Avelyn's Story
Avelyn KayLee Grace, our daughter. A short story of life, but we like to hope a powerful one. Since the day she was born, we prayed for her healing. Near the end, we were praying for a miracle…and we had lots of people praying with us. But God had a different plan for her life, and we feel it’s still in progress. We don’t in any way begin to understand why he welcomed our sweet daughter into His kingdom so early in her precious life, in fact many times we have cried out to our Lord and Savior, “Why?” After God took her heavenward, one of her nurses told us she had attended a conference by John and Stasi Eldredge recently and their view is that you can either ‘Understand’ OR… you can ‘Know Jesus,’ but not both. We are part of the latter, we know Jesus, and we do not understand.
There is a reason we added ‘Grace’ as one of Avelyn's middle names. Originally, it was just going to be 'Avelyn KayLee.’ We feel that even BEFORE she was born, God’s hand was at work, showing us His grace. We feel if things didn’t happen exactly the way they did, we would have never even been able to meet Avelyn.--We feel God’s grace was at work allowing us to meet her and spend time with her, loving on her - letting HER know and feel how much we love her (as my doctor put it), talking to her, singing to her…”You are my Sunshine,” “Overcomer,” and “Beautiful Girl,” which only she and her sisters know. J So here’s our story of God’s grace:
When I was 28 weeks pregnant, our doctors started doing weekly ultrasounds on Avelyn as a precaution because I was carrying extra amniotic fluid. At about week 32 or 33, they started to notice fluid in her lungs. At my 35 week appt, one of our doctors suggested we needed to start doing ultrasounds TWO x per week, to monitor this fluid. The fluid was rated ‘moderate’ at that time, and they wanted to catch it quickly if there was any change. GOD’S GRACE. We had trouble scheduling my bi-weekly appts for the next week, week 36. They ended up squeezing us in for Monday and Friday. Not Wednesday/Friday or even Tuesday/Friday. But MONDAY…@ 8 am. GOD’S GRACE. Josh was thankfully able to come with me to this appt—even though he was supposed to be teaching that day.--His bosses and co-workers have been wonderful through everything. GOD’S GRACE. At that appt the ultrasound tech did her normal exam, lasting about 5 minutes (where they monitor 4 different things, getting a quick picture of how Avelyn was doing). Then another nurse or tech came in to do the Doppler portion (to monitor Avelyn’s blood flow into/out of the umbilical cord to the placenta). After these 2 short things, they stated ‘Ok, your appt is done.’ This made no sense to me, so thankfully I asked to see a doctor because they were supposed to look at the fluid on Avelyn’s lungs. Praise God I asked and the nurse went to find him. GOD’S GRACE. Sometimes I can be annoyingly persistent, and this time I thank God for that quality. J The doctor, a different doctor than whom was at the 35 week appt the week prior, thankfully agreed to come see me. GOD’S GRACE. He did an ultrasound of Avelyn’s lungs, which still looked about the same. At this point, again, appt done. The doctor was ready to leave. But Josh began to ask questions. Thank the good Lord Josh was there; he wasn't even supposed to be. GOD'S GRACE. He asked the doctor about a condition called ‘hydrops,’ which he had been researching online. Thank God for Josh’s occasional worrisome nature. GOD’S GRACE. J Hydrops is where you have fluid in more than one area; Josh thought at one of Avelyn’s first ultrasound appts about 2 months earlier, they had mentioned there was maybe fluid in her heart. The doctor flipped through his notes and didn’t see anything re: this. But he agreed to take us across the hall to a different US machine to take a look. GOD’S GRACE. After seeing a possible thickened heart, our doctor recommended we see a specialist @ Children’s Mercy downtown. Thankfully this appt was set up quickly for Wednesday @ 8am. GOD’S GRACE. After a couple different ultrasounds there, they decided our baby girl needed to come into the world that day. So the afternoon of Wednesday, May 7, 2014 our sweet Avelyn was born. Before they took her to the NICU, they wheeled me into her delivery room (which a nurse later told me they rarely do) – GOD’S DIVINE GRACE, and I was able to hold my precious daughter’s hand as she opened her eyes to see me. I will never forget this moment. Before this, when they were still working on me after she was born, Josh (who was able to sneak back and forth from being with Avelyn and being with me), and I agreed that we should add the name “Grace” to her already decided name. We were hoping God’s grace would be with us, as we prayed for her quick healing. These prayers weren’t answered the way we would have liked, but we feel if Avelyn’s story had gone any other way, we would have never gotten to meet her and my health would have continually declined with a more prolonged pregnancy, as well--which wouldn't have been good for myself and especially for Avelyn.
Some of you don’t know about this grace we speak of. And this is where, through God, we pray Avelyn’s story will encourage you to learn more about it. God’s Grace is given to us because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. God sent HIS son, His one and only SON to die for us, that we might be forgiven and therefore gifted with GOD’S GRACE. And because of this, when it is our time, we are so looking forward to meeting our happy, and this time HEALTHY, sweet Avelyn KayLee Grace in heaven…so we can dance with our sweet Avelyn…and sing with her…and hold her, like we never have before. Any of you who do not know Christ, we are praying through Avelyn’s story and God’s Grace, you will come to know Christ TODAY. As this will then allow you to better LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE FOR OTHERS.
After Avelyn passed, we began to pray about how our daughter's story could live on. Our prayer has been that through God's grace we would be able to: #1— do something impactful—something that would make a positive difference in the lives of others, and #2—do something long-lasting, something that would continue to live on. As Avelyn’s Mommy and Daddy missing her immensely, we have faith that God has a BIG plan for our sweet Avelyn KayLee Grace’s life; this gives us hope and peace.
Our prayer is that through Avelyn's story and God's grace, you will come to know Christ AND with His help, Let Your Light Shine before others.
There is a reason we added ‘Grace’ as one of Avelyn's middle names. Originally, it was just going to be 'Avelyn KayLee.’ We feel that even BEFORE she was born, God’s hand was at work, showing us His grace. We feel if things didn’t happen exactly the way they did, we would have never even been able to meet Avelyn.--We feel God’s grace was at work allowing us to meet her and spend time with her, loving on her - letting HER know and feel how much we love her (as my doctor put it), talking to her, singing to her…”You are my Sunshine,” “Overcomer,” and “Beautiful Girl,” which only she and her sisters know. J So here’s our story of God’s grace:
When I was 28 weeks pregnant, our doctors started doing weekly ultrasounds on Avelyn as a precaution because I was carrying extra amniotic fluid. At about week 32 or 33, they started to notice fluid in her lungs. At my 35 week appt, one of our doctors suggested we needed to start doing ultrasounds TWO x per week, to monitor this fluid. The fluid was rated ‘moderate’ at that time, and they wanted to catch it quickly if there was any change. GOD’S GRACE. We had trouble scheduling my bi-weekly appts for the next week, week 36. They ended up squeezing us in for Monday and Friday. Not Wednesday/Friday or even Tuesday/Friday. But MONDAY…@ 8 am. GOD’S GRACE. Josh was thankfully able to come with me to this appt—even though he was supposed to be teaching that day.--His bosses and co-workers have been wonderful through everything. GOD’S GRACE. At that appt the ultrasound tech did her normal exam, lasting about 5 minutes (where they monitor 4 different things, getting a quick picture of how Avelyn was doing). Then another nurse or tech came in to do the Doppler portion (to monitor Avelyn’s blood flow into/out of the umbilical cord to the placenta). After these 2 short things, they stated ‘Ok, your appt is done.’ This made no sense to me, so thankfully I asked to see a doctor because they were supposed to look at the fluid on Avelyn’s lungs. Praise God I asked and the nurse went to find him. GOD’S GRACE. Sometimes I can be annoyingly persistent, and this time I thank God for that quality. J The doctor, a different doctor than whom was at the 35 week appt the week prior, thankfully agreed to come see me. GOD’S GRACE. He did an ultrasound of Avelyn’s lungs, which still looked about the same. At this point, again, appt done. The doctor was ready to leave. But Josh began to ask questions. Thank the good Lord Josh was there; he wasn't even supposed to be. GOD'S GRACE. He asked the doctor about a condition called ‘hydrops,’ which he had been researching online. Thank God for Josh’s occasional worrisome nature. GOD’S GRACE. J Hydrops is where you have fluid in more than one area; Josh thought at one of Avelyn’s first ultrasound appts about 2 months earlier, they had mentioned there was maybe fluid in her heart. The doctor flipped through his notes and didn’t see anything re: this. But he agreed to take us across the hall to a different US machine to take a look. GOD’S GRACE. After seeing a possible thickened heart, our doctor recommended we see a specialist @ Children’s Mercy downtown. Thankfully this appt was set up quickly for Wednesday @ 8am. GOD’S GRACE. After a couple different ultrasounds there, they decided our baby girl needed to come into the world that day. So the afternoon of Wednesday, May 7, 2014 our sweet Avelyn was born. Before they took her to the NICU, they wheeled me into her delivery room (which a nurse later told me they rarely do) – GOD’S DIVINE GRACE, and I was able to hold my precious daughter’s hand as she opened her eyes to see me. I will never forget this moment. Before this, when they were still working on me after she was born, Josh (who was able to sneak back and forth from being with Avelyn and being with me), and I agreed that we should add the name “Grace” to her already decided name. We were hoping God’s grace would be with us, as we prayed for her quick healing. These prayers weren’t answered the way we would have liked, but we feel if Avelyn’s story had gone any other way, we would have never gotten to meet her and my health would have continually declined with a more prolonged pregnancy, as well--which wouldn't have been good for myself and especially for Avelyn.
Some of you don’t know about this grace we speak of. And this is where, through God, we pray Avelyn’s story will encourage you to learn more about it. God’s Grace is given to us because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. God sent HIS son, His one and only SON to die for us, that we might be forgiven and therefore gifted with GOD’S GRACE. And because of this, when it is our time, we are so looking forward to meeting our happy, and this time HEALTHY, sweet Avelyn KayLee Grace in heaven…so we can dance with our sweet Avelyn…and sing with her…and hold her, like we never have before. Any of you who do not know Christ, we are praying through Avelyn’s story and God’s Grace, you will come to know Christ TODAY. As this will then allow you to better LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE FOR OTHERS.
After Avelyn passed, we began to pray about how our daughter's story could live on. Our prayer has been that through God's grace we would be able to: #1— do something impactful—something that would make a positive difference in the lives of others, and #2—do something long-lasting, something that would continue to live on. As Avelyn’s Mommy and Daddy missing her immensely, we have faith that God has a BIG plan for our sweet Avelyn KayLee Grace’s life; this gives us hope and peace.
Our prayer is that through Avelyn's story and God's grace, you will come to know Christ AND with His help, Let Your Light Shine before others.