10/25

of this we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even to life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises from the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will deliver us, YOU ALSO JOINING IN HELPING US THROUGH YOUR PRAYERS, SO THAT THANKS MAY BE GIVEN BY MANY PERSONS ON OUR BEHALF FOR THE FAVOR BESTOWED ON US THROUGH THE PRAYERS OF MANY” 2 Corinthians 1:9-11

Hello from the Carrolls!

We hope that this email finds you all well. We thank you all so much for the prayers you have lifted up for Eden. I am so excited to share how God is answering those prayers and how we have seen Him work in our lives and in Eden’s life. First, I’ll start with our last visit to the “regular” doctor. There were NO CHANGES on the ultrasound last week. This is good news to us because it means that things are not worsening as they might have expected! We had been praying and will continue to pray that the Lord would stop the accumulation of fluid on her brain. –We also met with the Neurosurgeon at Duke this week to talk about the surgeries that are possible when she is born. We also talked in detail more about the hydrocephalus and dandy-walker cysts that are present. He sounded very optimistic that even though they cannot tell us at this point what effects she might have, he said it was not one of the “more severe” ultrasounds that he had seen. This was encouraging for us to hear. It is likely that she may need to have a shunt placed soon after birth. (at three or four days old) However, we were under the assumption from previous visits and ultrasounds, that this was a “must” when she was born. The neurosurgeon said however, that it was completely dependant upon her head size a birth and if there was any evidence of hydrocephalus that needed correcting. All that to say, she may not have to have this surgery – we will continue to pray and wait patiently until January to know if this is going to be necessary. Another assumption that was made was that I would have to have a c-section because of the size of her head. Again, the neurosurgeon said this was totally dependant upon her head size and at this point, her head is not enlarged enough to make them think I will definitely have to have the c-section. I would love to be able to avoid surgery and have Eden “naturally”. It was an amazing answer to prayer for me that things are not progressively getting “worse”.

Though we were so encouraged this week, we want to continue to trust in the Lord only. Modern medicine is a wonderful blessing and I know that God has skilled many people to do it, but may we never trust in it – it can never provide the hope and comfort that we find in God’s word. Over the past few months (and even before then), God has been teaching me about His Word and the need to treasure it in my heart. I was reading something on prayer the other morning and it said, “young man, learn to plead the promises of God.” I have begun to learn that the promises of God are the most amazing prayers we can pray. Lately, when I haven’t known what to pray, Scripture has proved to be the beast prayer guide. These are the prayers we can pray with confidence because we know that God will follow through in His promises. I love the verse in 2 Corinthians, 1:20, ‘For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are YES!”

So we ask that you continue to pray the promises of God for Eden. You don’t have to pray eloquent prayers or find something “new” to say to God. Just keep praying as you have been and He will answer. As I wrote in our last email, our verse we pray often for Eden is this:

“For this reason, since the day we heard of Eden, we have not ceased to pray for her and to ask that she may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to that she will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father.” Colossians 1:9-12

We know that this promise is true and that God will protect her mind from damage that will interfere with her ability to know Him one day.

Again, thank you so much for your prayers for Eden and our family. The Lord hears our prayers! Praise Him.

Josh, Steph, and Eden

We are less than 10 WEEKS from delivery!