The Wind of Change

Happy Three Week Birthday GiGi!

The winds blew and change came as GiGi was transferred to the larger NICU on Friday afternoon. She went by ambulance and after getting the older children settled with Courtney, Jen and Drew followed her to her new home away from home. Jen said that there is a neurosurgein available at the new hospital who will keep a close eye on GiGi's increase in fluid in the brain area. She said the immediate plan is to "wait and see" if GiGi can "move" this fluid on her own. It seems they are encouraged by her handling the bleed on her own and would like to proceed in the same manner before doing anything invasive. I will keep you posted on anything new as the weekend progesses.

I was encouraged that God provided this move on a Friday so that Jen and Drew would have the weekend to get used to the commute to the new hospital without the added burden of Beltway Traffic (at least not Weekday Beltway Traffic). And that they could get used to the new surroundings during a quieter time. However, I am sure that quiet is a relative term, as this new NICU has 80 beds and all of them are full.

Jen feels blessed by God's Healing Hand though because to quote her...."GiGi seems very comfortable in her new "home"..... she's a wee little fish in a giant pond... 80 beds in this NICU!!!! But God has used this to show us just how blessed we are in GiGi's health. There are MANY smaller babies in this NICU, and many with much bigger needs than our sweet girl. I know God is there with her, and His angels are right there in her isolet!"

All day Friday I ran across references to the Cross as I prayed for Jen and Drew and GiGi. I was hesitant at first to post the scriptural message but after seeing it again and again, I am relinguishing my fear and putting a verse out there for reflection. " Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad" Song of Songs 4:16

There is mention in Cowman's Streams in the Dessert of carrying one's cross in applying this verse and I quote: "What inexpressable charm seems to encircle some Christians, simply because they carry upon their pure countenance and gentle spirit the imprint of the cross! It is the holy evidence of having died to something that was once proud and strong but is now surrendered at the feet of Jesus."

I think of how much surrendering Jen has done with GiGi during all of this..in the past 24 hours alone, surrendering her to the CAT scan machine, surrendering her to the ambualnce, surrendering her to the new intimidatingly large NICU, surrendering her to the neonatal team as she left to return home to Kelly and Conor. And with it being the first full week of school (wouldn't you know that Drew had to work evenings this week) that she had to surrender the full blunt of motherhood to nurses, teachers, friends and neighbors as she travelled back and forth to be with GiGi. She has to "let go" and put so much of being a mother at the foot of the cross this week, yet the more she did it, the calmer and more peaceful she sounded. Don't get me wrong, she still has tears that overflow, but not out of hysteria. She still has moments when she feels Satan's bite of fear but she channels the fear easily into prayer. There is the nagging burden and overwhelming feeling that comes with the first week of school and a house put on "hold" ie.... all the paperwork, the mail, the cleaning, the caring for the older children. However, she rests in that God will provide the strength to do what is most critical and in the end, the rest will all be taken care of eventually,, she lays everything at the foot of the Cross. When people shake their head and nod and say "where does she get her peace and strength?" Well she got it by not running from the WINDS that blew into her garden of life but by turning her face to the cross and laying all those needs at the Cross.

Jen, thank you. You surrender your life and Gigi's life and allow His will to be done and the bitterness that could invade you turns into joy and gratitude to a loving God. Your fragrance is spreading abroad! You are letting God work through you and the people you touch in this experience, will forever be positively changed by it. Let the roots of their garden deepen in the soil and the growth overflow.

Specific prayer requests are for the fluid to decrease on its own and that the invasive procedures will not have to be done. And that the fluid will not have an impact on GiGi's neurological development.