our Christmas miracle...

We had a wonderful Christmas in Delaware with Matt's family (pix below), and headed back to Ohio on the 26th.  First thing Monday morning I had an appointment with our doctor to check on the baby.

After an awesome appointment with good reports on everything, we finished with an ultrasound...which shockingly diagnosed Sophie and I (IT'S A GIRL!) with a very serious and possibly life-threatening pregnancy complication.  A sonogram technician diagnosed us, and our doctor confirmed it, saying that the diagnosis was 'for sure' and had 'no real hope of changing'.

Needless to say, our world turned upside-down yesterday morning.  Suddenly we were talking about living wills, living the next 6 months apart in two different countries, the possibility of going into labor far too early and possibly needing a complete hysterectomy...Afraid for Sophie and the future.

The Lord clearly asked me as we walked out of the doctor if I still trusted Him, and the last 24 hours have been an exercise in just that.  We had an emergency appointment scheduled for this morning at the hospital with a team of specialists to discuss our options, and after a sleepless night of many prayers, I made a bold request of the Lord this morning.

I thought through the last months, the last years, and asked Him to do what I have SEEN Him do...miraculously change the circumstances.  We knew three things for sure:  Sophie is a gift directly from Him...Sophie is His...and we can trust Him to continue to care for her now.  As I unsuccessfully tried to push all of the "what if's" and "what about's", fear and worry from my mind, I prayed that He would just simply change things.

We met with the group of specialists this morning, and four minutes after entering the room, we got our miracle.  "I don't see that AT all.  You just don't have that problem.  Everything here is FINE."

They spent some time doing further checking, and checked Sophie from head to toe.  She was perfect, I was perfect, and the problem was simply NOT THERE.

The head doctor came in to double check, and immediately said, "I don't know what they were thinking. Everything is great.  You do NOT have that problem, and this is not a problem that changes, so you never did.  Have a nice life.  Have fun in Haiti.  Get out of here."

I guess we will never know if our doctors yesterday just made a terrible mistake, or if the Lord miraculously answered my exact prayer by miraculously changing our physical circumstance.  Frankly, we don't care.  Yesterday our world was crumbling, and today He restored it.  Either way, today He has given us each other and a healthy little baby, the ability to serve Him internationally, and best, His unwavering and constant, loving and guiding presence.

Our Christmas miracle...