Curveballs!

You all know the phrase; When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Right?? So the other day I read: If life doesn't also hand you sugar and water, than your lemonade is going to suck! 

I thought this was hilarious but so poignant.  Yes you have to make the best out the hand you are dealt but sometimes in our humanness we feel at a loss as though we don't have much to work with! That's when God can swoop in and lay down a Royal Flush for us.  OK so one more analogy...This week I have been thrown a few unexpected curveballs.  But my God is big enough to hit a grand slam homerun, and that is what I am hoping you will pray along with me for that!!  (Let's hope the Detroit Tigers are big enough tonight too, but that is a whole different story!!) 

Monday in Sophie's preop appointment I found out that Sophie's surgery was Tue 10/11 not Wed the 10/12 as we had mistakenly been planning on this whole time.  In my first few moments of panicked dialing to make arrangements to accommodate for this small snafu God provided and everything worked out ok.  There is something about the phrase "My two year old daughter is having her 8th surgery..." that gets a "whatever you need is fine" response from people.  Curveball to homerun!

So I was doing ok, tying up loose ends, planning for food, mother-in-law coming in, etc etc burying myself in "busy work" makes it much easier for me.  Tonight I was planning on sending out this last pre-op notice to you all.  Craig has Parent Teacher Conferences tonight (he was supposed to have them next Tue too so that was the worst of the panicked shuffling) so tonight I am just chilling at home with my girls.  I went upstairs with Sophie to get her pjs on and suddenly noticed her front right balloon is soft and squishy.  Panic! It's supposed to be rock hard like all the rest of them! Curveball!

I paged the surgeon and he confirmed my worst fears, her balloon has most likely sprung a leak.  The saline is completely harmless to her of course but the "risk" is that if the balloon flattens back out her stretched skin can actually shrink back up so he said our assignment between now and Tue is to keep filling it to avoid "shrinkage" (such serious subjects need some comic relief!)  Curveball, huge huge curveball! I couldn't talk to Craig and just the fact that I had thought for two seconds there that Sophie was going to be rushed into surgery tonight I was shaking and starting to cry.  I did what anyone would do. I called my Mom.  She listened like she always did.  She made sympathetic shocked sounds as she took it all on her shoulders as I did mine.  She consoled and comforted.  And then she did the very best thing for me, she prayed. 

With Sophie on my lap I rested my hand gently on the soft squishy balloon as we formed a ring of three generations of Mothers and Daughters loving eachother and wanting to protect the others from harm.  She prayed as I am asking you to join in praying with us that God could create a cushion around that balloon so she would not lose too much of the progress we have made that it would be protected from further harm.  I know that we can still have a homerun because of God! He is able to do immeasurably more than we can hope or imagine after all!  Please pray with me! It's time to blow dust off your buttons! Sophie's Super Supporters, she needs you now!! Here is one of my favorite songs these days, always in my head... 

Her surgery time is most likely around 11, I will keep you posted that day via facebook! I am thankful to all of you.  God has already turned many curveballs into homeruns in the last 3 years.  "My hope is in you Lord, all the day long, I won't be shaken by drought or by storm." All praise and glory to God!!