Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for your prayers for my sermon – it went well. Also thank you for your prayers for our interview in December with the church in Florida. Both Emily and I are excited to let you guys know that we have been offered the youth director job at the church in Florida and we have accepted it. So we will be back in Florida as soon as May 2017. We are very excited and feel blessed. Thank you for praying for us.

Also tomorrow is Emily’s ultrasound and it will be the first ultrasound we will have since we have received the hard news about our little girl. We are nervous and anxious. Based on tomorrow’s ultrasound the doctors will have a better picture of what is going on and will be able to tell us what her birth is going to look like and what her life after birth is going to look like. We want the ultrasound to show that our little girl’s brain is developing 100% on track and we want the ultrasound to show that her face no longer has the cleft and we want the doctors to say, “Your baby is developing correctly”.

Emily and I want this miracle to happen and we are going into the ultrasound appointment with the hope and expectation that God will do this. You guys have been praying for this and we have been praying for this and we are counting on God no matter what. We know that what we are asking for is impossible but this is not the first time God has been asked to do the impossible and this would not be the first time God has done the impossible. We are ready to encounter God in this moment. What he chooses to do with his/our little girl is what he will do. What he chooses to do to us as parents is what he will do. There is peace in this because God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, abounding in faithfulness, forgiving and just (Exodus 34:6-7). Emily and I believe in this God and believe that this is who God is therefore whatever he so chooses we believe it is done in love, grace, mercy, justice and faithfulness. May his will be done to our little girl and may it be done to Emily and I and may it be done to you – this is where his name will be glorified is in the fulfillment of his will through and in his people.

Emily and I are ready and even though the outcome of our situation is bleak we do have hope. We will love this little girl no matter what happens and we know that you guys will love her no matter what happens. Emily and I want her and we are glad that she is our girl. We want to hold her and see her and kiss her and hug her. We want to tell her that we love her and that God loves her too. She is our little baby and she belongs to us and we are glad that God has given us this girl. We do not deserve this sweet child. So this is my public confession and testimony that God is a lover, a giver, a faithful father/friend, a just king, a great and good God and that he is my God and my Savior – to him I commit my life – watch and see what my (our) God does.

I love you guys – you are all sweet people. Your words of encouragement and love have been part of the process for Emily and I to even be able to reach this point. We need you guys and we are so glad that we are doing life with each of you. Thank you for giving us the space to be ourselves and to share our deepest concerns and thoughts. We have seen God working through each of you as you have prayed for us and reached out to us. He has used you guys as a vehicle to display his glory. Thank you, thank you, thank you… we feel like this is our Helm’s Deep – our only hope is if God delivers us and we are standing firm in the truth that he will.

Please pray for the ultrasound and for the spiritual warfare that we have been experiencing. We feel like the enemy is lying to us about who God is and about who we are. Please pray that these lies will be silenced and that Emily and I will believe the truth.

Thanks,

Michael and Emily