We Believe...

Sam has a love for music, he always has. He loves to listen to music and he loves to sing. It is incredible how easily and quickly he learns the words to new songs, and how many songs he knows. He gets hooked on a certain couple of songs and that is all we can listen to until he finds a new one he loves. Sometimes they are fast and fun, sometimes praise and worship, but they are always encouraging and uplifting because we only listen to "Jesus music" as he calls it. I love the way that God always knows what you need and when you need it, and is faithful to deliver. Sam currently has two favorite songs. I will share some of the lyrics from both:

We Believe from the Newsboys

 

In this time of desperation when all we know is doubt and fear

There is only one foundation, we believe

In this broken generation when all is dark You help us see

There is only one salvation, we believe

We believe in God the father

We believe in Jesus Christ

We believe in the Holy Spirit and He's giving us new life

We believe in the crucifixion, we believe that He conquered death

We believe in the resurrection, and He's coming back again

 

 

Healer from Kari Jobe

 

You hold my very moment, You calm my raging seas

You walk with me through fire, and heal all my disease

I trust in You

I believe You're my healer, I believe You are all I need

I believe You're my portion, I believe You're more than enough for me

Jesus You're all I need

Nothing is impossible for You, You hold my world in Your hands

 

We have recently found out that we will soon be traveling back to Boston with Sam. We are waiting to hear from them for our scheduled dates. Hopefully he will only have to have a cath, but they will also go ahead and give us a surgery date in case they are not happy with the cath results. Since Sam's last surgery in November when we replaced his aortic valve and repaired his mitral valve he has not settled out as well as he should. His new aortic valve looks great, and his overall echo looks pretty unchanged. But Sam is still having symptoms just like before his last surgery and some are actually a little worse. He is still tired and fatigued all the time. This doesn't mean he doesn't play or run around, it just means he doesn't last very long when doing those things. It doesn't matter how much he sleeps, if he takes a nap or not (which he most often does), he is still worn out. His legs get tired and weak, he will fall down easily or need you to carry him. He also gets out of breath easily, this is a symptom that is worse now than it was before. After his surgery before we discharged, the cardiologist in Boston talked about his discharge echo and his mitral valve. Before the surgery it was pretty leaky and so he repaired it, now it is stenotic (narrowed) and causing some higher pressures. They said we would just watch it and possibly address it later in a cath if needed. We have followed up with our local cardio and tried to wait it out. At first we thought the symptoms were just because he needed to settle out from surgery and he was still recovering. As time passed it has become obvious that there was another cause for the symptoms. So our local cardio sent all of his latest testing to Boston for them to review. All I have been told so far is that they want us to come for a cath where they will try to balloon dilate the mitral valve. But this valve is so tricky, it has literally been worked on and repaired every time he has had surgery in Boston. We will not know for sure if he will have surgery until after they do the cath.

We have not told Sam about the trip yet, and won't until we know the dates for sure. So we haven't said anything about it at church or anything like that. We would appreciate nothing being said about it to him or in front of him. I just wanted to get the word out that we need your prayers. We are standing on the truths and promises from both of Sam's favorite songs. God is our only salvation and He is giving us new life. He is most definitely our healer and nothing is impossible for Him. Over the past few months God has done some things in my life that have taught me how to be more obedient and how He will bless that, how to be more specific and persistent with my prayers, and literally how nothing is impossible for Him. The situation I was in did not come out exactly how I had thought or originally hoped, He had a different solution. That is because His ways are higher than my ways. And in the end as I looked back, He did in fact answer every single prayer I had prayed and every request I had He answered. I don't know why He wanted me to go through what I did, but I know He has a purpose. For one thing I am going into this next trip with Sam with a renewed spirit about the power in prayer and His ability to do anything we ask. So I will ask you to start praying with us and for us. Pray for travel logistics and safety. Pray the cath intervention will be all he has to have done and it will be the solution for his symptoms. Pray for Sam's comfort, peace, and understanding, I know this will be an extremely hard trip for him. His last surgery was the first one that he was old enough to understand everything and has caused him to be anxious and upset about any type of medical stuff.
I will let you know when we have our dates and will keep you updated during our trip. We are so thankful for all of you that lift us up in prayer. We know the power it has and know that it is life changing for Sam.
For now we are enjoying the beautiful weather and spending time with our sweet boy. Here are some pics from our trip to the Louisville Zoo from the weekend. :)