Children our a heritage from the Lord!

Happy hump day! Tomorrow will be 29 weeks! Praise God! Overall, we had good, stable reports all the way around today....flow was good and Kaylan was very active on the sonogram, as was Dylan.

My best friend Melissa came to visit today, along with another friend of ours, Lainey. Melissa and I have been friends since the fourth grade - TWENTY YEARS! Whoa! Aren't I too young to have been friends with someone that long? We've been through a lot together - laughing, crying, praying, fun, and maybe a little bit of trouble...just once though. ;) Lainey, who also visited, is such an encouragement to me. She had twin boys almost two years ago and went through many of the same struggles that we are facing right now -- bedrest at 27 weeks, pre-mature delivery at 30 weeks, doctor concerns about diseases, chromosomes, etc. Her beautiful precious boys (Grady and Grayson) are the light of her and husband's life and to see how they've grown into healthy little boys is truly an inspiration. Lainey brought one of the preemie diapers that Grayson had from the hospital and I could NOT believe how small it was. I didn't know they made diapers that tiny. Amazing. She shared pictures of them early on and it was really special for me to have a snapshot into their journey. 

As we continue to walk this daily battle, I tend to be really self-focused on our situation and our babies. I want to take this time ask for prayers for some other children that we know. The first, is our niece McKenna. She just turned 1 years old last week and today, doctors discovered she has a heart murmer. We're not sure the severity or seriousness of this diagnosis just yet, but regardless, I would ask that you include her in your prayers. Please pray for peace for her mom and dad (Patrick and Chelsea Fariss).

The second child is our pastor's 11 year old son Skyler. He's been diagnosed with bacterial meningits and has been in the hospital for well over a week. I believe the general prognosis is good, however, he is still really struggling with high fevers, nausea, and headaches like you wouldn't believe. Please pray for this illness to leave his body so he can be restored to healthy 11 year old again. 

Finally, I would ask that you lift up each and every baby in the NICU here at this hospital. It's a 45 bed hospital and I'm sure they are pretty full right now. I don't know any of the statuses nor do I even personally know what babies are in the NICU right now, but I do know there are lots of mommies and daddies pacing the halls and waiting on phone calls hourly to hear how their little ones are doing. God bless the nurses and doctors that our managing their care at all times. What a special calling they have!

Well, this post is getting a little bit long, so I'll leave you with one more story tonight about a little boy we know....(the theme tonight is all about KIDS. Can you tell?)

This evening, as Landon and I were talking about our day, my hospital room phone rang. It was a little boy on the other end of the line.

"Miss Jennifer?"

Me: "Yes?"

"Hi, this is Preston." Preston is the 4 year old son of some friends of ours - Kirk and Kim Johnson. We talked for a few minutes and then he said "I want to pray for Kaylan."  He then proceeded to say the sweetest little prayer over the phone for Kaylan asking Jesus to make her grow big and strong. It was so precious and sweet and innocent and I was just reminded that God hears Preston's prayers loud and clear for Kaylan just like he hears mine and everyone else's who lifts these babies up on a daily basis.

As I listened to his simple words, "Jesus, just make her grow big and strong", it was a reminder as I'm searching for all the right words and the things to say to God, that we just need to have a childlike faith and come to Him with a pure heart. The right words don't matter - he knows our hearts and he even hears our cries as prayers.

Matthew 18:3 (New International Version)

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Here's a couple of pictures of the gifts that Melissa and Lainey brought today. The cowboy blankets are from Lainey, monogrammed burp cloths from Melissa and the other two blankets are from another friend of mine, Jennifer Putman. I LOVE all of them!!! :)