Peaks and Valleys

So...it's been awhile.  I used to love to write but now it's so hard for me.  I don't love it anymore.  Not sure what happened but I'm forcing this just to wrap up the year.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how I want to want to blog again but it's just not there...

2011...what a year!

We ended 2010 in quite a deep valley when we discovered the curve in Cali's back.  We didn't really know what we would face on the road ahead and it's often the unknown that is so scary. 

What we would learn is that you must go through the valleys to stand upon the mountain tops.

Ironically, that comes from a song by Third Day.  We were blessed to get to not only see them in concert but to meet them back stage with our friends, the Bannon's.

And speaking of mountaintops, we got to stand atop a real mountain as we traveled to Colorado this summer with our friends, the Bowers'.

So to sum it up, it was definitely a year of peaks and valleys.

As I look back, I remember sitting on the beach and being shocked by seeing the curve in Cali's spine.  I panicked but I did what I knew to do...I drew closer to God.  It was a defining moment in my faith for sure as I had definitely drifted to point of just coasting and being comfortable in where I was.

That trial pulled me into God's word and made me rely on prayer more that I ever had in my life.  This was my baby girl.  I would have done anything I could to take the deformity away from her but it was simply out of my control.  There was nothing I could do...but pray and trust.

Looking back, I see how God has been faithful all through this trial and I know He will be all the way through.  Even though we are praying for Cali's back to be straightened and that hasn't happened, she has remained relatively pain free and the curve is really only noticeable to us. 

And while her curve has gotten worse despite the fact that we are praying for God to straighten her spine, we still know and trust that God's plan is perfect.  We may not understand it and it may not be the path that we would choose but, since we can't control it, we will go with it and make the best of it.

Whatever 2012 brings, we will go with it.  January 26th is her appointment with Dr. Didelot and I'm guessing at that appointment he will make the call of surgery or no surgery.  In July, she was at 48 degrees.  He said at 55 degrees, we would be facing surgery.  We took her to a chiropractor for four months just to try to be proactive.  We didn't want to do the "wait and see" approach.

Whatever the call, we will know that God will have a purpose and we will make it through it.