The Storm has Passed

We just rode out what feels like one of our roughest storms to date. You would think that very little would surprise us at this point, but all of this has left me feeling utterly bewildered and repeatedly beaten. Today I'm exhausted, but I am not broken. I'm saying this with the Rocky theme song rolling through my head.

I'll give you the summary of our past five days by going through our roller coaster timeline, but first just a little back story to our upset.

Dave and I would move heaven and earth to give our kids every leg up in this life. For Josie, in this phase of her life that means we are doing everything within our power to ensure she has the best possible doctors for the condition that she has. That care is not found in our home state. We are not wealthy people in regards to money (sidenote: we are hands-down the richest in all the things that count; family, friends, values); we sacrifice, save, and even get creative at times so that we can ensure that Josie has the medical care that she has every right to. To do this we have had to put aside all our personal pride over the years and learn to accept help from others. For this trip that included gifted travel points. So when her doctors called to tell us of their office's mistake, you can imagine why our hearts dropped. This was literally a $6000+ mistake if flights and hotel were not available for transfer. With all that said, here is the overview of our last 5 days:

• Thurs., July 27...we find out that our surgery date (that's just over 2 weeks away) will no longer work because an important surgeon that needs to be there was never invited=ball dropped by medical office and chaos ensues 
• Friday, July 28...Amelia's birthday...still no available date for new, very important surgeon (because, well he's very important and he is busy helping others). Friday ended with "We'll try to get a date to you by Monday"
• Monday, July 31...no word until Dave calls late in the day to check in. The clinics response "don't worry, we're working hard to keep the surgery within your original week of travel so that there are not complications on your end"
• Tuesday, Aug. 1...Brooks and Josie's birthday...Noon. Dr. O calls Dave and drops the disheartening news that there is absolutely no way to keep the surgery within the same week. It may have to happen as soon as next week (YES...as in 5 days away) or the week or two following the original date, but still no firm date to offer us.  {an afternoon of on-and-off sobbing ensues while trying to fake joy for the kids' birthday, I'm totally referring to Dave by-the-way😉} 
• Tuesday, Aug. 1, 5:30 p.m....Danielle, Dr. O's P.A. calls and tells us that we have a surgery date. This woman begged and pleaded for us and managed to secure us a surgery date for Aug. 15, literally one day before our original date. 

We are so completely relieved to actually have a surgery date again; remember, we are at the tail-end of our window for Josie's nerve to still be firing signals. While we still have had to make a few adjustments to our travel plans to accommodate pre-op doctor appointments, all have seemingly gone smooth. I have been thinking about all of this throughout the day today and repeatedly over the past few days people have reminded me to "fear not". I googled the statistic on the number of times that the phrase "do not be afraid" is written in the bible and no joke it was 365 times. I have no idea if that is accurate, but if it is that is literally a daily reminder from God to live every day being fearless. Chalk that up to life lesson #3098 for me.