Grace is home~~

Grace is home!! OK really she is at the hotel, but she was released yesterday. She stated running a fever, it went away and is now back. She is a lot of pain, even with Tylenol 3. She mostly sits in mommy's arms and moans. It is really sad to see her like this. She also won't eat today or drink. Please pray that she start drinking and eating so she is not readmitted! I will update more later, but I typing in the dark and the kids are waking from the noise.

Love you all!

Until Journey's End

This is an AMAZING organiztion that helps families with kids that are sick and have to travel away from home. They are an absolutley wonderful group and we are humbled at the love they have shown us. Please if you have a moment visit the website, visit some of the other kids blogs and if you can donate to help a organization that is more amazing then I could begin to explain.

www.untiljourneysend.org

Saturday Update-God is AWESOME!

Grace is now on the regular ped floor. She did great during the night. She was in quite a bit of pain, and poor daddy sleep poorly with Grace, but she had no major respiratory problems and was drinking some this am and then by this evening is eating small amounts of soft food! Praise the LORD! She is still in quite a bit of pain but daddy is being sure that they are staying on top of the meds so it isn't that bad. She also took a walk this evening and went to the playroom. WOW~ My heart is full. God never ceases to amaze me.

Please continue to pray that she heals and that the pain lessens. God has been so faithful.

Love you all!

God had planned every step...

Ok, so where do I even start? I guess instead of trying to do things in a chrnological order I will bullet the amazing things that God has done.

• 2 or 3 months ago I started following a blog about a heart baby names Stellan. On this blog, was referenced a non profit organization called "Until Journeys End" Grace got scheduled for surgery and we had no money for the trip. My sister remembered Until Journeys End and contacted them for us. They immediatley contacted us and got us a hotel for our whole stay. Oh, and did I mention the Ronald McDonald House was full and we would have no place to stay?
• We had a babysitter planned out for the time we were at UVA, then two days before they closed on their house and the kids had to come! If we had been at the RMH, we would not have all fit, God knew that.
• A few months ago the founder of UJE came to visit her husband, a JAG lawyer, that was in training in Charlottesville. She went to a local church and made friends with some of the people there. Well, since we had to bring the kids, we were afraid that we would not be able to be together the day of surgery, Tiffany, from UJE, called her new friends from the Charlottesville area and God provided a babysitter. God had worked this out before we even knew Grace was having surgery.
• God put different people in our path with money for food. One sweet lady from choir was opening her birthday card while reading an email from me. She felt God move her to give us that money. Another lady was a teacher for one of our sons many years ago and gave us money and was talking to a coworker who gave as well. Then there was our choir director and our lifegroup. Each step we were unsure we would have enough, God provided.
• On the day we were leaving, we were filling our tires and there was a family in front of us that obviously had little money. I felt the tug of the Holy Spirit on my heart and knew that although we had little that they needed $20. I had James put it on the front seat of their car. James had no sooner walked to the car that I got a call from my sister saying that someone had walked up to her and said that they knew we needed a $20 bill and gave it to my sister. God had immediatley given us the 20 back. WOW!

There are more awesome God stories and I will tell you them as I have time. I pray that you have some awesome God stories and I truly praise the Father of Heaven and Earth.

Maryanna

Still in Surgery...

Grace is still in Surgery. We waited in the waiting room for 3 hours before being sent back, but Grace was an angel. God is awesome! He is faithful! Please continue to pray as they finish the surgery and she recovers. There is an awesome lady from a local church watching the kids today (her husband is a principal at a local school) and they are taking them to VBS tonight. I am humbled by how our Abba Father has been there each step of the way, making everything go smoothly and peacefully. We are so blessed to have Jesus in our lives and have this hope and peace. God is good!

Love you all!

Quick Update! Surgery time...

We are in Charlottesville in a hotel thanks to the wonderful group At Journeys End. We will be here for a week. Grace has her surgery tomorrow, Friday at 10:30 or so. She has to be at the hospital at 9am. Please pray that the Great Physcian guide the doctors and the He holds Grace in His loving arms. (Peace for mommy and daddy too!)

I have so awesome God stories, but for now, kids are calling. I will say GOD IS AMAZING and FAITHFUL!!!!!!!

Maryanna

God is faithful

God is good, God is faithful.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Deut. 7:9

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Psalm 36:5

This phrase, God is faithful, has been everpresent on my mind lately. As we get ready for Grace's surgery as we try to get the financial aspect worked out, God keeps reminding me..."Maryanna, I am faithful" He is not going to leave us. He is not going to forsake us. God is faithful. So, I praise God for this amazing promise that HE alone is faithful. I cling to that promise and stand firm in that truth.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" Prov 3:5

Praying that you see God's faithfulness today!

Maryanna

So much to do

There is so much to do right now and so little time! I know, then why am I here instead of working? Good question. I don't have an answer. Procrastination. I could say that it is because I am coming on here to ask for prayer, which is 100% the truth, but that is not the reason that I had to check MckMamma's site and others. Do you ever get so overwhelmed that you don't know where to start? Yeah, kinda there. Ok, breathe in, and out. Then RUN!

I will tell you that yesterday was AWESOME!!! We went to church and the music was so spirit led! Our Choir director Kim lead worship and wow, she is a woman of God! She is on fire!! God just filled the room and it felt like you were standing at the throne singing to HIM! Then, Kim sang "Arms Open Wide" by Hillsong. Ok, total God moment. I cried throughout the song and not just tear, sobbed. This song is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvNdybdyeOc

I hope the link works, if you can take the time to listen to this song, do. WOW!

We then came home from church and finished our dad's day crafts while dad went to work, and made dad a cake. When dad came home, we took him to the pool at our apartment and then we ate dinner. James got to finish his father's day with a sleep study. There is something funny about that.

I want to take a moment on Father's day and that James for being such an amazing father to our children. He is wonderful. He was a single dad for 7 years before we married and Devon is a great kid, and this past 2 yrs he juggled work, getting his MBA and family and did it all with class and love. We are so blessed.

And to our Abba Father. WE LOVE YOU! There is none like you. We praise your holy name.

Love you all!

Maryanna

Grace update and more!

God is faithful. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge HIM and he will direct your path" Prov. 3:5&6

This has been my life verse since I first became a Christian. I find this verse so powerful. What an awesome promise, we might not always know why things go the way they do, we just must have faith that God is there and HE will take the reigns. I have nothing to worry about. Nothing to plan perfectly, HE is going to guide me. Guide my family. Guide my husband. What a wonderful God we serve!

Ok, there was another paragraph here and it disappeared. The update on Grace...I took Grace to the doctor on Thursday and her prescribed her Omnicef. Due to God's awesome grace, Grace is no longer snotting green stuff anymore!! Some might say it was the antibiotics, some might say it was our great Physcian, I prefer to believe the later!

Yesterday was supposed to be a day of celebration for James for Father's day since he is working Sat and Sun (he has to work one weekend a month). Instead, it was a day of stress and tension. (I told you that I am transparent) I won't go into huge details, just please pray. James graduated with his Masters in May and waiting for God to show us where He wants him is hard. Pray that we wait for where God has called us to be and not that we get inpatient and jump at anything, or begin praying for anything instead of praying for His will.

There have been some very cool life changes these past couple weeks in our lives, so I will attempt to show those in pictures below (WARNING:I am not a professional photographer and I don'y know photoshop)

This is the Global Glory of God summit at our church in May. This was a very pivitol moment in so many things. The wonderful men of God that are in the picture are from Denmark, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Albania.

My Adorable Kids!!! Ok, so Grace looks a little awkward, I think she was running from her brothers, and honstley, who blames her! Yes, we are at Mc Donald's. My husband makes fun of me because I can go in there and feed all my children for under $7.

Best Friends! This is Grace and our best friends daughter Hayden. They are so cute together and we are so blessed to have such great friends!!

Playing in the Rain! I love letting my kids be kids! Like playing in the rain and puddles! Grace seems to be saying "Should I jump?"

Devon got BAPTIZED!!! On June 7, Devon made the decision to make his faith public and get baptized! We are so proud. The first picture is Daddy and Devon, the second is Grammy and her boys, the thirds is MIMI and her boys and finally Devon and his cousin Mikaela who got baptized together.

My baby, I mean oldest son, graduated from elementry school on June 11. WOW! He is going into middle school. Lord, help us! I missed the graduation because Zachary was having a bad day and decided to throw a massive fit, so we got to sit in the car. He got Presidental honors for academics and physical fitness! We are so proud!!!

Thanks for sharing in our lives, and thanks for your prayers!

I have a special prayer request for our 1 yo daughter Grace. She is scheduled for Surgery next Thursday, June 26 at the University of Virginia. As most of you know, Grace was born with a rare birth defect called a Laryngeal Cleft that causes her to aspirate thin liquids into her lungs. She chokes often and has frequent respiratory infections. The surgery she is scheduled to have will Lord willing take care of the problem. The surgery is very delicate. She will be in the Ped. ICU following the surgery to monitor her airway. During the surgery, they will also be taking out her tonsils and adenoids. She has had problems with recurrent strep and sinus infections. Adding these procedures adds pain that is usually not present with just the cleft repair.

There have been many hurdles to get to this point. Grace is sick right now. She is running a low grade fever and is pouring green snot. Please pray that she would be healed so that we can have this surgery. We cannot risk there being any compromise to her airway during the surgery. Also, financially. At this point we have no idea how we are paying for this trip up to UVA. We know that we serve an awesome God that can do miraculous things, so we are not worried. We will have gas, food while there, and we will need to have a hotel the day before and after as well as we have to have a return trip July 2.

We also want to Praise God for HIS provisions. We have one of the BEST doctors in the country working on Grace. If this surgery had been done a couple years ago, she would have come home on a trach. God is good! Also, He has put a wonderful couple in our place that is taking care of our 3 other children while James and I are in Charlottesville. God is GREAT!

We truly covet your prayers! I have a blog that has very little activity, but I will use that as an avenue to keep everyone updated on Grace and her progress next week. Please feel free to pass this email along to everyone and anyone that you know that will pray for Grace. I trust in the Great Physician and know that God is in control. http://livebygrace95.blogspot.com/

We love you all and above all we love our Abba Father!

The Wilcox Family (James, Maryanna, Devon, Joshua, Zachary, & Grace)