So let me tell you about MY God!

Well, I had an update yesterday morning but I did not post it for some reason.  Then, we got the best news we've gotten in a WHILE...

From the start, we knew that it was very possible that Amanda would lose her foot. She and the doctors agreed on amputating it yesterday morning.  They thought it was for the best, and so did she.  She had prayed and was at peace with the decision, and was so glad that she would only have to endure this one more surgery, instead of the MANY more that they had told her she would need, trying to save her foot.  We went to the holding room, where they prepared her for surgery.  She signed her release form for amputation and then she was given medicine which made her "not care".  I gave her kisses and left her at 9:45 so that they could finish getting her ready.  Other family members got there about an hour later and we waited.  At 12:40, we got a call that the surgery had begun at 12:35.  At 1:30, much earlier than they had expected to be finished, we got a call that the doctor wanted to meet us in a conference room outside of the operating room.  The doctor came in and said that he did NOT amputate her foot!  We were all in shock.  He said that he saw new tissue growing, which they had not yet seen-even when they were in the OR just yesterday!  He looked at her and wondered what he would do if she were his daughter.  And although she had agreed to and signed off on having it amputated, he decided that her foot was worth saving after all-with only one small surgery to do later-a skin graft.  He said that he could not with good conscience take her foot, knowing that there was still a big possibility of saving it.  She went into the recovery room, and waited...the whole time not looking down.  She was scared and was just not ready to look down at what she thought was an empty spot where her foot once had been.  The nurses never said a word about it; they just took care of her and left it up to the doctor to tell her.  Then the doctor went in and told her that he had not removed her foot.  She was in shock just like the rest of us, but is giving God ALL the praise.  So here's what we know in our hearts happened.  We prayed.  For a month, we prayed.  SO many people prayed.  From last week to this week, there were changes in her foot that were not even seen yesterday, when they took out the most recently failed freeflap.  As of that time, they felt that it would be best for it to be amputated.  So Amanda prayed about it and accepted it as God's will. After we kept our faith that God had answered our prayers, just not in the way we wanted, He gave us what we wanted.  We have trusted Him the whole time, but we were praying specifically for the flaps to work, which we THOUGHT was the only way to save her foot.  But God is in control.  He is the Ultimate Physician, and only He can perform miracles.  After we had trusted His will be done, no matter what, even through the loss of her foot, He STILL saved her foot.  NEVER LIMIT WHAT GOD CAN DO! :)

She still needs our prayers.  She started running a fever late last night, the highest temp being 104.  There seems to be infection somewhere, but we know everything will be fine.  Thanks for helping us to pray...EXPECTANTLY!

A month later...

Tomorrow will be a month since the terrible nightmare began for us and so many others.  I still can't believe it; it literally seems like a bad dream and almost seems like we've lost a whole month.  I know the whole world hasn't stood still, but it seems as though our world has. We miss Mama more everyday and the pain has not eased.  She was also the medical "expert" in our family and we need her now more than ever! It has been so tough being without her for the past month.  So many tears have been shed, and so many hours of sleep have been lost.  We are making it though, one day at a time. The words to that song now have a different, more powerful meaning.

Now let me say again that the faith of our family is VERY strong.  I have asked for prayers A LOT in the past month, I will continue to do so, and I am not ashamed to do it.  We know that God is in control, He has a plan, and He WANTS us to depend on him.  Amanda & I arrived in Nashville 2 weeks ago.  After many trips to the OR, her foot is not much different now than it was then. Her second freeflap attempt failed and was removed today.  Because of both procedures, she is missing muscle tissue in her back and thigh, and some skin tissue in both legs, but we know that the doctors have done everything in their power so far to fix it. The plastic surgeon has done MANY of these freeflaps over the past 30 years, and Amanda is the only one of his patients who has had TWO that have both failed.  The failure rate is only 5%-10% for each procedure, and she just happened to be within that small percentage...TWICE!  It seems that the pregnancy is causing circulation problems.  The doctor doesn't want to try another one because he is afraid that after 2 failed attempts, the third will fail as well.   This leads us to believe that God has other plans and Amanda is at peace with whatever may happen.  We do not want it to be said that our prayers have not been answered.  They just may not have been answered in the way we wanted.  We are still waiting on the doctor to come and talk to us about what is the next step.

Mitchell is doing better.  He got out of the hospital last Friday and is at his mom's house in Cullman.  He and Amanda are ready to see each other, but it is just not possible right now.  They get to talk on the phone more now than they were, which helps.

The baby is still fine!  I was forced to put another doctor in his place yesterday. Not really, but he gave me his opinion so I gave him mine.  He is a very sweet high-risk OB here at Vandy. He told me that he didn't think Amanda had ever dilated to 5 cm. Although 3 ultrasound techs and another OB had confirmed it, he said that for her to go into labor and still be pregnant now, a month later, and not be dilated, was something that just doesn't happen.  So I politely told him that we know our faith, and miracles DO happen!

Now here is something funny. Amanda is hot-natured, I am cold-natured.  This girl is FREEZING me in this hospital room.  She has ice packs on her, and I wrap myself into a cocoon of 2 blankets. The problem is, my face has to be uncovered so that I can breathe, and I have developed some type of sinus/throat sickness.  (I don't have time to be sick!) And THEN, I was on my way back up from the holding room during Amanda's surgery this morning, and I slipped down in someone's spilled chocolate milk, right into some newspaper machines.  So I am coughing, sneezing, sniffling, and now I am limping too!  And Amanda is making fun of me!!  These SICU rooms are big so she says that I can get a bed put beside hers or just get in the bed with her.  She can get her laugh right now though-even if it is at my expense. lol  Seriously, she is in good spirits right now and it is awesome.

Again, thanks for the prayers and for everything you've done for our family. You don't know how much it means to us.  Just a kind word, or to let us know that you're praying has helped to get us through each day.  Please continue to pray for us all.  Pray over the decisions to be made.  Pray for other storm victims in all areas, especially those families who have lost loved ones, and those who have loved ones who are still missing.  We went less than 24-hours not knowing where Mama was, and it was a terrible feeling.  Our hearts go out to them especially.

Love to all, Alicia

Family Update

I don't even know where to begin, so I'll start with thank you.  Thank you for the calls, messages, visits, food, flowers, donations, and especially the prayers.  In a time when our world has been turned upside down, we are reminded of how many wonderful people are in our lives.  I hope we are able to repay you, but under completely different circumstances!  And for those who sent messages or left voicemails, I am so sorry if I didn't respond; There were times that I was hurting too much but each message meant so much to me. I would not wish this on anyone.  My family is still going through so many emotions. We're angry, sad, shocked...we still just can't believe it.  We never would have thought our lives would change so much in an instant.  My heart has never felt this empty. I have never hurt this much or shed so many tears. We are blessed with loving family and friends, but a girl NEEDS her mother, no matter at what age she might be. We 3 girls NEED our mother.  Tyler & Kynlie NEED their Ninna.  Her siblings NEED their sister.  Her parents shouldn't have had to bury their child.  And the way she passed makes it much, much worse. We are all still grieving-please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We know that with God, all things are possible.  Even though we sometimes don't foresee our grieving to ease in the near future, we have discussed that we take comfort in knowing that she IS in a better place!

Update on Amanda...she is getting better and moving more each day.  She has been in a lot of pain with her foot today, but she had taken 8 steps this morning, with all the weight being placed on her "better" foot. The Orthopedic surgeon will be back in tomorrow to change the bandages.  We're still waiting on a room at UAB or Vanderbilt, but they are both full.  Please pray that a room becomes available soon!  Since they lost everything, donation accounts have been setup at Listerhill and Compass banks.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed!

Update on Mitchell...he is still at ECM.  He just got out of ICU and into a room tonight.  He is still running a fever that is caused from an infected facial wound.  He is also a bit confused, but hopefully moving him into the room will help.

Update on our miracle baby...and I do mean MIRACLE BABY.  There is no medical reason he has not been born prematurely.  Amanda was sent from ECM to Huntsville 2 days after the tornadoes because of the severe injuries to her foot.  When she arrived in Huntsville, she was dilated 5 cm.(at just over 21 weeks pregnant).  We prepared for the worst when we got the news that the baby would not be viable until 24 weeks, meaning that they couldn't even give steroid shots until that point.  The only thing they could do is to place Amanda's body downhill(head first) and hope that gravity would do the job.  What normally happens in this situation is that the mothers are placed in that position several times daily, and are on complete bedrest in the hospital until the baby is delivered.  Being from a family with much faith and a background of answered prayers, we began to pray and to ask others to pray.  Mama had left this world trying to protect this baby, and we couldn't stand the thoughts of losing him too.  A couple of days later, we got the news that the labor had stopped, and had COMPLETELY reversed.  Keep in mind that this is something that is so rare that everyone was speechless.  3 different ultrasound techs had confirmed that she was dilated, and now they couldn't believe that she was completely closed.  The nurses, who have all been absolutely wonderful, can only explain it as "A God thing".  We KNOW it is "A God thing", and we're sure that Mama somehow had a part in it, too.  So for anyone who doesn't believe in miracles, come and talk to me!


Again, thanks for everything and please continue to remember us all in your prayers, especially Amanda.  As hard as this is on everyone else, I can't even imagine how she feels.  Also pray for other storm victims, as there are MANY people suffering.  Love to all.

BECAUSE OF, OR IN SPITE OF?

The title of this message is, "BECAUSE OF, OR IN SPITE OF?"  I want to start off by giving you the definition of these 2 phrases.  According to Oxford, the phrase in spite of means-without being affected by the particular factor mentioned.  The phrase because of means on account of; by reason of.  I’ll come back to that later.

What is a Christian?  I’m sure we all have our own definitions, but I looked up the Oxford definition of Christian.  In this version, they list the formal and informal definition.  Here’s the formal definition: Noun-A person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.  Adjective-of, relating to, or professing Christianity or its teachings.  Now, listen to the informal definition: having or showing qualities associated with Christians, especially those of decency, kindness, and fairness.  Wow, that’s setting the bar high for us, right?

When I looked up the definition, I was also given some suggestions of “nearby words” associated with the word Christian...

Christ-Noun-the title, also treated as a name, given to Jesus of Nazareth.  (There was also a definition for the word used as an Exclamation for when people are upset, but I refuse to even acknowledge that meaning)

Another word, Christocentric (‘christ e’sentrik) means having Christ at its center.  Now that seems like a pretty important adjective, but if I’ve ever heard it before, I must not have been paying enough attention....HAVING CHRIST AS ITS CENTER.  Every act we do should be Christocentric.

Some derivatives of the word Christ are Christhood, Christlike, and Christly, and some derivatives of the word Christian are Christianization, Christianize, and Christianly.

What do all of these words have in common?  The root word is “Christ”.  What a wonderful word and name to associate ourselves with.  But this makes me think about what a strong responsibility we have to be Christ-like.  I’ve always heard the phrase, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.  I don’t know if any of you have ever heard of David Gore.  He was a sheriff’s deputy who was arrested in 1983 for using his badge to draw women into his vehicle, then killing them.  In 2007, his son John, who was very young at the time of the murders, was interviewed.  He said, “It was pretty hard, everywhere I went when people found out my last name was Gore, people knew exactly who I was and exactly what my family's history was.” 

So what happens when people find out that we’re Christians?  Do they know exactly who we are?  Do people know that we’re Christians by our actions of decency, kindness, and fairness?  Or do we let Jesus down when our actions don’t coincide with the name we give ourselves?  I know we all fall short, but just in the past couple of weeks, I have realized that the people who disappoint me, or just really get under my skin the most are Christians.  I mentioned that in Sunday School the other day, and someone said that it’s because I expect better of Christians, which is probably true.  We SHOULD expect better of Christians.  Even so, it made me step back and take a look at myself.  Do I let people down?  Yes.  Are there things that I do INSPITE of being a Christian, instead of BECAUSE of being a Christian? We all fall short, and although we’ll never be perfect, I believe that we are supposed to be constantly striving for perfection.  Was Christ perfect?  Yes.  That means to be Christ-like, we should strive for perfection.

Matthew 5:48 says, “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect”.

1 Cor. 11:1 says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”.

In 2 Cor. 13:11, “Finally, bretheren, farewell.  Aim to be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you”.

In closing, lets go back to my very first 2 definitions. The phrase in spite of means-without being affected by the particular factor mentioned.  Because of means on account of; by reason of.  So if we were to fill in the blank to fit this message and say...

1)The phrase in spite of means-without being affected by Christianity.

2)The phrase because of means-on account of Christianity, or by reason of Christianity. 

Which phrase do we want to live by?