God Is Still Writing

Hi friends,

I’m writing this from Durham, North Carolina, which was definitely not where I expected to still be.

We came here believing we had a plan. And if the last two weeks have reminded me of anything, it’s how quickly our plans can change.

Today was Finley’s 29th surgery.

We’ve been here for 14 days. Seven of those days have been in the hospital, three in the PICU. There have been moments of fear, exhaustion, uncertainty, and a lot of waiting.

But today, what I feel more than anything else is gratitude.

Finley’s surgery went better than we could have hoped.

Her doctors believe they found the area that had been causing so much of her pain. They were able to remove the plate, put antibiotics directly into that area, and thoroughly examine the rest of her eye.

And everything else looked great.

Those words felt really good to hear.

But there was another answer to prayer today that might not sound nearly as significant unless you’ve walked this road with us.

Finley came out of anesthesia better than I have ever seen her come out of anesthesia.

After 29 surgeries, anesthesia isn’t just something that happens before an operation. There is anxiety attached to it. There are memories attached to it. As her mom, there is a weight that comes with watching your child be taken away again and again.

Today was different.

And I don’t want to move past that without recognizing it for what I believe it was: an answered prayer.

I think sometimes we’re waiting for God to answer the biggest prayer before we allow ourselves to recognize all the ways He is answering prayers along the way.

We are still praying for Finley’s healing and restoration. We are still waiting. We are not out of the woods yet.

But that doesn’t mean God hasn’t been working.

He has been in the doctors who have cared so deeply for her.

He has been in the nurses who have shown our family incredible kindness.

He has been in the people who have called, texted, checked on us, encouraged us, and prayed when we didn’t have the words ourselves.

And today, He was in a surgery that went better than we could have hoped.

Maybe you’re in the middle of something right now too.

Maybe you’ve been praying for the same thing for so long that you’re wondering when the answer is going to come.

I wish I could tell you how your story ends.

I can’t.

I don’t know exactly how ours ends either.

But I know what I’ve seen.

I’ve seen God meet us in hospital rooms. I’ve seen Him give us strength for days I wasn’t sure we could handle. I’ve seen prayers answered in ways that might have been easy to overlook if we were only focused on the final outcome.

And I’ve learned that waiting for the ending doesn’t mean we have to miss what God is doing in the middle.

God is still writing.

So today, we’re choosing gratitude.

We’re thanking Him for this surgery. We’re thanking Him for progress. We’re thanking Him for every person who has prayed for our girl.

And tomorrow, we’ll keep trusting Him with the next page.

Thank you for carrying our family through your prayers. I mean it when I say they are one of the greatest gifts you could ever give us.

With so much gratitude and hope,

Dallas