September Update... Baptism and Surgery

Once again the days have flown by, and I can't believe it has been since July that I posted last!  We are back in the thick of homeschooling and LOTS of swim  practices, all while trying to sandwich in multiple  doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointments and learning how to do all this with our new, lovely three year old along!!  Whew!  It makes me tired just reading what I've written :)  God is SO GOOD, though, and He alone is sustaining us during this BUSY time.

First the latest happy news:  Catherine Fujuan Krol, child of the Covenant, was baptized on Sunday September 12th.  What a joyous, emotional celebration!  ALL my immediate family made it up here from Roanoke, VA (my Mom, brother Scott, sisters Susan and Cynthia, and their spouses),  Stan's parents and two aunts were able to make it as well.  The service was amazing...it was so wonderful to officially welcome her into the family of God, even as we know His hand has been upon her forever.  I sang the little song I have sung for all my boys at their baptisms,  "Jesus, Let Us Come to Know You" (changing the "us" to "her"), and I was able to make it through without tears until the very end (thank you Holy Spirit for holding me up so everyone could hear the words and pray the prayer with me!)  THEN, of course, I broke down but they were tears of sheer joy as I KNOW she is loved by her Father in heaven so much more than I am capable and He has plans for her (and our family's) good (Romans 8:28).  We had a wonderful visit with family and friends that day and, of course, little Catherine was the star of the show!

Our other big news is that Catherine Fujuan is scheduled for a laminectomy with release of a tethered spinal cord on this Thursday, September 30th at 8:45am.  In laymen's terms, she has a wedge-shaped piece of vertebrae (fused in her lumbar region) that has split the cord into two pieces and the bottom of her cord is stuck, as well.  They will remove some bone and where it has split the spinal cord, the cord wil be repaired and then released.  I have probably done a poor job explaining the procedure, so any of you medical types reading this, forgive me.  She will be at Johns Hopkins Hospital (her surgeon is Dr. George Jallo, the head of Pediatric Neurosurgery) for about 5 days.  Please pray for us during this challenging time.  My Mom is coming back from Roanoke to stay with us and Stan will be off work for the duration of her hospital stay which are both huge blessings!!  I will try to post updates next week as they happen...stay tuned and thank you in advance for all your prayers!

One final note!  There are SO MANY wonderful things happening here that I have not taken the time to relate!  I wish that I had time to tell you every single one!!!!  But mostly, I want to end this update by saying that I feel I am the most blessed mother in the world :)  It is hard to imagine our life before Catherine Fujuan anymore, she has become that much an integral  part of this family!  God has blessed us beyond our wildest imaginings with the daughter of our dreams.  And each of my boys have taken on the new role of "big brother" with so much joy and enthusiam that my love, respect and admiration has grown for each of them exponentially.  I have always known what wonderful children I have, but God has truly been revealing more and more of their servant's hearts to me.  Finally, I just want to share that if any of you have ever felt a tug at your heart to adopt, PLEASE pray about it and seek God's will for your family.  There are SO MANY children out there who need loving homes.  Maybe your child is out there waiting for you! 

"...thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.  For we are to God the aroma of Christ...the fragrance of life." (2Corinthians 2:14-16)