Hi guys,
It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted, so this will probably be a fairly long post. To be honest, I don’t always know what to write. I know everyone wants to know how Mandy is doing.
The truth is she’s doing really well. she is gaining weight fairly consistently. In fact she is between 13 and 14lbs. now. I just love saying that because I never thought that would be possible.
I was sitting down today remembering Mandy’s first day of earth. You see today is a very special day. Today is Mandy’s birthday! There for quite awhile I wasn’t sure if she would live long enough to celebrate this day, but I thank God from the bottom of my heart that she did. There are no words that can express how this makes me feel. there’s no praise that can be enough to think my father my Lord and savior Jesus Christ for being there for all of his.
For it is truly been a battle. But we have come so far that we are coming even closer to the time when we finally bring her home.
All praise and honor to God!
So now for the updates…
I’m sure that you probably remember that she was going to have tubes put in her ears. Well, that happened in November, and now she has normal hearing! She is so much more active and responsive. It’s almost like I have a different child now.
As you can guess, Mandy has many different doctors involved with her care. So we frequently have doctors appointments, in addition to her attending physician seeing her a few times a week. We’ve recently had follow-up visits with her cardiac doctor, her thyroid doctor, and her ENT. All of her doctors are pleased with her progress, and have set up follow ups as much as a year out.
So what’s next for Mandy?
The biggest goal for Mandy is to continue to gain weight. In order to have the necessary surgeries she must be around 20lbs.. So we have a long way to go.
Something pretty neat happened today that I wanted to share with you. The police department came into Mandy’s hospital and distributed Christmas presents to all the patients. I thought it was pretty cool
Teresa and I will continue with our training. We just have to keep practicing until it becomes second nature.
I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, especially during the hard times. Never doubt that God hears you, or that he answers prayer. I can attest from this year, which has undoubtedly been the hardest yet the most joyous year of my life. I have grown in the Lord in ways I could not have imagined.
To reset and I and Mandy wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a prosperous and blessed New Year!
Love in Christ
Michael, Teresa, and Mandy Blaes
PS please share your thoughts by clicking the comment link below. We treasure these, as they always seem to come at the right time.
