Monthly Archive: January 2017

January 20, 2017

God graciously helped is make it through the week and we are looking forward to the weekend to rest and recover. Grace is doing fantastic. She felt well enough to go to her cotillion dinner tonight. She enjoyed wearing her pretty dress and the excellent dinner. I love watching her learn and grow. Though, I do not particularly care for how old she looked tonight!

Cole is still battling the pain. He’s a little better than last night but not much. I hate watching him hurt. He really is trying to be strong but I know it’s rough. A 6″ incision between your shoulder blades is pretty noticeable.

Please keep praying for Cole to be able to rest and feel better!

Psalm 116:7
Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow💜

My goodness, what a week this has been. I think you could say I have been waiting for these days with equal parts hope, faith, confidence, and trepidation. We’ve never doubted God’s plan, but there is still fear that sneaks in as we look at these medical issues – wondering if the Lord is going to ask more of us. We have always said we love our children so very much, but we know God loves them even more than we do. Knowing that, believing that, is how we are able to get up every morning and continue on. Yet I still find myself praying that He is not going to ask for another of my children.

Needless to say, my kids are getting a little extra attention from me right now. Grace asked me to dry her hair tonight. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I did that. So, she sat in the floor in front of me and I dried and dried. And then it hit me, it’s been two months since I dried one of my babies hair. Looking at Grace’s reminded me of Kayleigh’s. All the beautiful long, straight, brown hair – it pricked my heart. All I could do was start saying thank you to my Father.

Thank you for my Grace and Cole. Thank you that I have them to love, teach and grow. Thank you – that while we have had to stare fear in the face yet again this week, God has been faithful, as always. We are still waiting on the pathology reports for both children, but both of their doctors say they got everything. Neither doctor seemed concerned. Thank you Jesus.

Tonight, Cole is doing pretty well all things considered. He has a great deal of pain, even with the high powered pain medicine. It seems his body runs through the pain medicine in about 3 hours, but he can only take it every 4. Please pray that gets better, and he is able to handle the pain, and we will be able to decrease the meds he is taking, replacing them with over the counter. Please continue to pray for the pathology to come back clear and for neither the cyst or mass to return.

Yes, it’s been a long week, but God has been so good. He’s blessed us with wonderful people at both locations and has us covered in prayers by our amazing prayer warriors.

Psalm 91:1-4
91 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow💜

In the waiting room with dad

He he loves driving himself to the OR💜

I am in recovery with Cole now. Surgery was a success. His doctor was able to get everything. We had hoped the local numbing medicine would keep him comfortable for the first few hours but that doesn’t seem to be the case. He is having quite a bit of discomfort at the incision site. They have given him pain meds so hopefully that will get the pain under control.

Please pray for him to feel better soon and for the pain to be manageable.

I will update more later,
‘Carrow💜

Hello friends,

We are headed to bed tonight setting our alarms for 4:30am in order to get Cole to the hospital on time for surgery. Heaven help me. My husband, family, and past roommates can attest to the fact that I am NOT a morning person. But, I find myself looking forward to tomorrow because it feels like this one last medical hurdle will be behind us. There is still much to pray for, easy surgery, little pain, quick healing – but I can’t but feel hope too. Hope that these persistent medical issues will be behind us.

I found myself flipping back in my devotion book tonight and landing on Jan 14th. The title is “Everything For Good.” And the verse was Romans 8:28

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

I love that verse. I’ve held on to it oh so tightly these last months. It’s amazing just how much those words have grown to mean to be. Before Kayleigh’s diagnosis they were just words. Words I believed, but that I had not experienced in action. But now, those words are threaded into the fibers of my being. I have seen my gentle Father take my ashes and broken pieces and fashion them into something altogether different and so much better.

The words “God is absolutely sovereign” have been proven true in our lives over and over again. And when your heart chooses to rest in the promise of God’s sovereignty you discover you are able to endure every situation with confidence. Confidence that God has everything under control. That no trial is able to slip through the cracks without God knowing. And somehow, those trials, while sometimes heart wrenching and painful, are the tools that are being used to refine you. To shape you into the person God is calling you to be.

So as I sit here tonight, yes, I believe everything is being used for good. Kayleigh’s cancer, Grace’s cyst, Cole’s lipoma… I have no doubt the devil intended those things to break us, but he will not prevail. Our God is so much bigger than that and we trust Him completely. Everyday we are seeing God’s hand guiding and directing is down a path we never wanted or expected. But wow, the path is amazing. It’s not all smooth sailing, but it certainly is being blessed and we are thankful.

We would appreciate You prayers for Cole tomorrow and for quick, easy, no complication healing for our guy.

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow💜

I visited Kayleigh today and took her flowers. I know she isn’t there under that dirt, but it’s still my place to talk to her. I told her all about her amazing birthday party we are planning. I know she would have loved it.

Hello Friends,

I hope this update finds you all well. So much is going on around here these days it’s hard to narrow down just what to write about. Grace’s recovery, Cole’s upcoming surgery, new writing opportunities, Kayleigh’s big birthday bash, the new foundation coming online, work, life… sheesh – life is moving a warp speed! Yet there has been one lesson that keeps returning to my mind – in all we do we must bear good fruit.

If that doesn’t ring a bell to you, I’m not talking about apples, oranges and bananas. I’m talking about the fruits of the spirit. Specific spiritual traits that the bible tells us we will see in our lives when the Holy Spirit is the one in control of our lives.

Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

It’s a simple list, but is quite difficult to implement. Impossible if we are trying to do it on our own!

I found myself in need of a short bio for myself recently. You would think that would be easy – it was not. I have plenty of words to describe what amazing things the Lord has done in my life and in my family’s. But when it comes to me, frankly, I’m not really worth talking about. What’s worth talking about is Jesus in me. Because if He can bring this hard headed, difficult, opinionated, independent, stubborn woman to her knees, and redirect all that energy to His service, all the while increasing my faith – that’s worth talking about. That is where I can truly see good fruit growing in my life.

I am SO thankful for that fruit, but I must work diligently to keep it growing. It requires time alone with the Lord – praying, reading my Bible, studying. It takes work on my part. Because while a good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bars bad fruit.

Matthew 7:17-20
17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

As I unintentionally find myself more and more in the public eye,my prayer is that I will bear good fruit. I know that all that I do reflects on Kayleigh, the Prayers For Kayleigh Foundation, and on my Savior. That knowledge comes with a hefty weight. Yet, I have no doubt God has a perfect plan, and if He has decided this is where I belong, then who am I to question?

I hope as you are reading this you’re thinking about the fruits of your own life. Things you may need to change or do different. Change always seems so hard, yet God will bless your obedience in beautiful, amazing, mind boggling ways.

Until tomorrow,
‘Carrow💜

Because this sweet baby matters, and I want nothing but good things attached to her name.