If you're following along with the 2016 Scripture Memory / Dwell Richly printable, here's the verse for week 27:
For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. 1 John 3:20 (MSG)
This month has been filled with the widest range of emotions we've ever experienced. Our sweet little girl had craniofacial reconstructive surgery last week to fix her Craniosynostosis so you can only imagine things have been a little wild around the Todd Nest. We'll write more blog posts about that entire process but we wanted to document it for her three month mark. My mom asked me the other day if I knew how many people have been praying for us. My response: "Honestly, I have no clue because there are so many." Friends have told friends that have shared with their friends. We've been blown away. Three different people even put prayers in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem for Mia Kai. We can't even begin to express just how much it has meant to us and how encouraged we've been through it all.
We've had a number of big firsts this month, including JD's first Father's Day (yay!). Uncle Chase and Aunt Jacks flew in from Nevada and met Mia Kai for the first time in person. Chase, JD and myself gave blood in case MK needed a transfusion during surgery while Jackie watched Mia Kai. We introduced them to Steel City Pops and headed down to Georgia for Chase and Jackie's baby shower. MK normally does awesome on our 2-hour road trips to Nashville for hospital visits but the four hour trip to Georgia wasn't as seamless. She broke in Chase and Jackie pretty well. ;) MK also met Gingin, Papa and the rest of that side of our family for the first time. At Chase and Jackie's baby shower, our family gathered around, held hands and prayed for Elizabeth (arriving in September) and Mia Kai's surgery. Chills. We couldn't ask for better families!
We also applied for Mia Kai's first passport this month. She's found her hands and loves grabbing everything she can, particularly JD's hair and the ears and horns on Ralphie (AKA: her Wubbanub giraffe). She loves sitting up and standing (obviously with our help), giggling and "dancing" on slippery surfaces in her onesie (daddy helps her with this). Our favorite memory from this month happened the night before her surgery:
Monday (night before surgery) was really difficult for me. I'll post about that later but let's just say I've never wept so hard in my life. JD and MK were hanging out with our family in the lobby while I spent some time with Jesus in the hotel room by myself (much, much needed time). I regained my composure after they strolled back into the hotel room and got settled in.
I began running MK's bath in her little travel tub and prepared for the last day we would get to bathe her for a while. I'm getting her pre-op shampoo ready, look over at JD as he's holding her up and she's standing naked on the counter next to the sink. And y'all. She is just peeing away. Straight onto JD's shorts without him even noticing. We all three start laughing so hard. And Mia Kai is busting out with the hardest and most genuine laugh we've ever heard. It was the sweetest, greatest moment we could have asked for leading up to the big day. At the toughest moments, one of us will just smile and we both start giggling because we know exactly what the other is referring to with that laughter. We went to sleep last night laughing about it. It seems like such a small moment but it has brought us so much joy and has helped to carry us through. Just another area where we've been able to praise God and thank Him for knowing us so well.
