Jarrett's Special Prayer

As I previously mentioned, Jarrett's surgery to repair his mitral valve is scheduled for January 23rd. Even though we'd scheduled it, I wasn't 100% sure we were going to go through with it at that time. Jarrett and I had gone in to Children's in Denver for a second opinion, but I was still awaiting the opinion of Dr. Connor, who originally diagnosed Jarrett in Dayton in July of 2011. We had all the test results and records sent to Dr. Connor before Christmas. I really thought a lot of him when we saw him in Dayton and, since he's a military doctor, completely separate from Children's, I knew that I could trust his opinion to be free of financial motivation. (Yes, I tend to be suspicious of everyone--particularly when they're wanting to cut open my son!)

Anyway, on Monday the 7th, Dr. Connor got in touch with Matt and confirmed the cleft in the mitral valve and agreed that it needs to be fixed at some point, ideally when Jarrett is between 2 and 4 years of age. Here we are, then...

I know God has got Jarrett in His hands right now. We've already experienced too many miracles to believe otherwise, but I still want Him to hear lots of prayers on Jarrett's behalf! With that in mind, I used Photoshop to create a different kind of card than what I normally make. I made a wallet-sized "Save the Date" card, asking for prayers for Jarrett's scheduled surgery. Here's what I came up with:

I printed 100 of these at Sam's Club and have put them in Christmas cards and intend to pass them out at church. Mom took some to give to people at her school, and I gave one to Jarrett's speech therapist this week.

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One of Mom's friends from work said that she wanted to see Jarrett before his surgery after she saw the save-the-date card I made. Priti, is originally from India and is quite spiritual. Since we were in town, she came home when Mom did that afternoon to see and pray for Jarrett.

It was fascinating and beautiful to watch her pray! First, she asked Mom for a small cup of water and then a picture of Jesus or some symbol of our faith. Mom led her to a cross she has hanging on the wall and lit the candle that was in it. Priti knelt beneath the cross and prayed on her own for a while. Then, she came over to Jarrett and gave me the cup of water. She asked me to take a sip from it and then to give the rest to Jarrett. He drank it all without comment. She then moved her hands in a circle in front of him while she prayed and I think she did something with some sea salt, which she then sprinkled out the back door. Next she asked Jarrett if she could touch the truck on his shirt (which was right over his heart). He let her and sat very still while she prayed.

She was very pleased after her prayer. She said that I should be "fearless" concerning this surgery and has faith that everything is going to go well. She gave Mom some of the sea salt with instructions for the night before surgery. She also gave me a prayer to say with Jarrett every day leading up to surgery. It's a good prayer for anyone and she said it could be prayed with anyone in mind. Here's a picture of the prayer she wrote down:

I made up some simple actions to go with and Jarrett and I have been saying every night before he goes to bed.

It's hard to explain my feelings, but it was so amazing to watch Priti pray for Jarrett. It gave me an incredible sense of peace. While I'm not sure that I am completely fearless, I am just so grateful for her and for all the people that have touched our lives since October when we found out that Jarrett needs surgery. I think I can best explain it by saying that my heart is so full of thanksgiving that there's not much room left for fear!

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Libby, who will be Jarrett's nurse, sent a breathing mask home with Mom that day for Jarrett. He gets to play with it and try it on so its not so scary the day of surgery. His "sleepy medicine" will come through the mask, We explained to him what it is for and he tried it on over his mouth and nose right away. Then he wanted to squish the soft plastic:

He did try it on again for me for a photo: