Abbey's surgery...

One of my twins, Abbey, was born with a cleft palate; that means that the roof of her mouth isn't a solid bit of tissue as most of ours are. Last March, we traveled to Chicago for an initial visit with the Shriners' Hospital, who will be performing the surgery and follow-up treatment to repair this cleft.

They told us then that they would likely do the surgery in August or September. Over the summer, though, it was scheduled for the very end of October-- however, she had a cold and was not able to go through with the surgery then. So they rescheduled it for this Thursday, January 7.

But she caught another cold last week, and while she is better now, she still has a little bit o' sniffles. We will be calling later this morning to find out if they still want us to come. If so, then both Marcie's mom and mine will come (later today, in fact) and keep the other three kids while Marcie and I drive to Chicago on Tuesday, check in on Wednesday, sit through the surgery on Thursday, wait for recovery on Friday, and (D.V.) travel home on Saturday.

Assuming this goes through, I'll take much of the next week off to be home with Abbey (and the rest of the clan). My good friend Doug Barcroft is preaching for me for the next two weeks, and my Session will cover the large majority of the pastoral needs for the next two weeks.

If they say NOT to come, then a lot of that is off; our moms will turn around (they drove to Atlanta last night and are waiting there for word), and we'll be back to waiting for the next surgery date.

Please pray for us as we await word from the Shriners, and as all involved take the various steps and actions required. We don't want to have to wait again, but neither do we want to move ahead with a surgery that would be imprudent to have at this point.

I'll provide updates today and through the week as I am able; otherwise, I'll be somewhat out-of-pocket this week, blog-wise and otherwise!