Emma Kate

This is Whiney's friend. Read her story below, in her moms words. The Lord is so good-Kim

In 2012 our daughter Emma Kate was getting excited about her 3rd birthday. Just two weeks before the big day we started to notice some changes in her. I could tell she had put on some weight, but since she was getting older I just thought she may be filling out...more than I had expected. Then she caught a virus that included a brief fever, and lethargy. After the fever passed I became very concerned as I noticed she was not getting any better. She was actually getting worse. She started to sleep all the time, she was not eating, and even more concerning, she was not going to the bathroom at ALL. It became apparent that the weight gain was swelling, which quickly turned into pitting edema. We took her back to the doctor and miraculously we were able to get a drop of urine to test while we were there. The doctor came back in the room, very matter of fact and started to explain Emma Kate's protein in her urine was sky high, 300+. The normal healthy person has 0- trace protein. Her kidneys were inflamed and we were sent right to The Children's Hospital.

Once there she was on an IV around the clock to hydrate her, and bring the swelling down. They also started her on high dose steroids. They told us she had Nephrotic Syndrome; it affects 1 in 10,000 kids and has no cure. It is an autoimmune condition that causes the kidneys to be attacked and leak large amounts of protein into the urine. This spillage can lead to serious things like high blood pressure, blood clots, and scarring of the kidneys. Before the creation of steroids, NS had a 90% mortality rate in children. We were told some kids don't respond to the steroids at all and are sent down a long road of chemotherapy and transplants. This was such an overwhelming, dark time for us. We did not know what the future held, but our peace was that we knew God held the future! We remained in fervent prayer.

By the time we went home Emma Kate had lost 6 pounds of water weight, but we had new challenging behaviors and side effects to deal with from a toddler being on such a strong medicine. Every six weeks off the meds she would start to spill again and have to go right back on. It became my mission to get her into a full med free remission! I started to do everything as natural as I could, and sought God's guidance every step of the way. After the first year of ups and downs we made a life change to cut gluten and dairy from our diets, and eat organic as much as possible. God was faithful to lead me down the path of diet change, and we give glory to Him for healing our Emma Kate! She has now been in a med free remission for 21 months! We have learned to trust God like never before. We daily praise Him for His goodness as we humbly remain in prayer for others. We are very excited for Emma Kate's story to be a part of The Asher Foundation and help others!

Draw Near

                                     I love that song by Kenny Chesney called EL Cerrito Place. [Brian thinks it's dumb] I think he sometimes questions my choice in music. Anyway, I don't know why I like it. I think it's romantic how he sings about looking for his love. He sings about going to the ocean and looking for her footprints in the sand. He is pursuing his love. So sweet!
                                     I have been reflecting back over this past year. I have felt overcome by the Lords love for me. I think of how He has taken care of me. I feel so unworthy. Not only how He has been with us each step of the way with Ward.... but my whole life! He truly has pursued me. I think of times I have needed him so desperately, to the point I was on my face, calling out to the Lord. I think of the times I have not been in His will. The times I have not called to Him. He has always come after me. I don't know why He would do that for me. I have such an imperfect life. James 4:8 says Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. I know I will never understand how much the Lord loves me. Just like my kids will never know how much I love them. No matter what I do or tell them.
                                       I am thankful the Lord reminded me of His love at this point in my life. Brian and I are embarking on something very new for us. I know the Lord has had this next step in place for us! The crazy thing is, it has felt natural.  We left our church of 8 years this past December. We felt the Lord leading. Brian has felt the Lord lead him to start a new church. We have prayed and asked the Lord. Is this what you want? We felt Him lead us. That's tough when you are not sure what is next. What will it all look like? So, door after door has opened. Let me say, not all at one time!! We first had to say we will take this first step. Hebrews 11:2. So, we will meet for the first time this Sunday, Jan 6th at 2:00 p.m.
                                       One more thing!!! Guess what God did?? He gave us a place to start our church. A free place! Can you believe that? As Mrs. Joan Tyson says "Isn't that just like the Lord!"

I wanted to add some pictures of Ward. He is 18 months old now and doing so good. Running, talking and eating. He is for sure #4. He likes his way. He has such a funny and cute personality. He loves when you watch him and laugh at him. He also loves his big brothers and sister.  Not a day goes by that we don't look at him and are amazed. I can't help but, believe all this we have been through has prepared us for what is to come.

                                     

We are home again......

                           The normal life is the good life! That is what keeps going through my head as I am home with the kids and baby Ward. The Friday morning after Thanksgiving. Ward had a fever of 102 and we could not keep it down with tylenol.  We ended up at the Egleston ER that morning around 2 a.m. The hospital did a shunt tap [took fluid from Wards shunt] and it came back showing infection. They wanted us to stay overnight and watch the cultures to see what it did. Worse case they would have to take Wards shunt out and put 2 external tubes to drain the fluid on the outside. Give him antibotics for 12-14 days and then do surgery to put the shunt back in. This news killed Brian and I. We were given a room and I was given a bed to sleep in with Ward. He was not himself and all night I begged the Lord to make him better so we would not have to go through surgery again. Saturday morning the nurse came in and took his temperature he was 103. My heart sank. I went in the bathroom of our hospital room and fell to my knees. I needed the Lord to take me to the next step. Our doctor let us know Ward would have to have the surgery to remove the shunt. We walked Ward to surgery that morning and watched him be wheeled away.  We spent the next 11 days talking to Ward and surrounding him with toys. He could only sit up for 30 minutes at a time. He had to lay down for most of the day for the external tubes to drain correctly. The Lord took care of that. He has made Ward a people person. He loves people. He will watch them and smile and is very happy doing this. He stole the hearts of all the nurses on the 5 East floor. The infectious disease doctors determined that he had a staph infection. This was most likely contracted six weeks prior when he had his last surgery. The chance of this infection was 10%. Ward had his shunt put back in and was discharged from the hospital a day later. So, we spent a total of 12 days at Egleston. Thank you for all the prayers,visits and phone calls. We are blessed beyond words. You can never know how much a blessing it is to have people love you through something like this until you go through it. We have been back to the ER three times because Wards stitches from surgery were leaking. He has had his sweet head stitched up so many times.
                    The Lord made him so tough. He has not been held back at all through all this. He is still AMAZING! God has a perfect plan for Ward and we are blessed to be his parents. I was rocking Ward in his room this morning and looked at a plaque over his door. It reads Great is thy Faithfulness. Wow sums up our year of 2011. He shows Himself faithful in our valley this year. This past Sunday January 8th we dedicated Ward to the Lord at our church Grace Baptist. Plus Weston our second son was baptized on the same day. Weston accepted Christ as his savior after Ward was born. What a time of rejoicing this past Sunday was for us!! I just kept telling the Lord thank you all day.
                       Ward is so strong! He is sitting up and rolling over. He is ready to go. I can see it in his eyes. I know the look I have seen it with my other 2 boys. He is eating food and loves it. He has physical therapy every other week. He is so happy all the time. He is a party boy and does not want to miss a thing. Guess that's why he does not love to sleep! His brothers Will and Weston and sister Whitney can't leave him alone. They all want to be around him all the time. He is an absolute super star. He has stolen many hearts and is only 8 months old. I wanted to post some pictures of Ward and his everyday life. We are so excited for a New Year and can't wait to see what the Lord has!!!
  

Lamentations 3:22-25

²² Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, 

      Because His compassions fail not. 

       ²³ They are new every morning; 

      Great is Your faithfulness. 

       ²⁴ “ The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, 

      “ Therefore I hope in Him!” 

       ²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, 

      To the soul who seeks Him.             

    

Amazing

Ward is looking and doing great. We will have a CT scan in 6 weeks to make sure the cyst has shrunk. Please keep praying it has. We had a visit with a physical therapist in Atlanta this morning. She played with him and checked out all his baby moves. He has found his feet and it's the sweetest thing. You would think he is our first child the way we get so excited for each new milestone. After his evalution the therapist just went over somethings and gave me some ideas for some ways we can work with him more at home. Then she said "He is amazing." She just kept saying over and over how amazing he was doing after what he has been through. I had to look away as my eyes filled with tears. I felt my heart fill with thankfulness. I knew all the prayers had carried Ward to this place of amazing. I have been basking in amazing all day. I was talking to a friend the other day and I shared with her something the Lord has showed me through our journey with Ward. He has showed me not to worry about tomorrow. I don't always do that but, today I was able to just thank the Lord over and over. Amazing

Update on Ward

             Wards MRI showed that he still has the cyst. Our surgeon wants to put in a tube that will connect to the shunt to drain the cyst. Ward will have surgery tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. This has been tough because we thought we would have the shunt surgery and the fluid would be gone. We had no idea that as the fluid drained, there would be a cyst. I took a few days to pray and really asked the Lord how to feel now? I asked the Lord to give me a new song. I spent some time with some of my girlfriends this past Friday. When I got home I realized I had not thought about the surgery all day. I had peace in my heart. I feel that this is part of Wards testimony. I am in the midst of it. Brian had the opportunity to speak with a family who have a daughter who had a shunt at birth just like Ward. Her body rejected the shunt and over the course of the next 15 years, she has had 72 surgeries. Her parents are such a picture of faithfulness. After all they have been through they still call upon the same Lord we will call upon tomorrow at 11:30. So, I trust in my Jesus. He is in the midst of a beautiful testimony on my sweet Ward. This 15 year old girl I told you about.... She just gave testimony of the Lord to the kids at her high school! That fires me up. She has been through the fire and she is still able to stand on Jesus! WOW!  So, He gave me my new song. A song of peace in a storm. Only the Lord can do that!!!
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
For your prayers!!

Psalm 40:3 - He has put a new song in my mouth - Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.

Prayer for Ward

                     I just wanted to ask Wards prayer warriors to pray for our sweet boy tomorrow morning, Monday the 26th. The last ultrasound on Wards brain showed something new. After they put his shunt in, we had another ultrasound. As the fluid has drained from his brain the doctor now sees what appears to be a small cyst on his brain. He said it is not a danger to Ward but, he does want to do a MRI and see what we need to do. We have asked the Lord to remove it. So, Ward will have his MRI this Monday at 9:00. He will not be able to eat for 4 hours before the MRI.  Please be in prayer for Ward. We are trusting the Lord.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?      Psalm 27:1

Check out the story behind Wards African wrap. www.mightyriver.wordpress.com
The Lord continues to use Ward for a mighty work!!