6/20/17....Surgery Day Part 1!!

Sunday June 18th- After church we dropped the girls off with Josh's mom and headed up to Nashville. Leaving for Nashville this time put a knot in our stomachs... we wouldn't be coming right back home... this wasn't our normal 1 night trip for a Dr apt... this was it.

Monday June 19th- Pre op appointments started at 830am.... so we got up early and enjoyed some breakfast at the hotel before Leaving. We had 3 appointments that morning... we met with the plastic surgeon, the neurosurgery office, and went to PATCH! The 2 doctors went over the details of the surgery one last time, checked Judson over to make sure he was healthy, and we signed the consent for surgery forms. Since I signed them,  Josh joked with Judson, telling him that it was my fault he was gonna have the surgery!! We literally spent the whole morning laughing and joking! That's just us!

After our appointments, we spent the rest of the afternoon taking a walk around Nashville with the boys in the double stroller! Once again we laughed and made jokes as we attempted to keep the sun out of their faces, by only walking in shaded areas.....and running from one shaded area to the next! :)

That night our families met at our hotel room,  we picked up some food from Chili's next door, and enjoyed spoiling our Juddy Buddy!! At the end of the night,  they all gave him their love and tons of kisses!

Middle of the night - Judson wasn't allowed to eat past 1:15am that Tuesday morning,  so i fixed a huge bottle for him to take during the night! I set an alarm,  woke up and scrambled to get his bottle warm! I was in such a hurry because it was almost the cut off time,  that I picked up the baby and tried and tried to get him to take the bottle...but he kept spitting it out and crying!! Ohhh noooo....i had woken him up, and now he wasn't even gonna eat!! Finally I realized....wrong baby!! I was trying to give Jackson the bottle (exclusively nursed...lol)!!! I switched babies and Judson took it like a champ!! :) I couldn't go back to sleep,  so I got in the shower at about 230am and then got completely ready! I spent the next hour begging the Lord to protect my baby!!

Tuesday June 20th- 4:45am... woke the babies up, put on their clothes, into carseats, and into the van!

530am- Arrived at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and began the check in process!

After about an hour of waiting, we entered into the holding room where we changed Judson into his hospital clothes, met with nurses,  doctors,  anesthesiologists,etc, and gave our boy SO MANY SNUGGLES AND KISSES!!!!!

The hour we spent in this room was FILLED with so many emotions.....but our goal during this time was to make Juddy comfortable,  feel loved, and then to show the Lord's grace and peace to everyone that entered our room! We wanted to show them we were okay....that we knew the Lord was in control, that we knew HE held our baby in His arms, that no matter what the outcome, HIS ways are always higher than ours!

That morning as I prayed,  a sermon was brought to my memory about Jesus stilling the storm. The message was about things to focus on OTHER THAN YOUR STORM....

- the other side: Jesus promised his disciples they would pass over unto the other side... and He promised us the same! There would be another side, and we would be there soon

- the other little ships: there are other ships going thru our storms with us (family, friends,  coworkers, brothers and sister in Christ...). They are watching how we respond to our storm. We can be an encouragement to these people,  as they watch us endure our storm.  An encouragement to not give up,  to be faithful,  to keep serving the Lord,  when they go thru their next storm

- the other spirit... the disciples had the spirit of fear in the storm,  and most of the times so do we... but let's change our focus from the spirit of fear, to the spirit of the. Father!!!

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

-- the other sinners: THIS WAS THE BIGGEST THING I WANTED TO FOCUS ON DURING OUR STORM!!!  When Jesus stilled the storm, and they passed over unto the other side,  Immediately they met the maniac, and he met the Lord that day!! If the disciples had dropped anchor during the storm,  or turned around and returned home because it was too hard, too scary... the maniac would have never met the Lord and been saved!!!! 🙌🙌 thank the Lord they didn't throw in the towel! In our storm,  I didn't want to quit,  to lay down,  to throw a pity party,  to stop serving HIM, and telling about HIM....in case there was a maniac waiting in our path!!! 

We might have met,  or will meet someone during this trial,  that we wouldn't have met otherwise..... and the Lord might have soley given us this trial so that we would be able to show them to HIM!! 

I don't wanna waste our storm.....let it go by with no value whatsoever. I want to use it to point someone to the Lord, and we pray that we have done that, or will do it, as we continue Judson's journey!!!

*Stay tuned for Surgery Day Part 2*