The love, support and prayers in those first days....

Amanda had a really good day today!  I am so thankful she is feeling better.  We even spent some time enjoying the pretty day.  Brandon had a good day, but he was really feeling it tonight.  Hopefully keeping it elevated this evening and a good night's sleep will have him ready for tomorrow.  Thank you for your prayers.

As I look back to last year, when we found ourselves unexpectedly in the hospital, the immediate outpouring of love and support was overwhelming.   Once word got out that Amanda liked stuffed animals, well, you can see how it progressed:

 The pictures above were all before surgery.  And by the end of the week:

Her cup runneth over...

We moved rooms four times, and every time we moved, it looked more and more like we were moving in.  We joke that the reason we went home was because they saw my Keurig brought into our room and they thought I was getting just a little too comfortable.  :) 

The outpouring of love went far beyond material gifts.  It was the prayers that got us through those nine days in the hospital.  The morning of her surgery, this is what was going on at Grace Academy:

 These post-it notes were around campus:

Friday, March 1, the morning of her surgery, we posted the following:

In preparation...

Written Mar 1, 2013 7:48am

Last night we gave Amanda a quick bath. She was feeling very anxious about today. So we put on a movie, I climbed into bed with her while Tom sat by her. She finally fell asleep after a late night snack of chicken tenders. At five this morning, they woke us up to give her another bath! This one was to prep her for surgery. Amanda was not pleased. Up until that point, we had all had a good nights sleep. Well, at least as good as you can in a hospital. She kept saying over and over, "I'm frightened about today." so I reminded her what Joshua 1:9 tells us about being frightened. We tucked her back into bed and Tom massaged her back and before long she was back asleep. It is 7:40 and we anticipate that they will take her back around 9. Please pray that she will have peace and courage this morning and that Tom and I can be strong for her. 

Oh my.  Reading that takes me back to the moments after her early morning bath, when she was so scared.   It took every ounce of my strength to not crumble and lose my composure in front of her and instead try to be calm and encouraging.  So that morning, to start from a place of total fear and heartbreak to feeling peace in spite of the anxiety while she was in surgery (yes, that is possible!) I know that it is because you prayed for us. 

Jeremiah 29:11-13

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.