"Thank you, Lord!"

Those are the words I am breathing!  I lay on the couch Friday afternoon trying to take a quick nap, my heart raced with excitement and those were the words on my mind with every.single.breath., over and over.  I was unable to sleep Friday night either, just full of joy and giddiness!  Here is the battery of tests that Peter has had over the last 2.5 months....
(I am so proud of my little man and his bravery!)


EEG (x2)
MRI of his brain and L-spine
lots of "chemistry" and more routine labs
expanded newborn screening

organic acids 
urine creatinine disorders panel

SCN1A Gene Test

lumbar puncture to check for:
~CSF lactate 
~CSF amino acids 
~CSF neurotransmitters 
(Plus, add to that...  2 hospital admissions, 4 ER visits, one ambulance ride, one surgery with  pinning, one arm in a splint/cast for 4 weeks.)


ALL OF HIS TEST RESULTS HAVE BEEN NORMAL!  We so praise God for this and just rejoice with great delight!  It has been a HARD 2.5 months... our souls have felt in anguish.  After his most recent normal test, a great meeting with genetics and neurology, and just seeing how well he's been doing for a couple weeks, we are just delighted!  We thank God so much for His mercy and sweet answers to the prayers of MANY.  We are so thankful.  Thank you, Lord.  We can't thank You enough!


In the Tuesday morning Women's Bible study that I do, we have been going thru the Psalms.  Its been good, and a little too close to home for comfort, freeing, comforting, hard... yes, all of those.  Most recently we've studied Psalm 88 & 130.  I don't think I've EVER read Psalm 88 (and sorta glad I hadn't).  Our study title for it is "Dark".  It says things like "For my soul is full of troubles, my life draws near to Sheol (the grave).  I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength" (v3-5) and "I am shut in so that I cannot escape; Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you." (v8-9) and "Is your steadfast love declared in the grave?... Are your wonders known in darkness" (v11-12).  Unlike other Psalms, it doesn't then end sweetly and tie things up in a positive way.... I can hardly bear to type it so here's a link. This was hard to read and study during a hard time.  But the thing we talked about is that this writer is still engaged with the Lord.  This writer is still acknowledging his relationship with the Lord, even in his extreme distress, rather than ignoring that.  We see that we aren't alone in our laments & distress but rather God chose to put these in His Word, to show us how honest we can be with Him.  


Psalm 130 is about waiting.  Waiting is hard because we are not in control.  We talked about how in waiting, a way to worship is to repent, not from a particular sin, but from self (my control) instead to trust Him.  Again, we talked about being engaged with the Lord during our waiting, like "watchmen wait for the morning".  As I "watch" and think about what the Lord has done during all of this (our waiting), one theme that my heart sees is how He has expanded my love for our family.  At the start of this in January, I felt sure that we might be "done", we might be a family of 4 and the Lord had made me content with that (which is a praise, I am not often content, and it has been a prayer of my heart... to live where we are now, not just dreaming of what will be).  But after the pregnancy and miscarriage, and after knowing that Peter is being worked up for genetic issues so that may mean we need to be "done", I feel like God has both increased my heart for my own children (the 3rd pregnancy we had!) and for adoption and just thinking of the possibilities that could be... seeing others stories of adoption unfold, reading Choosing to See (I still haven't read the ending, not sure if I will right now).  None of this is written in stone, I am just trying to reflect on what God has done in our lives thru this trial.  I am thankful, I feel like He has increased my JOY.  Thank you, Lord!  You have been good and merciful to us.  And I am thrilled that he has shown us promise of good health, we also thank Him that our eternities are secure through Jesus' blood on our behalf (and we beg Him for long life on earth!).  O Lord, we thank you.  Today we especially thank You for our Pete and our Lily, who we ADORE, ADORE, ADORE!!!  Thank you, Lord!  (Now I just need a bigger house for my future children!... hehe! ;)... honesty!)