twas the night before surgery...

So today is the day! Sweet Gabe is having what will prove to be his toughest surgery to date at 7:30 EST this morning. Our prayer for Gabe is that despite the scarring, his surgeon will be able to complete the needed repair with a tissue graft from inside his mouth. Our deepest prayer for us is that God would be glorified and that our hearts would align with His will...whatever that is.

Thank you for joining with us in that prayer. We have been told via text, email, FB and in person countless times over the last few days that you all are standing with us. That you are bringing Gabe before the Father. One friend had set up a reminder on her iPhone a while back each night around 10pm to remind her to pray for Gabe. She text'd me last night with Psalm 91 to encourage us. Another precious lady stopped me at church and said that she had prayed daily for Gabe for months and would be continuing to do so today.

It moves us to tears.

We love you all. We so adore our beautiful little prince. And we appreciate your willingness to hold us up.

My sis in law helped get our other three babies to my parents' yesterday where they will stay for the week. We are still holding out hope that the repair can be done and that will mean a spica body cast for Gabe. Our thoughts were that they would be better off {and so would we practically speaking} away for the first several days post op. We are anticipating hard, long hours the first few days if all goes perfectly in the OR. Our gratitude to my family is immeasurable. Never once have they let me flounder in worrying about how to care for our other children when one of them needs us most. Never once have they said "no" or neglected to step in and handle everything logistically so that Jase and I don't have to. We are so grateful to my parents and siblings for their love for our babies.

Jase's parents came in from out of state yesterday to be a help to us. Again, anticipating in faith that the repair can miraculously take place. They are so kind to be here...to support us and love on us and Gabe. To do the day to day things that need to be done when Jase and I aren't able to. We are so grateful they are here.

Last night, in an attempt to keep Gabe awake past his bedtime so that he could snack once more before the midnight cutoff...Nana took him out on the porch to play. I snagged my camera and shot some of my favorite little prince. Whatever the outcome today, it will be a while before he is able to run and play like this. So it was good medicine. Sweet baby was pouring sweat and loving every minute with his Nana.

Jase was below us in the backyard and Gabe wanted to be lifted up to see him. He waved and said, "Hi dada!"

Then he stood watching.

As Jase squirted him with the water hose...

and sweet baby got it in the face a little by accident....

and he sought solace with his Nana and made this face....

and I was chuckling so, the shot turned out blury because then he looked at me and pointed at his wet face...

Nana cleaned him up. And we decided it was time for a bath. Soon after, I opened his goody bag from Honey...

gifts for days on end that he can open and play with while he's laid up {hopefully in a spica cast!}. Can I tell you something???

MY MOM ROCKS.

The thought and care she puts into things like this is unrivaled. I love you, Mom. Thank you so much.

His favorite gift from Honey was to be opened before the big day...a stuffed Pooh...his favorite. Oh, how he loves this thing already. So we snapped a quick iPhone picture and put our little prince down for the night...

after he fell asleep in my arms in our bed. :)

For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 

“Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” 

Isaiah 41:13