Meeting with the surgeon

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

I don't really dig Saturday Night Live at all. However, I do like the newscast thing, especially when they do their "Really? I mean really?" segment. And as i read this Scripture I think "Really? Really, I'm not supposed to be anxious about anything?" I get anxious about a lot of things. But honestly, God's Word is so very true. As I present my requests to Him (and sincerely thank you, Lord, for not getting annoyed by my same requests over and over again), especially with thanksgiving, a peace that transcends worldly understanding guards my heart and more amazingly my mind. So, to You, my King, I will continue to come.

We met with the surgeon today, Dr. Eric N. Mendeloff. The consult went wonderfully. Dr. Mendeloff is warm, friendly, and compassionate (a trait that often is hard to fine in doctors unfortunately). He had a calm confidence but no hint of arrogance. He is extremely good at what he does and I am extremely grateful for that. He walked us through how the heart works, why Reese needs surgery, what he would do during the surgery, what to expect afterwards, etc. I asked him how many of these he had done, and he looked at me reassuringly and said, "I can't give you an exact number, but it is in the thousands." Words that soothe my soul. Even more soothing were the words every parent is desparate to hear in this situation. "I will take very, very good care of her." My baby girl isn't just another heart to him; he recognizes she is one of my greatest gifts.

So, I'd like to present my list of thanksgivings. God has much glory to be received through all of this:

1. How God has made our bodies to work like they do is the coolest


2. God has protected Reesie from sickness and symptoms of heart failure (they had always said her hole was pretty large and today I asked how big. Y'all, Reese's heart is a little bigger (because it is enlarged) than the size of her fist and her hole is almost as big as a dime!....that God has taken care of her so well this far is such a humbling blessing


3. we live in an age where they can actually put the heart to sleep and operate on it


4. she doesn't have any damage to her heart or lungs that won't be reversed


5. we live in a country where medical care like this is a possibility


6. God has gifted doctors to be able to perform surgeries of this kind


7. I am in a city where I can be close to home and my children to have this taken care of


8. we have good health insurance (I know from my friend's little girls open heart surgery that this surgery will cost in the range of $450,000) and can afford to have our little girl taken care of


9. our insurance told us the hospital is listed as an Institute of Excellence for this type of surgery for Reese. Only 14 other hospitals in the country are listed as such, and Dr. Mendeloff is ranked one of the top surgeons for this


10. we have lots of people who care about us and are praying


11. my Dad and Jason's parents will come in for the surgery


12. the chance of something going wrong is less than 1% (music to my ears as well)


13. Reese will be able to live a normal, active, and healthy life


14. the Lord is in control

So while not my first choice in how things would go, my heart has been overflowing with thankfulness to the Lord today. This doesn't mean we don't have to keep praying, God tells us to present our requests to Him. So please, please pray for the surgery to go without any complication and for God's hand to guide Dr. Mendeloff's and for Reese to heal quickly and properly, and be blessed with a long and healthy life. The surgery will be at 6am on Thursday, Septemeber 18th. Please write it on your calendars and pray; put our Reese on your prayer chains, but as you pray thank Him for what He has done already. And from our family, sincere thank yous for praying for sweet Reese Ellery. She is precious to us.

Labor Day Weekend and More

A couple from church gave us some tickets to the Frisco Roughriders baseball game Saturday night, complete with free parking and free food. It was nice for us to all get out together as a family. The ballpark is very kid friendly and we had a blast being outside, enjoying some family time, and meeting up with really good friends from church. Even Reese loved every minute of it.

Today Laney and Reese had their first day of Mom's Day Out. I really enjoy everything about their school, and more importantly they do too! The teachers all genuinely love the kids. They
have great activities for them, and they learn a lot educationally and even more significantly about the Lord. Plus, it's only two minutes from the church.

In other important news, despite my despise of running, I have gotten in two more "runs" since my last post. My friend Julanne (pictured with the darker hair in the middle) ran with me once. I have to tell you, I was nervous because:
a.) she is a runner
b.) her legs are twice as long as mine
c.) she is in shape unlike her counterpart
But Julanne was gracious and didn't even make me feel like I was slowing her down. She
probably ran 5 more miles after dropping me back home. Plus, I made her talk the entire time so it helped the time pass by more quickly.

We meet with the surgeon on Friday so I'll be back to post about all of that soon too. And my tech-saavy husband has figured out how to post some video so maybe in the near future we'll have that for you as well.

Ta-ta for now.

These last pictures are of the girls before MDO this morning. Aren't they too cute?

Running is annoying

Okay, if you can't tell by my title, I have not long ago returned from my run....it usually only occurs about once every three months. Why? Because I can't stand it. (One other annoying thing...trying to fit these tiny fitted clothes onto these tiny Polly Pockets...who came up with these things? Sorry for the interupption, I was called on once again to attempt putting a new outfit on one of these Polly girls).

Anyways, back to running...what a miserable form of exercise. Since I can't seem to lose these last 4 lb.s of baby weight (and have another 4 on top to lose) I thought I'd give it a go again. I'm not kidding, after about 10 steps I begin thinking "How much longer? How much longer?" This thought continues for the remainder of the time. I have to coax myself to the next mailbox, that next bench, make it to the little wall... And I'm sure everyone passing by is wondering "Is she running? I mean her arms and legs look to be in that motion but she doesn't seem to be going anywhere..."

I arrive home having sweat enough to fill up 5 water bottles so after sitting and drinking some gatorade because I literally felt sick, I go get on the scale before I take a shower. Surely, that miserable experience dropped those last 4 pounds and I won't have to do this again. No such luck. Oh well. In a couple of hours I get to go have my hair cut and colored (professionally...wonders never cease) by a gal in our LifeGroup. I'm hoping to walk away from that looking as though I have dropped a few pounds and lost a few years :0).

By the way, I have put on four different outfits on Polly Pocket girls since beginning this post. Jase is home now though, and Laney just asked him...oops, spoke to soon she's back to me now. See you later!

Catch up time

Well, if you can't tell from my lack of posting...things are busy around the Mills' household. I'll try not to go too long and maybe post a couple times this week.

First, an update concerning Reesie. She is scheduled for open heart surgery on Thurs., Sept. 18th. We CHERISH your prayers for her. I talked with another heart surgeon (dad of one of our former students) just yesterday. He agreed with our doctor's assessment, walked me through the procedure, and gave me some questions to ask. I feel more at peace.

Reese just cut her 3rd tooth today which is

good because the girl loooves big

people food. She much rather have anything we

have, if at all possible. She's as smiley and cute as

ever!

Ashlyn Jean started first grade today. The picture is of her before she left for school this morning. Jason and Laney did the honors of taking her to school. We met her teacher last Friday and found out that her best friend at school, Avery, is once again in her class, along with several other sweet kids from their class last year. She is just growing up so fast. I'm so proud of the girl she is becoming.

Laney has been extra sweet and lovey lately. The girl is always sweet but she has been wanting to give me kisses several times a day and just as often tells me, "Mommy I just love you so much!" She has been obeying so nicely and just been in a sweet, sweet mood. Last week she got to go to her best little girlfriends house..."brown Taylor" and tomorrow "brown Taylor" is coming to our house to play. Last year she had two Taylors in her class...one with brown hair and one with orange...thus the "brown Taylor." She asked me to take this picture of her today while she did her hair up like so. Silly girl!

I turned 32 last week. Seriously, I remember my mom being this age :0). It was a nice day. Today Jase left for Portland and won't be back until Friday. I'm a single mom of three for 5 days. Whatever will I do? just teasing. I did straighten out our linen closet tonight though. Alright, I'm digressing. Hope you enjoy some pictures (once again sorry that I can't figure out spacing). Please keep praying for Reese's surgery.

Life with three princesses

Let me just begin the story with this..."What can stop a bigwheel dead in its tracks? A fluffy, pink princess dress!" That's right, we had a little adventure tonight as we went on our walk. After much deliberating and changing of minds the girls finally decided the best mode of transportation would be the double stroller and Laney's Dora bigwheel/tricycle. Ashlyn and Reesie were in the stroller and Laney started on the bigwheel...complete with Dora song streaming from it. Well, the poor girl still can't quite reach the pedals well enough to go very well. So, after moving about 20 feet from our house she decided it would be better if Ashlyn rode it. So, we stopped and they changed.

Have I mentioned that this walk/ ride came immediately following dinner? Once again, Ashlyn wanted a fancy dinner and so she and Laney came dressed in their dress-up clothes. We were told by Ashlyn that she was to be called Queen Nancy. Laney was Princess Fiona, Reese was Little-bits Princess, I was the Godmother, and Jason was Master. I told the girls I thought Jason should be Donkey (Laney's been on a Shrek kick the last couple of days), but they didn't budge. I then tried Farmboy...again, no such luck. Anywho, Laney was decked out in a sequenced halter top with a see-through tu-tu skirt. Ashlyn had on a fru-fru pink princess dress. This is how they chose to take our walk around the neighborhood. Except, Ashlyn added her new blue clogs (oh yes) and Laney added shorts so no one could see her panties.

Well, more than once, Ashlyn's humongous pink dress got caught in the wheels of the tricycle and had Queen Nancy come to a screeching halt. It was hilarious! After awhile Laney thought she'd give the Dora thing a try again (so Jason readjusted the seat once again). Amazingly enough her legs still weren't long enough. Now Jason and I took turns hunching over to push Princess Fiona. Soon Little Bits Princess decided she would rather be out of the stroller. Now, Jason is holding her (whose hair blew in the warm breeze and looked like a hair-do that you might see on Lyle Lovett or Donald Trump) while pushing Ashlyn in the stroller. I am hunched over with Laney. We dropped off the Dora bike and continued on. After about 62 different changes of seating positions and stopping to visit with friends, we finally made our 2 block trek home in over 30 minutes time. But you know, that's life with three little princesses! I wouldn't change a thing.

Scared

Our sweet Reesie is 9 months old now. She looooves to wave and is very good at it! She is the queen of rolling over (even in the middle of a diaper change) and she enjoys being on her belly although she hasn't attempted crawling yet. She weighs 14 lb. 3 oz. and is 25 3/4" long. She is absolutely the cutest, happiest, sweetest baby on the planet.

Today we had her cardiologist appt. and didn't get the outcome we were hoping and praying for. There is no change in the size of the hole in her heart (it is pretty large) and it's causing her heart to still be enlarged. The doctor thinks surgery to repair it is what is best. Open heart surgery. Just the thought makes my heart hurt. If you can't tell, I'm in love with her...absolutely in love with every single thing about her. And the thought of something going wrong and me losing her frightens me. However, God is still a big God and He can use people and medical means to heal, so that is now the direction we are praying.

I don't know anything further other than the surgeon is supposed to call so we can meet with him. The cardiologist thinks it should be done in the next month or two. One of my friends and roommates from ACU, Paige, has had this surgeon do open heart surgery on her daughter. He is top-notch from what I hear. I'll keep y'all posted.

Please pray for God's healing hand to be on our Reese, for her protection through the surgery, for her healing afterwards, and quite frankly for continued peace for Jason and I. While I am sad and disappointed, I have expereinced His peace a great deal the last few months.

Enjoy the pictures of our girl!!

Spectacular Six

Our Ashlyn Jean turned 6 yesterday. We had a fun day celebrating. We hit Sweet and Sassy's, a fun little girls boutique where she and Laney got their hair, nails and make-up done. We ate at her favorite restuarant, Jin Beh, a Japanese hibachi place. We opened present, sang happy birthday, and had some yummy cupcakes. And we're not done yet...her party with her girlfriends is Monday night. It's a fancy party, of course. We'll eat off fancy china and once again, hair, make-up and nails will be done.

I'm so proud to be her mom. It's a privilege that blesses me each and every day. I love you, big girl!

These are some pics from the day.... (looking at these has enabled me to already know what I'm getting Jase for Christmas...a BIG stick...to keep all those boys away!!!)