Over the past 10 days, we have been completely overwhelmed as our sisters and brothers in Christ have poured out love, encouragement, joy, tears, and prayers for our family. Wes and I, both, have received an abundance of emails, phone calls, letters, text messages, facebook messages and wall posts, and blog comments that have ministered to our faith in a powerful way. Thank you for allowing the Lord to use you as a tool to comfort and encourage us during this valley. We are witnessing the gospel played out and played out well on our behalf- and it is glorious!
"Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11
This past Sunday, our church had a dedication service for Wesley Adam. We were approached about a week ago, asking if we would be willing to share with our church Wesley Adam's diagnosis, our journey this far, how we are spiritually and emotionally, and how they can be praying for us. The road the Lord has given us to walk is a seemingly overwhelming one. We were comforted as our family, care group, and entire church made the verbal commitment to us that we do not have to make this journey alone.
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." James 5:16
"And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must love his brother."
1 John 4:21
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, ' therefore I will hope in him.' " Lamentations 3:22-24
Thank you our dear brothers and sisters for obeying the Lord's commands. Your obedience comforts us and we are overwhelmed by your love.
Long before our Thursday appointment, the Lord had begun preparing our hearts to hear the news of our son. Let me share a few of the ways He did.
Wes had been asked to preach in our church this coming Sunday and he had been praying through a few different texts to decide which one to preach. He had been walking me through each one as a time of family worship as well as getting some feedback on my thoughts. The texts that the Lord had laid on his heart were: James 1:2-4 - the theology of trials Hebrews 4:1-11 - there is rest available for those who respond in obedience to God's Word Matthew 14:22-33 - the confession that Jesus is the Son of God should result in worship
Our hearts were prepared.
I am in a weekly book study that is currently studying "Lord, I Want to Know You" by Kay Arthur. We have been on the same 2 chapters for almost a month, due to having to cancel for different reasons-vacations, family, etc. I must admit, I had read and reread those 2 chapters for several weeks now and was VERY ready to move on. We had been studying the names "Jehovah-Shalom"- The Lord is Peace and "Jehovah-mekoddishkem"- The Lord who sanctifies you. The Lord knew that I needed to really know Him as my God of Peace and my God that sanctifies before Thursday. We discussed these on Tuesday.
Our hearts were prepared.
During Thursday's sonogram, our sonographer stepped out to "go get some more tape" and our nurse popped in the exam room. She was a little confused because she was told by the sonographer that she needed to meet in our room with our doctor, but no one was in the room but us. When she told us this, we knew something was up. She left the room to find out more information. We were given a small window of time to pray.
Our hearts were prepared.
Driving home from the sonogram appointment, Wes and I were crying and mumbling random thoughts back and forth to each other trying to make sense of the situation we had just been faced with. When all the sudden, we heard an angel from the backseat. "Mom-ma" "Mom-ma." At that precious moment, our heads cleared and the Lord used our sweet daughter to comfort us from her carseat.
Our hearts were prepared.
Friday, Wes and I woke up early and spent some time praying. We were both checking emails as so many friends and family had sent prayers and encouraging words. Wes decided to check facebook messages. A friend of his that didn't even know our current situation had posted a link by John Piper. Wes, thinking this would be nice diversion from the situation, said "Let's see what Piper says about the prosperity gospel...", with a smile on his face.
Our hearts were prepared.
On Thursday, we were hit by a blow that will forever change our lives....And we thank Him that our hearts were prepared.
We are proud to announce that we have a little boy, Wesley Adam Mills, Jr. His little body is growing and he has a very strong heartbeat and for that we are so very thankful. Please remember this and rejoice with us as you continue reading.
We headed to our 18 week check-up, on Thursday, with high excitement as we were hoping to find out the gender and get to see pictures of our sweet baby. We left with much different feelings...
During our routine sonogram (our first one for this pregnancy) we found out that our little boy has a birth defect, Anencephaly. Basically, this means that the portion of the neural tube that forms the brain does not close. Consequently, infants with this condition lack parts of their brain, skull, and scalp. They are often born without a forebrain and a cerebrum. Life outside the womb is suspected to be minutes.
Our hearts are broken.
And yet, we are fighting for joy. Joy that the Lord most graciously gives. "I will be filled with joy because of You. I will sing praises to Your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:2
While medical practitioners have diagnosed Wesley Adam with a defect, diagnoses are sometimes wrong. Even if it is accurate, we serve the Creator, Sustainer, and Healer of life. He can change these circumstances if it is His will.
We don't know how long the Lord will give our Wesley Adam life, but we will carry our child as long as He gives. We know that the weeks ahead of us will be full of times of sorrow but full of times of joy as well.
Let us pray for the Lord’s will to be done and make the request for healing an urgent one. We pray in faith that God will accomplish His purposes even if the outcome is different than we would script it to be. It is our hearts deepest desire and we pray that the Lord will use Wesley Adam and his story to turn other people's affections toward our Almighty God.
I have had a few people tell me that they enjoyed using my recipe blog that I started over a year ago. I had removed it from this page since I had not been frequently updating it. It is now accessible on the right sidebar of this page. I hope to begin updating it again shortly. Enjoy!
Last Thursday, Bri had an appointment with her pediatric urologist to check for scarring on her kidneys. It has been a year since her last UTI and so we were hopeful for a positive report. We got it!! The dr. said her kidneys were clear! We are very thankful!
Last Wednesday, we got a phone call that said that Wes's sister, Erica, had gone into labor. Praise the Giver of Life! Erica welcomed Blake Addison into the world at 12:30 pm! We couldn't hardly wait to get to Arkansas to hold this precious baby! Erica and Blake are both home and doing well.
Blake, just minutes old.
First feeding.
Momma and Blake
All dolled up!
While we were home visiting the new baby, we also had a wedding to attend! My cousin, Jay, was getting married to a wonderful girl, Christa. Christa is from Greenwood, just a few minutes from Fort Smith, so all the family joined up at my parents house for the big celebration. Lots of laughs, lots of tears, and lots of fun was had.
While in FS we also had the opportunity to show off Bri's walking skills to her grandparents. They were so proud! I didn't get many pictures but here are a few...
Living on the seminary campus has been such a blessing for many reasons; one of which is our pond. Aubri and I have been walking (and strolling) around the campus everyday trying to stay in shape during this new pregnancy. After we walk, we head over to the pond to see the fish and play in the gazebo. Aubri LOVES this! She loves talking about the "shish" (that's fish) and the "wa-a" (that's water).
Our ECI case worker, Stacey, has given us the goal to start learning to go up and down stairs. So this is the perfect place for us to practice.
Thank you our dear brothers and sisters for obeying the Lord's commands. Your obedience comforts us and we are overwhelmed by your love.
