Throughout this journey of Q's diagnosis and preparation of her impending surgery, a constant prayer of ours has been that her life would be used for God's Glory in some way. I didn't know quite how that would happen, but I knew that part of my job was to share her story - on my blog, on facebook, with my friends, church, co-workers, and neighbors. I never wanted to share for the "poor us" sympathies and pray it never came across that way. I simply wanted to share how God has worked in our lives, in Quinn's life, to bring us closer to Him.
In this past year and a half, we have seem Him work incredible miracles in our little girl --- the biggest being the provision of time He has bought for us. Precious time for Quinn to grow and get stronger and more prepared for this surgery. There were more than a handful of times that we thought she was going to be taken to surgery --- they had prepared us that she may need one right after birth.
She did not.
Then they prepared us for one at 2 months.
She rallied and didn't need it.
Then 4 months.
Nope, not then.
Then FOR SURE it was going to happen by 6 months of life.
Again, God said "No, not her time."
And then a true miracle occurred --- the cardiologist blessed us with the words that she could wait a little bit longer --- and a little bit longer has turned into almost 16 months. 16 months of precious growth. 16 months of getting to spend time with my little girl, hugging her, loving on her, knowing her from the inside out.
And during that 16 months, we've had a chance to continue to share her story - and hopefully share a little bit about our faith in our awesome God.
And in this time, we've also had the wonderful blessing of building amazing friendships with others who have the same passion for Christ and trusting in Him through all circumstances. My dear friend, Amanda, has been one of those people.
And today, she was a huge blessing to me.
I was sitting at my computer, 100% stressed out about finishing a deadline for work. In fact, I have been a hot mess this entire week, trying to prepare to be out from work, get our family organized and ready for hospital stays, communicate with friends & family about what's happening, who's coming to stay, and the list goes on and on. I have been utterly consumed and quite overwhelmed, lonely, anxious, and ashamedly, feeling pretty darn sorry for myself.
Yuck. I know.
Then all of a sudden a post popped up on my facebook page with this picture.
It was a picture from Amanda's daughter's Kindergarten class. Amanda had shared with her daughter about Team Quinn and green being our team color. As they were learning about the color green in class, her daughter told them about little Quinn and her surgery. So the class all decided to wear green to support our child and family.
And oh my gosh, how the tears flowed freely.
All selfishness, exhaustion, and stress was wiped away by these sweet, sweet faces - wearing green and thinking about a little girl they've never met.
God IS reaching people through Quinn's story. Praise Him for that.
And if that wasn't enough, I FINALLY wrapped up most of my work, opened my blogger and saw this post from Amanda. It will tell you how we met and how they've prayed for our family. I don't think even I have the words to describe what it meant to me - and how her sharing our story on her blog brings such comfort.
Amanda, I love you so and cherish our friendship. Thank you for the love, compassion, prayers, and support you have given me over the past 15 months. Your strength and faith in God is an inspiration to me daily. LOVE YOU!!!!
To all of those who have sent me the most incredibly messages since our blog was on Kelly's Korner, thank you is not strong enough of a word. I felt for a moment that I was just floating in this pool of loneliness and despair - and every single one of you who read our story gave me strength. Thank you, God, for this crazy world of social media --- and thank you for people using it for such GOOD.
Y'all have a wonderful weekend. We are planning on cherishing every moment with our little miracles.
In His Mighty Hands,
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