Hey friends and family,

Thank you so much for your prayers! Thank you for praying for my sermon and thank you for praying for my little girl (Blakely) and praying for our job search! We have felt your prayers and ever since my last email Emily and I have felt changed. We believe it has been through your prayers, emails, support, love and care that our hearts have been softened to God and to who he is. We are so thankful for God’s church and how he uses his people to bring him glory. So we want to encourage you guys and let you guys know that God has been glorified through you. We see him at work in your life and at work in our own life and we are humbled to be part of it.

Recently Emily and I have been counting on God to be who he is which is a giver of life and a healer (and so much more). These parts of God have been extremely comforting to us and have been sweet for us to experience these past few weeks. When we went into our ultrasound we were nervous but excited to see God move. The results from the ultrasound were not encouraging and not discouraging. The doctor came into the room and said “nothing has changed” and we were a little confused by this but the doctor clarified for us that they don’t know what is going on. The doctor said that Blakely looked completely healthy from her toes to her neck but that she still had the cleft in her face and that her head was still measuring too small but at the same time her head did grow since the last ultrasound. We were disappointed that we did not get all of the answers that we wanted but we left the ultrasound appointment with a little hope that Blakely might have a chance at living past birth.

Right after the ultrasound Emily went in to a lab to get her blood tested to determine if there is anything genetically wrong with Blakely. We received the blood test results the other day and they came back negative for genetic disorders. We were so encouraged to receive this news because this takes a complication for Blakely off the table. We know that what is happening to Blakely is not a result of genetics and this gives us comfort. We are hoping that as Blakely develops in the womb and as God knits her together that her cells will keep dividing properly and would continue to grow her brain. So please praise God with us! He is still at work!

Emily goes in for a MRI on January 25th and this will give us a better picture of what is going on with Blakely’s brain. Also they will scan Blakely’s heart. Pray that all of these scans will show that Blakely has a healthy brain and a healthy heart. Also continue praying for us during this process – we need it. We have felt your prayers and we have felt so much more at peace over the last week and a half. So thank you for all your prayers!

Prayer list:
(1) Blakely (birth, pregnancy, health, etc…)
(2) Transition from St. Louis to Crystal River (it is sad to leave St. Louis but exciting to go on a new adventure)
(3) Finding a house in Crystal River
(4) To finish strong in St. Louis (School, church, friends)

Thank you for all your prayers! We love you guys!

Thanks,

Michael, Emily and Blakely Puckett