Keeping Thankfulness Up to Date

Dear Prayer Warriors for Anna,

Praise God, He has granted Anna and us good health during the last two months of faith testing times. I would have written you regarding Anna sooner if this was not the case. By God’s grace we are well and the Lord has stirred me during these months to recount five testimonies that God wrote in my life to encourage friends who knew me but not God perhaps. I was convicted that perhaps a testimony of my life is not what this group is about so I apologize if you felt that way also. You belong to this group because of your love and commitment to Anna, let’s bring her to the Lord!

God continues to glorify Himself through Anna, encouraging believing nurses, doctors, therapists and softening the hearts of those searching. It has been difficult at the Currat household because the routines all stopped regarding Anna. Doctor appointments were canceled, for about a month she was without key therapies that she did at least once a week. We resumed three of them via zoom recently. 

Sometimes Anna’s discreetness and calm, quiet presence is taken for granted. Her sweet disposition is overruled often by little sister and brother. God takes my breath away when I think of how he entrusted Lindsey and I with three such gifts. It is Anna who keeps our hearts soft and teachable. You can see it in Simon who wants to goof and wrestle with everyone, but when it comes to Anna he only wants to help. Little Renee is learning how to engage Anna, she will be the first one to pick up a toy that drops from Anna’s tray and give it back to her. 

I know I am being taught by God through Anna’s needs too. Her needs are so basic to living and increasingly complex as she ages. But God gives us the good we need to care and love her. So, who am I to grumble at yet another diaper change or mucus spit up episode when God has given us the diapers, the wipes, the suction machine, and the change of clothes? And His favor over it all is Anna’s attitude as perpetually delightful. Thank you, God, for making a way for Anna. 

Lastly, I wanted to tell you that I have spent hours rereading some of the emails written about Anna and our needs through the years. I was impressed with how many trials, needs, and feelings God carefully led us through; caring not just for us to get through, but to do so in strength, hope and joy. We are beginning to see what a dependence on Him brings! Jesus gets the victory. Our hearts learn to trust more. Be affirmed! God’s Good Shepherd continues to be more than enough. A pleasing reminder to us from the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus’ face.”   

Praise the Lord for Answers to our Prayers:

-Today was our first OT session in close to 4 months, God has brought us a new therapist.

-Our main night nurse returned, we still have three nights or so to cover but anna has been sleeping well. 

-Once we got the new larger stander, the doors opened for all her other equipment to be approved for a bigger size. We received an activity chair that will be great for at least the next 5 years. A larger wheel chair is in the final stages of approval. 

Please Pray for:

-continued healing and purposing of Anna in the lives of the people around her. 

-Our home modifications to be approved, they are in the final decision stages at the state level of Medicaid. That is for a chair lift installed in our stairs, a door widening to the bathroom, and concrete pouring to have accessibility to the back yard. 

-either of our insurances to pay for a bath chair and a mechanical lift because Anna is now on her way to 50 pounds. 

-the Lord to reveal the source/cause of her excess mucus, it comes in waves, where one week she is coughing up stuff day and night; and then other weeks she is not needing any intervention. 

-One of Anna’s canceled doctor visits was for more Botox in her adductors (inner thigh). It helped when we first tried it. She has become very stiff in her legs; we cannot even stretch them. We started using gait training devices and the Upsee harness but it’s not enough. we need God’s interventionist hand to break the muscle tone that prohibits correct movement of her legs.   

I leave you with the verse God gave us for Anna:

“Be gracious to us Lord, we wait for you. 

Be our strength every morning 

and our salvation in time of trouble.” Isaiah 33:2

Love, 

Nic, Lindsey, Anna, Simon, and Renee

Shepherded

3-3 Anna Elizabeth Currat

It is with joy and faith in God's plan that we welcomed Anna Elizabeth into the world Sunday morning at 9:46. She was at 34 weeks 4 days. She is 4lbs 9ounces. Lindsey had an emergency c-section because the baby was not responding to a non-stress test. But praise God for her heart beat. That was the only thing that was going strong. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice, minimizing the flow of oxygen and nutrients from Lindsey. She had also passed meconium, a sign that she was distressed.

Lindsey and I are in need of rest. We are at Swedish covenant hospital, and our baby, sweet Anna, is at Evanston hospital where they have a great neo-natal care team. Anna is in critical condition because there is acid in her blood that she needs to metabolically process out. In order to do that, her organs need to be working a bit more than they are now. She is also on a respirator because her lungs are weak. It's a 72 hour wait before any full assessment. 

Lindsey's mom is coming out from Seattle. There are some glorious stories about God's providence and timing that I am leaving out. Let’s call upon The Lord to send His Spirit to hover over us. Things are fragile and in God’s hands.

Specific prayers:

For the metabolic processing of the acid

Against brain damage

For her lungs to work strongly

For Anna's organs to continue to mature

For God to be her peace and comfort; she must be so scared

For Nic and Lindsey as shock wears off and reality sets in, may we remain hopeful

For Lindsey's incision to heal quickly

For a good milk supply for Lindsey when Anna is ready to eat

That we would get to hold her sometime soon 

3-4 Anna Currat

 Let's storm the Throne Room with praise and thanksgiving because God intervenes. He holds us and delivers hope to our circumstances.

Today Anna and Lindsey got to be together for the first time! As a family we have had a good hour of touching (no holding baby yet) and singing and praying over Anna. The Lord has brought our family unit together! Believing God as perfect Father who knows medicine and machines best, we trust the baby to Him, even when we couldn't all be together at the beginning. 

Lindsey has experienced favor and healing. Though she is in pain, her strength comes from the Lord. Plus, she was motivated by the chance to see Anna, which made her hospital stay short. 

As for Anna, she is strong and full of possibilities. The Lord is hovering over her as she is the object of much, much prayer and miracle working. My men's group at church had a special prayer meeting for us, that is the kind of stuff that is fueling the cries to The Lord for my family.  Entire churches are humbly approaching God in Anna's behalf....

Praise God for answered prayer:

The acid in the blood is being metabolically processed, allowing the organs to work with healthy oxygenated blood.

Pray for:

The strengthening of her lungs. There are three support medicines/machines helping her breathe right now. The doctors are optimistic about the lung function they just need more strength. 

Anna's blood pressure became unstable last night. This triggered a more significant seizure. Pray for a steady blood pressure. She is on 2 monitoring devices for seizures and medication. The doctors are also optimistic about the seizures being a neo-natal situation rather than something that will persist. 

The biggest need for prayer is regarding Anna's brain. They will be "warming her up" tomorrow and hopefully taking an MRI to see for any brain damage. They spotted a small clot of blood in her brain confirming that she did have a lack of fresh oxygenated blood for a while. 

So, we trust in the hope that doesn't fail, Jesus our shepherd to be our miracle worker and make the mind of Anna healthy, able to imagine, process, concentrate, wonder and of course humor. 

3-5 A Praying Body

We are part of the same life because Christ is our life. Anna is sweet, among us and we bring her to Jesus together. 

Praise God for momma's colostrum coming in. This is a grace from God. Mothers of pre-me babies usually struggle. Now the bottles are filling up plentifully. It makes me think of Jesus feeding the 4000.

Praise the Lord for the third day of Anna's life!! What a privilege for us to have her on loan from The Lord.

Pray for Lindsey and I as we are nearing the end of the cooling blanket procedures that will allow the doctors to hypothesize how Anna's brain cells will function and the blood clot issue.  Pray for The Lord to shepherd our emotions and reactions as we depend on His holy hand to steady us. 

Pray for Anna to urinate more and steadily. 

Today was hard because right when we arrived Lindsey and I -filled with hope, saw an active seizure.  But we also saw the softest of hair, they had washed her, momma is really good at touching Anna and blessing her with song. "Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong." and later tonight Lindsey is going to rub ointment on Anna. Praise God for such joyful things that parents do, things that direct our attention past our circumstance and into love, like that of God’s example of giving me Jesus as Savior and friend.

 Lindsey and I anchored deeper than our feelings: on Christ the solid rock. We have come to know Jesus as our Rock because He revealed Himself to us, His Word and our testimony of His faithfulness are pulling us through. So please text me Bible verses, or e-mail me some... not all at once because savoring God's Word takes time:) but if the Spirit burdens you to do so we will put that verse to use in Anna's ear and hide it in our hearts. Because we need to savor the Scriptures right now. 

seizures seem to be occurring as she is warming up. The Dr does think a huge contributing factor of her seizures is an unstable blood pressure. So, pray for her blood pressure to be at 35 consistently. 

Praise God that Anna is going to get the love turned up on high tonight as auntie Colleen and Uncle Olivier are making their first visit to Anna's bedside. Thank the Lord also for my brother Olivier and Colleen who have been showing us sacrifice, help and love. For example, to my delight they stashed a tray of Oreos in a discharge bag from Swedish hospital so we could be pleasantly surprised.

3-7 Anna’s 4^th day birthday

God made a way! We slept as close as we possible could to Anna last night. Nurse Patty advocated for us, leveraged with leadership, -meanwhile, behind the scenes prayer warriors called in some favors from The Lord. And voila! God arranged us to sleep in the parent room about 25paces from Anna. Once things quieted down around 10:00 Lindsey and I were able to pull up some chairs on either side of Anna and speaks words of life to her, we sang to The Lord, felt His peace and laughed with light-hearts. 

She is now considered "critical-stable", sick but a joy in my sight. Nurse Tawny switched out Anna's tubes and Anna's vitals dipped fast.

What I learned is to not be afraid of touching Anna. Lindsey taught me how she does it. instead of hesitating I dove in ten fingers'n all, wanting to encourage the fledgling Anna. You get a mother by her baby's side and they'll know what to do. Lindsey is not short on words when speaking with her daughter. For example, we told Anna about the personalities of our extended families and why Fozzie Bear is the best Muppet. 

Anna is off the cooling blanket but No MRI yet probably not till Monday. This is shaping to be a long journey in the NICU, I welcome it because Anna is lovely and worth the wait:) Our doctor is hoping to lower the pressure on the oscillating ventilator so Anna can switch to a traditional ventilator. So, the doctors take their tests, but Lindsey has already told me "the test isn't going to change anything about my love for the gift God has given me. He has and will make a way for us." That brought me peace; she is strong where I am shaky. 

Early last night the team gave a second medication to improve Anna's blood pressure. This was a risk because it was going to make her heart rate go up a bit. At just the right time they wagered on her heart to carry a faster beat to raise her blood pressure. I wagered in prayers on the name of The Lord to uphold my daughter. By the will of God Anna responded to the meds and her pressure became steady at 37 which was above the number I even hoped for. That is answered prayer. God doesn't just give us what we ask, He gives us His best.

They also added red blood cells, and many doses of plasma to spruce up the blood pressure.... Even with that and the two other medicines, they still needed to add epinephrine which is kind of the roof of what medicine can do to raise and stabilize Anna's blood pressure if I understood the nurse right. It’s soaring in the 50's right now but it is heavily aided. Pray that Anna's body will activate to do the rest. "With man it is not possible, but with God all things are possible." -Jesus. Come let's place our faith in Christ who redeems such situations. Who else in heaven, or on the earth can miraculously heal? 

He is able; I know firsthand in my own walk that Jesus is Lord.

  This medicinal improvement in blood pressure meant That Anna was now able to take a different medicine to help her pee. Having not urinated caused her to puff up to a point that looked so uncomfortable. It was breaking my heart. When we awoke today, she had urinated! Moreover by 7AM she had urinated more today than she had the whole previous day. She is still on the diarrheic medication and urinating well. Now they say it's too well. Bring in the electrolytes.

Praise-praise-praise God for not one seizure last night. They took the monitor off. 

Pray for Anna to be weaned off the oscillating ventilator.

For a good, steady blood pressure. Her journey has been all about blood. Remember the acid?

For Anna to sustain a good blood pressure without epinephrine. 

3-8 Amazing Anna

 we have yet to hear Anna's cries or to or hold her. We can't wait the day is coming. You know we like most pregnant people assumed so much about what it's going to be like when the baby comes. But blessed be The Lord because He is Shepherding us through all of this!

 Pray for Lindsey's legs they are persistently swollen, pray for her wound to heal. It's doing good but we want the pain to go away.

Lindsey and I were ushered into a conference room with the doctors and Anna's primary nurse Tawny. There they gave us the "best-case/worst-case scenario" talk. This was to prepare us for the MRI findings -but God already knows. Now many of you know that I used to be prone to manic thoughts and going down the "what if" anxiety train. By God's grace I met the meeting with trust in God's plan for me and Lindsey and Anna. I was "strong" in that moment not of my own doing but by the power of Christ in me. I was able to calmly listen to this "worst-case talk" without my imagination taking a trip on the dr.'s words. This overwhelmingly proves to me that I'm a "new creation in Christ, the old one is gone". I know that God is for me -not against me. He does not make mistakes. He already knows every occurrence in Anna's life for its wonderful duration.

So yeah, pray for Anna's head in the name of Jesus, with the expectancy of miracles... Have we not already been given a front row seat to see Him save Anna? If the expectancy thing is hard, I gained faith by the story in Mark 9 with the father who brings his sick son to Jesus saying "have compassion and heal him if you can." and Jesus replies "If I can?, everything is possible to the one who believes." to that the son's father says "I do believe! But help my unbelief." So, my hope is for the best for my daughter and grace is helping my unbelief.

These e-mails are daddy's way to love Anna and to bring her to the Lord for wellness, salvation and peace. We have been counting on the body of believers and giving our burdens to Christ. In case you think for a second that we can handle all this news on our own, you are wrong. God sometimes intentionally give us more than what we can bare to cause us to turn to Him.

I say all this because Anna started having seizures again after two days of not having any. This indicates according to the doctor, that her wonderful brain is swelling or bleeding or not completely formed and could have brain cell damage. But God made the heavens and the earth, the mind is only fully known by Him. I believe in miracles, because the second she was born she was closest to death and The Lord has worked wonders to bring her to life. here's the latest:

Answered prayer and miracles:

Praise God for the catheter being removed because of steady urination and her swelling is gone.

Praise God she is off of the epinephrine, and another blood pressure medication, she is almost off her last blood pressure medication because she has responded well with a steady blood pressure number.

Praise The Lord for placing her on the new ventilator that makes her lungs do some work and she has responded.

Praise God that the passageway of blood from the heart to her lungs opened up (at first with medication) but now on her own.

Praise the Lord for a daughter so committed to respond to these treatments and procedures truly a miracle.

Praise the Lord Dr. Amer said "both metaphorically and literally, Anna has a strong heart."

Praise God that the temptation for me to worry was there but not indulged in, praise God.

Pray for the seizures to stop.

Ask the Lord for a healthy kidney able to process salt.

Pray for the lining of Anna's intestines that there would be no damage and it would be able to do what it does so well (sorry i forgot what the doc told me it does)  

Pray for my unbelief in my prayer life, to pray with expectation.

Pray for rest. 

3-10 Amazing Grace

Early in the pregnancy, Lindsey and I asked God, "What do You want our child's name to be? What is the name Jesus will call my daughter when He summons her forth on the Last Day?" I wanted to go with the name Anna because I wanted my daughter to teach me about grace. Being a late bloomer in Christ, that word is one of the loftiest; I wish to grasp it more completely. Anna's name comes from the word "grace" in Hebrew.

Lindsey wanted the name Anna because she especially loved the biblical Anna, a prophetess in Luke 2 who was devoted to God and sought after the Lord's presence in the temple in Jerusalem. Luke says Anna sought after the Lord day and night worshiping, fasting, and praying.

I think the road before us as a family will be defined by these powerful spiritual qualities of grace and devotion that are perfected only in Christ and new life in Him. Though we don't have the exhaustive medical synopsis yet, we did receive the results of Anna’s MRI that showed brain damage had occurred due to lack of oxygen. So again, we cry out to God asking for His warehouse of grace to manufacture more miracles for Anna's brain. We are asking that the extent of damage would be minimal. God knows Anna's brain totally and the miracle of a healthy brain is not null and void; that prayer request hasn't expired. The Lord can deliver a healthy mind at any moment. We now can also start praying for a special grace for Lindsey and me who delight to be called servants in God's Kingdom on earth.

I am going to memorize chapter 5 in Romans because of its message about grace, hope, and devotion. (see paragraph below). I asked my wife to join me in memorizing and invite your prayer warriors to do the same - or perhaps just one verse, or a clump from within that passage. May the Truth of God's Word simmer and stew in you as you continue to feel burdened for Anna so as to not lose hope. Ask God for His biblical truths to grow in us. In my walk of faith, asking Him in prayer for the promises He makes in His Word evokes my spiritual formation. So let’s pray to God the claims of this passage below for my family, in Jesus name. 
 

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5.

There is a special grace given by God to families with children of special needs. God has spent our entire lives readying us for Anna, and because we are God's own possession purchased in the blood of Christ, I know He will get the glory and the victory as His Holy Spirit leads us. Our hope in Jesus will not shame us. If mankind's purpose in life is to glorify God and to draw people to Himself, I'd say Anna has already done that!

Praise God for our hope only increasing because of who Jesus is, but also because we have again seen Anna choosing to respond to her treatment.

Praise God for the many, many churches and other family members who have also lift up our burdens to Jesus. It makes me have a whole new understanding of Matt 11:28-30. Sweet Anna came into this world in prayers and tears.

Praise God for no seizures last night.

Praise the Lord for her first stool.

Praise the Lord that Anna is off of medication for her blood pressure and remains steady, she is on a "supplement" type fortifier, but not a medicine. Remember just three nights ago?

Pray that the arterial line might be removed, this would permit us to hold our child.

Pray that the lining of her intestines would be healthy.

Pray for Anna's brain activity to be quickened by the Holy Spirit. And healed by the Lord.

Pray for our meeting today with Dr. Amer and Tawny at the conference table. As they unfold the extent of the damage that we would have more than the presence of Christ, the "Horn of my Salvation". but also, the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks for sharing our burdens.