God is Our Strength

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Each of you have been a great encouragement to us through your letters, calls, and most importantly prayer. Our Father in heaven has been our source of strength daily. I do not understand how people make it through the day and the difficult times (as the last two days have been) without Christ! It is unbearable to think of how many people go through the tough times without an understanding of the love, peace and strength that only God can provide.

Last night and this morning were probably the most difficult time Kristina has experience thus far. I noticed yesterday that she was just not herself, not responding to Jess and I as she would normally. She also complained a great deal more about her headache and nothing seemed to ease it. It was also very difficult to have to tell her about "Grandpa John" (as my girls so affectionately called John - who went on to be with the Lord last night). During the night she had three seizures and the headache continued to get worse. The surgeon came by this morning at the crack of dawn and upon hearing about her night and the headaches sent her to have a CT scan. They discovered that the side of the brain with the grid was swelling and pushing on the other side of the brain. They immediately put her back on steroids and were discussing emergency surgery to remove the grid if the swelling did not go down quickly. During this time, due to the severity of the headache, she began to throw up again. Once they got her medicated and the pain eased she felt better. Fortunately the steroid began working and she began to feel much better.

As of now, the doctors have decided not to go forward with the anticipated surgery to remove the scar tissue. They have discovered from all the tests, maps and gridding that the bad part is too close to the good part and would be too much of a risk for her. This has been terribly disappointing to us, however we know God sent us here and He is not done with her yet. The doctors want us to move on to looking at the second option which is the Neuropace (a type pacemaker for the brain). They feel the tests and the grid were not in vain, as all the information will be used for the placement of the neuropace electrodes. Unfortunately this procedure cannot be done at this time. Krissy will go back into surgery on Wednesday, Feb 28, to have the grid and wires removed. She will then be here an additional 7-10 days for recovery before we are able to return home. It will be a few months before we will return to have the neuropace installed; the brain needs to heal fully before the next step. As you can see it has been a difficult couple of days with alot of information and processing for us to do.

As we continue in our journey and face the disappointments that have come our way we still have hope. I was also reminded today that we do not have to always be so strong. God is our strenth. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9