Our plane departs Charlotte at 11:10 on Sunday. Please continue to pray for us, especially little Rivers, as we head to Boston and as she faces surgery on Tuesday, October 28th. She has pre-operative appointments on Monday for about 5 hours. I feel more troubled this time than before her other surgeries because of how she will react when she wakes up and realizes that she cannot walk again. I am trusting that the Lord will give her a peace and understanding that she can trust us when we tell her that it will be for a short time, and that her sweet little spirit will not be broken over this. I fully believe that we are doing the right thing in not telling her that she's having surgery beforehand. She is three, and it would only create anxiety for her because she can't understand what all that "surgery" entails. For those of you who may be concerned about this decision and have thought of how you would treat the situation if it were your own child, please know that we know Rivers inside and out and that she has had a very different life than most 3 year old children thus far. We have also prayed over this endlessly and discussed it with our families, pediatrician, and a Christian counselor.
One way that you could help ease the transition with Rivers coming back and facing her friends being in a body cast is to pray with your children for Rivers and to show them the pictures that we post on the blog (hopefully from Boston) so that they will be prepared for how she will look when she returns to church. You can let them know that she is having surgery to fix her hip and knee so that she can walk even better, and that she will be back up and walking again soon. I am putting some pictures below of how she looked when in her casts before. As you can see, she bounced back and was her same happy self once she got used to it. Thank you for your support and encouragement! We greatly appreciate it and love you all!
