Scars and Memories

Kleenex warning!! (Several readers told me to do this if the post might be a tear jerker!!)

The blog world is amazing! I stumbled upon Abby Grace a few months ago from another blog. She is a precious little girl who happens to suffer from the same congenital brain defect as my mother, Chiari I Malformation.

Have I told you about my mom? I know I mention her in my posts. She has gotten attached to some of yours, so you may have had a few comments from her now and again. She is a ROCK! Not necessarily because she wants to be, but FORTUNATELY the Lord has brought her through countless situations which were tragedies at the time and are testimonies now! She had the tragic experience of losing two precious babies, Julie Michelle and Steven Daniel, before me. I think I have posted about the hidden blessing of "finding" space in the cemetery to bury Olivia beside them where there once wasn't space - God thing! She's had lots of medical struggles through the years that culminated in 2001 with the final diagnosis of Chiari I Malformation. After much prayer, she had surgery in December of that year. I remember travelling with just her and Dad to Missouri for the surgery. I was a newlywed and trying to be SO strong, but I was petrified. It was a terrible thing and and even more terrible surgery.

I remember the surgeon coming out into the waiting room that day after hours and hours of just me and Dad pacing. It was so much worse than he thought -the worst he'd ever seen, but he thought he did what he needed to do to help her lead a more normal life. I saw the look in my Daddy's eyes that day - it wasn't exactly what I wanted to see. My rock - my daddy - looked scared. The next 48 hours were so tough. So many things happened. I would steal away to pray, to check "we're praying emails" from friends, each time hoping to see the look of fear dissipate. The the Lord came. He touched her again, we came home in time for Christmas, and she has been a new woman ever since!

There are so many testimonies through that situation - maybe one day Mom herself will post about them. Like when the doctors said they couldn't fix the nerve damage that had already occurred in her legs to the point that she couldn't walk, yet the elders prayed and anointed her and she ran up and down stairs to help me get ready for my wedding day. Like the days after surgery that she couldn't even understand language, and looked at the evening news and didn't understand a word yet woke up the next morning and knew everything that was being said! Tonight, as I watched little Abby Grace toddle to her Daddy after this traumatic surgery with that tell-tale scar, and remembering trying to wash Mom's hair for the first time with that scar, all I could do was cry and say, "Thank you for letting me have my mom!"

Please pray for Abbie Grace's recovery. It is a hard one!

Thank you Lord for my mom - she has led me down this path that unfortunately she had already trod. What an amazing blessing!