time we were told her corpus callosum was thin, but in Dr. Sacco's words it now looks normal. It is amazing what can happen when you finally find the right specialists.

The next day we met Dr. Lefler, our new ophthalmologist. He did a very thorough exam and concluded that Caroline's vision is perfectly normal. At one time we were told her right eye had a "drift." I don't know if it is due to her hydrocephalus finally getting under control or what, but now everything is "normal."

Obviously, this trip brought unexpected, wonderful news that made us feel indescribable thankfulness. This overwhelming thankfulness and relief was magnified by the fact that a couple of weeks prior, we discovered we were expecting baby #2. I kept thinking, "God, how are we going to do this?" We arrived in Dallas a day before our MRI and appointments and in between bouts of morning sickness, which seriously should be renamed "all day sickness" for accuracy, I cried and said to Josh, "I don't know how we are going to manage." Then, with each bit of good news and every time we heard, "normal" a little of the worry was lifted from our shoulders. It was like a little nudge from God saying, "See, I'm faithful. I'm good. I've got you."

Easter has come again. This year, we got to be home with our church and our families. We have proclaimed He is risen. We have been reminded of the promise of the resurrection and the hope of Heaven. Once again. we have another big appointment the day after Easter. This year, for baby #2. Tomorrow we will travel to Little Rock for a level 2 ultrasound and fetal echo to see how this baby is doing. I don't have happy memories of ultrasounds, so I've been feeling those worries and fears start to settle on my shoulders again. Easter reminds us though of the power God holds. He endured agony and death, but no grave could keep Him from His promise of rising. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know God is big. He is faithful. He is with us. I look at what He has done in Caroline's life. Not even 2 years, but He has shown us His glory. He is indeed able to do immeasurably more...

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

~ Ephesians 3:20-21