Greetings, and welcome to our second “official” post!

After weeks of secrecy and speculation, we’ve finally announced the gender of Baby Ellise! We’ve had a blast – first as a couple and then, as a family, planning the big announcement.  This past Saturday evening, we hosted a Gender Reveal Party where we announced the news that… We’re having a girl! We couldn’t be more excited!

If you’ve taken the time to read through our first post, you already know that we are facing a challenging season with our baby.  Given the news we received, we made the commitment early-on, that we were going to celebrate every day with our precious gift from God.  And, that’s what were doing.  We don’t know how many days we might have, but we plan to celebrate every moment.  We’ve had so much fun telling the kids that they had a baby brother or sister on the way, planning photo shoots, making multiple trips to Old Rope Mill Park for pictures.  And finally, the splendid Gender Reveal Party that a few of our close friends planned for us.

As I mentioned, we held the Gender Reveal Party on Saturday night.  A few of our close friends took-on the planning, food preparation and decorations for the party.  We invited friends via Facebook, and checked frequently to see who had responded to the invitation.  We often wondered aloud whether anyone would come.  Little did we know, there was a reveal planned for us as well.  When we walked into the clubhouse, we were blown away!  The clubhouse had been transformed into a beautiful array of pink and white.  It was simply exquisite – fit for a princess.  A short time later, the room was filled with friends and family who had joined us to celebrate our baby girl.  Dozens more, who could not attend had already communicated their thoughts and prayers for us.  We are so grateful to those of you who came out to celebrate with us.  We are especially grateful for our good friends, who, along with their families, sacrificed their Saturday to decorate and set-up for the party.  For those who weren’t able to attend, we missed you.  While the pictures don’t adequately represent the beautiful decor, we want to share a few for those of you who weren’t able to attend.

A look ahead…

Tomorrow is an important day and milestone in this journey.  You’ll likely remember that the Panorama screening that was performed a few weeks ago indicated that our baby girl was at a greater than 99% risk of having the rare but devastating Trisomy 13 chromosome abnormality.  The protocol for managing a high-risk pregnancy involves having an ultrasound every four weeks.  This is week 16 and tomorrow, we go in for the second ultrasound.  The first ultrasound, administered immediately following the Panorama results showed a normal pregnancy.  In other words, were it not for the test results, the doctor would have considered this to be a “normal” pregnancy.  However, because the Panorama screen is considered more accurate, the doctors consider the test authoritative and will proceed as if our baby has Trisomy 13, regardless of any subsequent ultrasound findings.

We have been told that the ultrasounds at weeks 16, 20 and beyond, should be revealing.  If our baby does have Trisomy 13, we should begin to see manifestations of this during the ultrasound.  Honestly, our emotions have run the gambit – from hope to despair, and back to hope. We are anxious about what tomorrow holds.  Just now, I was reminded of Jesus’ words from the Gospel of Luke:

Are not two sparrows sold for two pennies?  And, not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are numbered.  Fear not; you are of more value than many  sparrows. Luke 6:6-7

As we head into tomorrow, we know that God has gone before us.  We also know that, regardless of what we learn in the examination room, He will be the same God that He was before we walked in.  God will provide His sustaining grace for our weakness.

We covet your prayers as we go to this appointment tomorrow morning, July 22nd, at 11:00 AM.  Obviously, our prayer is for a “normal” ultrasound.  Despite the daunting Panorama screen results, we’ve been told by one of the doctors that a normal ultrasound should be viewed as “encouraging”.  Most of all, we want God to use this to transform our hearts and minds.  The longer we walk through this trial, the more we realize that there will come a time when God will make all things new.  I believe that trials are designed to make us long for that very day.

For the family…

Andy