Prayer Request: Brooklyn's Surgery on Wednesday

 Once again, we humbly come to you and ask you to say a prayer for Miss Brooklyn, who will be having surgery on Wednesday. Thankfully, it is only foot surgery, but they are estimating it will take about 4 hours and, of course, she will have to be put under.

She will be having surgery on both feet, although they will most likely do more work on her left foot. The name of the procedure our surgeon will be performing is Posteromedial Lateral Release, which basically means she will be making Brooklyn's feet flat and straight. Unfortunately, the Achilles tendon surgery Brooklyn had last year to flatten her feet wasn't successful, and her clubbed feet that were corrected with the casts have started to turn in. This surgery is necessary to correct both of those things so that she will be able to properly stand and bear weight on her legs.

We also ask that you pray for Brooklyn's recovery process, as she will have pins in her feet, as well as splints and casts on her legs for 7 weeks. We aren't quite sure how this will go over with our little rock star, but we are hopeful that she will be her usual rock star self and "make it work"!

The good news is that once she is fully recovered, we will be measuring her for a stander, which is very exciting! Because she lacks feeling in her lower legs (below the knee), she doesn't quite understand that she can use them to stand. But once her feet have been corrected, we will be able to teach her body what to do by using this device. What a joy it will be to see her standing on her own two feet some day...we can hardly wait! I have a feeling she is going to love being off the ground and closer to her two big sisters!

For now, Miss Brooklyn more than enjoys sitting up and playing independently. And as of last month, she can even push herself up from the ground all by herself. We are so proud of her! She isn't attempting to crawl since her knees don't quite want to bend the full 90 degrees, but she is starting to get curious about moving around. We are working on her core strength to help her accomplish that, but it is more likely she will "scooch" or army crawl instead of a 4-point-crawl. As with all things Spina Bifida, we will just have to wait and see!

As we prepare for Wednesday, we ask you to pray for any (or all!) of the following:

1. God's protection during the surgery and as she comes out of the anesthesia
2. A successful and peaceful recovery process -- no complications
3. God's miraculous intervention to restore all nerve and muscle functions (We have to ask! :)
4. Peace for us during the surgery
5. Peace for Emma and Kendall as they spend time away from us and as they pray for their little sister

Thank you all for your continued love, support, and prayer. We cannot express how much every one of your prayers means to our family. Sending our daughter into her fourth surgery (eek!) is definitely not an easy task, but we feel God's love and power through all of you.

We will keep you all updated on how everything goes on Wednesday. Thank you so very much, and may God bless you all!

Photo credit: Erin Olson Photography

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7