Formed By God: "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him." (Psalms 62:5)

Hope is a strange thing. There are so many things I hope for, but only one person I put my hope IN. Life can cause me to question what I've hoped for, based on circumstances that occur, but I must never question who I put my hope in. We have a journey ahead of us that is constantly changing. If I can't place my hope in God, I don't know how I will make it thru everything with any strength left for my family.

I'm going to talk about Landry first tonight. I sometimes worry or get caught up in "mom's guilt," because he often gets lost in all the Fibular Hemimelia of our lives. He is an amazing boy and I am so grateful God chose us to be his parents. Landry just finished up his first season of basketball, which he loved, and is having his first football game this Friday. I absolutely LOVE watching him play sports. He has so much fun, and is actually pretty good. Its just a blast!

Gracie is growing, a ton. Both physically and mentally. She is starting to play with the kids at work more, and is even taking on some of their habits. She tells me I'm cheating when she doesn't get her way. LOL!

We had been hoping physical therapy would alleviate the need for an invasive surgery for Gracie. After finding out what our insurance would cover, and what our costs for PT would be, we had to put it off while we applied for a grant. The grant application has been turned in. Now we are just waiting for the board to review and hopefully approve it. In the meantime, Gracie's in-toeing has gotten worse. Some days it's a little better then the videos below, other days she's actually hurting. Its a weird off and on type thing, with more off, then on. (If that makes sense). She also developed bursitis over the area of the latest plate, which hasn't helped any. Luckily a regimen of Motrin has helped the inflammation and it seems to be doing better.

Since her foot has only worsened, Dr. Standard felt that it has gone too far for PT to be helpful, and needs to be surgically corrected now. (This was a surgery she was always going to need, we were just hoping to put it off for a while and give her body a rest). So...when she has her current plate removed in June, they will place another plate in her femur to try and correct the knock knee that keeps coming back, and will also be doing a Tibial Derotational Osteotomy. Basically, they will cut her tibia bone in half, rotate it in the proper direction, and then plate and screw it back together. She will need to be casted after this, which means this will be her 3rd summer in a cast. :( Since this surgery is so invasive, they will use an epidural instead of a block, and Gracie will be in-patient for a couple of days. Between travel, pre-op, surgery, and in-patient, we expect to be in Baltimore for at least a week. We will need to return to Baltimore for a post surgical follow-up and cast removal 6 weeks later, and then again for another surgery to remove the plates 8 months after that.

When the unexpected happens it can cause quite a shock to how we handle and process everything. This did just that, and it has taken me a week just to feel comfortable enough to update her blog. We were really hoping to put this off a little longer. There have been a lot of things hoped for that haven't gone our way lately. But we still have hope. Maybe now is the time I should focus on the beginning of this scripture...."Let all that I am wait quietly before God." I don't "wait quietly" well. Lol. I like to organize and plan things so I feel like I have some control over what's going on. Waiting is a challenge for me, but waiting before the Lord is just what I need to do. Waiting, with my focus on God, provider of my needs, my dreams, my wishes and hearts desires.

So, while we plan for surgery, we hope and wait for provision. While we plan for rehab, we hope and wait for a fresh anointing of strength and health over our baby girl. While we plan for what our lives will look like the rest of this, and next year, we hope and wait quietly for God to move our many many mountains.

I pray that you have peace and confidence knowing you can put your hope in God. That he wants the best for you! "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to do good, not evil. Plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Prayer Requests:
~ Provision for Gracie's surgery, and favor in fundraising
~ If the derotational osteotomy part of surgery can be put off longer once they see her in person, let it be
~ For God's will in our lives and our desires
~ For our entire family, as what happens to Gracie, also happens to mom/dad, brother, grandma/grandpa, Lala/Papa, etc.. It is hard on more then just us
~ For a smooth and complication free surgery and recovery

***One last side note. With the help of my amazing mother and best friend Jenn...we are now on gofundme and twitter! The link for Gracie's gofundme account will be available on the top right hand side of the blog next to the PayPal link. It is http://www.gofundme.com/seegracierun2. You can also find us on twitter @SeeGracieRun. Please help us spread the word about our incredible baby girl and share this information!!!***

Thank you, and God Bless!
~The Peterson's