Amazing Grace: May 17, 2007 Home again!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007 Home again!

Annie came home from the hospital this afternoon afer a four day "tune up" at Children's. They put an IV in her and got her fluid levels back up. And they also discontinued two medicines and decreased the dose of another. We are hoping that these changes will help ger to get her appetite back. Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Tomorrow Annie goes back to Bishop Blanchet High School for an all school assembly about organ donation put on by Living Legacy. The speaker will talk about organ donation, and will explain how the students and staff can consider organ donation. Annie hopes to say a few words as well.

We continue to be greatful for the Good Lord's grace and blessings. He continues to walk with Annie and with us, gives Annie strength and endurance and a will to face each day a new. He is answering your many prayers.

While in the hospital Annie got to see baby Emma and her mom and dad each day. Emma continues to jump hurdles and grow. As of yesterday she is just shy of two pounds, double her birth weight. God continues to bless Emma and her family - please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Today Jane flew to Montana to surprise her dad on his 80th birthday. We were not sure if she could go because Annie was in the hospital, but it worked out that she could go. Jane's mom told her dad that she had recieved a call from me this morning and that I was shipping a package to them that they would have to pick up at the airport. Her dad was totally surprised when he got to the airport and discovered that the "package" was Jane. She will spend the day with them and fly home tomorrow morning so she can attend the assembly at Annie's school tomorrow.

Take care. God Bless. Paul

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not.
In all your ways be mindful of him, and He will make straight your paths."
-Proverbs 3:5-6

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: You are an amazing family and provide continuous inspiration to all of us.; May 17, 2007 at 11:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey, Annie & Paul! We just heard you on the radio. Kiro, 710 AM. Great job! It was an excellent interview. Thank you for helping to spread the good news of organ donation. Wow! Now you are going to be really famous!

Enjoy the assembly and "going home" to Blanchet today.

Love,

The Whitlocks; May 18, 2007 at 7:49 AM
Anonymous said...: Annie,
You did an awesome job at the assembly today. It was such an honor to be there and witness such love and faith right there with all these teens. Your entire family has touched so many lives (beyond what you can even imagine). We are so lucky to call you friends.
Love,
The Hoeys; May 18, 2007 at 6:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey guys! I am getting really excited to see you all. Just a week or so!!!! Love ya tons
-Emily; May 25, 2007 at 1:21 PM

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Annie's Witness

When I was born, I was diagnosed with a disease called Alagille syndrome. This disease affected my heart, kidneys, and liver. My heart valve didn’t work right so when I was just over a year old I had a surgery to repair it. When the doctors did that they also discovered that the arteries going from my heart to my lungs were constricted. So over the past 15 years I have had several surgeries to attempt to improve my flow. Just this past September, while I was in the hospital with liver problems, they did a more aggressive procedure and for the first time I had near normal flow from my heart. That heart procedure was a bit of a miracle, because if it had not been successful I would not have been eligible for a liver transplant.My liver has caused me the most problems since I was born. Because it has not functioned normally, I have had brittle bones, been constantly itchy, tired, run down, and I had trouble growing. I had scabs all over my body from the itching. And I had these bumps or deformations on my elbows. I have yellow skin and yellow eyes from the bile that is in my liver. I remember when I went to kindergarten when I was 5, and was worried that the kids were going to make fun for the yellow skin and eyes, for the scabs and the bumps, and that they would not accept me. That is another great story – the kids and teachers at Holy Family were very understanding and supportive. The love I felt there was amazing. I had such great friends and teachers, and I felt so accepted and loved. About a year ago my liver really started to shut down. I started being more tired and run down, and by last September I was unable to go to school I was so tired. I ended up in the hospital a couple of times in September and October. I only went to Bishop Blanchet a couple of days in September and since then I have been home. I was heartbroken that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to school and finish my senior year. But I knew in my heart that God had a plan for me, I don’t know what it is, but I trust that it will be for the greater good. Knowing that helps me when I realize I can’t go back to high school. Right now I am on a waiting list for a liver transplant. In order to get better I need a new liver because there is nothing the doctors can do to repair mine.One thing I have done since I was a little is to pray. You might find this a bit funny, but I have not really prayed to God for my own healing. It didn’t seem right for me to pray for myself because I thought it would be selfish. I saw more people that I thought needed the prayer more than me. I learned very young I could offer up my prayer and my suffering for others. For example, when I was in 2nd grade I had to start taking shots. Initially it was twice a week, and then it was every day. The shots hurt me a lot and I remember how painful they were. Then I started offering up my shots for others in need. Each night before my shot I would say a prayer and then offer it up for someone in need. Offering up my shots didn’t take away the pain or the fear, but it did help me to bring some good out of it. I believe that offering up my pain to God was a strong and helpful prayer for others.Now that I have been cooped up at home since last September, I offer up every day for people in need. I have offered it up for my family members and friends. And it seems that the more I pray for them the more people I see who are in need of prayer.I have learned that God can use everything for the good, even sickness. I am actually grateful for the struggles because it has brought so much good in my life. I have been surrounded by some really great friends and supported by their love. Being sick all my life, it would be easy to think that I would become depressed and down. But that is not the case. I have much joy and peace and I am filled with happiness. I have strength to continue on each day. I know this is all a gift from God, a grace. I have felt God in my life from when I was very young. I have experienced many small miracles where he has touched my life and healed me physically or given me peace, joy and strength in the midst of struggles. God has been at my side and is still at my side. All of us have struggles in our lives. It is not always poor health like I have had. It might be struggles within your family, it might be personal addictions, or it might be worries over someone close to you. But it is important to know that God is by your side just like he has been by my side. I have found that I need to trust God; I need to turn to him in prayer in order to be able to know that he is by my side. I think God wants us to turn to him in our troubles; he wants us to take a step towards him through prayer. And when we do take a little step towards God, he takes a big step towards us and picks us up and holds us in his arms and blesses us with his grace. If I could give you any advice it would be this. Turn to God. Reach out to him in prayer. Share your troubles with Him. And trust him that he will help you. And don’t be disappointed if he doesn’t answer you the way you want. In the long run his answer will be better than you could have asked for. If he had healed me completely when I was two years old, or ten years old, I would not be the person I am today. I would not be as close to him, I would not be filled with so many of his gifts. I am ever so grateful to God for all he as done for me. And I know that what he wants for me is good, I just have to learn to put my trust in him and I know he will take care of me.

Amazing Grace

Thursday, May 17, 2007

May 17, 2007 Home again!

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