Crying out praises of joy!!!

Yesterday James went into work early to do the raffle drawing that the Police Association was doing to raise money for us. After he drew the names they presented him a check from the 200 Club of Midland for $1,000 and then another check from the Police Association for $9,000!!! Oh my goodness, I could not believe my ears when James told me. I was thinking how we do not deserve for God to bless us this much because there are so many other families going through the same thing that we are and have it a lot worse. It showed to me that God truly loves and takes care of His children. I have always sung of His faithfulness in church but to truly be walking in a storm and see His faithfulness firsthand is such a blessing. God have given us the strength to not give up in this storm and to continue to trust in Him so that He could show us just how powerful He is and He can lavish us with blessings. What I am learning through all of this and how much my mind set is changing I would not change any of my circumstances because it would mean that I would of never to fully depend on God the way I have. Not only do we get to see how much God wants to take care of us but we also get to care for an amazing baby girl. Even though I hate going through storms I hope everyone gets a chance in their lifetime to experience God's indescribable love and faithfulness.

The police also wants to set up a fund at the bank for Autumn to help with medical expenses and the Midland paper went on a ride out with James at work last night to hear our story. I don't think our story is unique or special but I hope that those who hear it can hear the message of Christ's love that lives in our family and what He has done and continues to do in our lives. I always read stories of amazing families going through of unheard of situations and I thought wow they are special people. Well, now that I am in a family who is going through and storm and continue to hang in there I realize it is not the people who are amazing but it is God who is amazing and is just being shown through those people.

So, I knew God would help us get through each month to pay our medical expenses but I never thought He would bless us like this. He likes to go BIG on the blessings! Now we can pay the collection agency who is already wanting to collect on debt when we have not even gotten home to deal with all the bills. :)

Autumn update: The sleep study really did not help much to figure out why Autumn needs extra oxygen. She is not desatting in REM (the deep sleep). She sometimes takes one deep breath and then follows with lots of small breaths and then will apnea. She also is doing what an overweight older man would do and take one really deep breath and then just stops breathing. So, they are going to change her Peep setting on the vent and see if that helps her to get off the oxygen. I don't think it will work since yesterday afternoon after they changed her setting she had 2 apnea episodes where she turned dusky gray. I did not have to bag her but just turned up her oxygen and she came right back up. She is a puzzle for the doctors. She turned 3 months old yesterday and weighs 10.15 pounds. A 5 pound weight gain since birth. She is also up to 6 bottles a day. They hope she will be on full feeds and not feeding through her button once she gets home but they will keep the button for a few months just to make sure. Her and I are getting a daily schedule down and it is nice to just be able to bond without having surgeries or anything else getting in the way of snuggling her. She is getting spoiled and likes to be held. She also hates her occupational therapy and never cooperates with them. I say she is lazy like her daddy. :) h