August 26, 2006 

Dear Friends,

Our little Alison continues a valiant fight due to your fervent prayers to our Heavenly Father who continues to smile upon our collective petitions.  The Lord is always faithful to answer our prayers, but His answers are not always what we ask.  Like a loving parent, the Lord knows what is best for us and at times chooses to reveal only what we can handle at that particular moment.  Like little children, we have to trust Him and know that He has our best interest at heart even when we are heavily burdened.  For all that the Heavenly Father has chosen to show us and for all that He has hidden from our view, we choose to praise Him.  He is and has been faithful in our hour of need.  I often call upon the poem “Footprints” for inspiration, knowing that the Lord is carrying us through this current storm.  What a worthy and awesome God we serve!

This entire situation is so much bigger than Stephanie and I would have ever believed early in our crisis.  We looked down in fear at what we could not control.  It was not supposed to be this way.  Surely the Lord knew what we had been through in trying to enlarge our family with a child.  Surely He would not allow our joy to be stolen away during the precious birth of our daughter that we had dreamed of for so long.

The Lord knew our hearts’ desires, but he decided to take us on an amazing journey that He is guiding and that is still unfolding before us.  We have been constantly amazed at what the Lord is doing through an 18-day old child who He knew before the beginning of time.  Most importantly, we have come to realize that we will never be able to fully understand why He chose to bless us with such a non-typical birth of our precious child Alison.  Your devotion to Alison before the Lord and your strength of support for Stephanie and me would have never been known to us.  His ways are truly not our ways.

Our story has been a long and winding road, one we would never have imagined early in our marriage.  Stephanie and I have been trying to start a family for six years.  We tried normal means for a while, but then sought out a specialist to find out why we could not conceive.  It was discovered that Stephanie had polycystic ovarian syndrome. 

A doctor discussed modern medical miracles such as IVF, but we were never able to wrap our hearts around that particular journey.  We chose to pursue adoption, believing that the Lord desires for all mankind to be adopted into His family if only we are willing to accept His only begotten Son Jesus Christ as our personal Savior to cleanse our sinful ways.   His ever present passion is for you, Stephanie and me, and our precious Alison to be reunited with Him for eternity.

We began our adoption journey by trying to select a Christian agency and to decide whether we wanted to adopt a domestic or international child.  We initially looked at adopting an international child because of the material blessings and religious freedom we enjoy as a nation.  We initially wanted to adopt a child from a foreign land and teach him or her about the love of the Lord.  We could only wonder what the Lord would do with that faith in our own country or their native land for His glory.  Yet, several doors closed for various reasons and we then started to look toward a domestic adoption.

We completed all the requirements our chosen agency required.  We enjoyed our journey, but it was very unnerving.  The adoption process is invasive in that our entire life was opened up for the agency to see.  Who we are, what our worldly possessions are, who our family and friends are, and who we hoped to become were reduced to a single file.  When your whole life fits into a single file, it quickly reminds you of where your focus should be and how insignificant a lot of the things are in this life.

We were waiting for a placement when we found out that we had been chosen as a prospective family for a baby boy.  Yet, at the same time, contrary to the specialists’ predictions, Stephanie turned up sick—our precious Alison. 

At first we were confused, and then we began to search out what the Lord’s will was.  Would he really provide two children at the same time?  What were we to do?  We determined in our hearts that if the Lord’s will was for us to have two babies at once, we were ready and willing, but scared.  We were unwilling to turn down a precious life, if the Lord had chosen that course, due to our own sense of fear and insecurity.

Yet, to our surprise, that precious baby boy’s birth mother chose to take her child home and raise him.  That answered the first part of our question.  And when Stephanie reached twelve weeks with our precious child (the sex yet unknown to us), we were asked to leave the agency since their stated mission is to help couples who cannot conceive to adopt a loving family.  So the Lord answered the second part of our question.

When we were able to find out through ultrasound that we were going to have a precious little girl, our hearts were overjoyed.  Due to the adoption journey, the Lord had already written in our hearts a name of a son and a name of a daughter.  Once we saw our precious daughter during an ultrasound, we named her Alison Elizabeth.  Alison had always been a favorite of ours and we chose Elizabeth in honor of our sister-in-law.

We had begun preparing our nursery during the adoption process; but with Alison on the way, we sprung into action so that it would be ready for her joyous homecoming.  We had finished it only the week before our little Alison determined she was not going to wait for her expected due date.  She had her own appointment preordained by our precious Lord.  Did the Lord intend for Alison to be born through such difficulty—No!  But could he rescue her for His glory and our cherished prayers—Definitely!

During Alison’s 33^rd week, Stephanie clearly knew something was wrong with Alison at her very core.  Alison was not moving as energetically as she had grown accustomed.  I, as the cautious husband, said our little Alison was just taking a break to rest and grow.  Yet, we believe the Lord was tapping Stephanie on the shoulder telling her that something was wrong.  And she faithfully listened and called her doctor.  It was then that we learned that our Alison was anemic and her blood was hemorrhaging back into Stephanie.  An emergency C-section was needed to save our Alison’s life.

The doctors later told us that Alison was only hours away from dying due to lack of blood and oxygen.  The exact time cannot be pinpointed, but were it not for the Lord moving in my wife and the quick action of the staff at Woman’s Hospital, our Alison would not have been born alive.  This was the first insight into how great our Lord was going to move to use our Alison for His glory.

We began to cry out to the Lord to spare our precious daughter.  Some of our close friends decided to register our daughter’s name as a web domain and our little girl’s precious journey and influence began. 

At the time, we would never guess how far and wide Alison’s website and its’ call to prayer would go.

Stephanie and I dreamed of the day we would be able to teach our daughter how to pray and about her wonderful Savior. 

Well, it seems that our daughter turned the tables on us and taught us earnest prayer and how truly great and merciful our Lord is.  Our little daughter has been a greater witness for the glory of God than Stephanie and I could ever be—and she is only 18 days old!

Because of this website, we have been able to communicate specific prayers to you and you have been faithful to offer them up to our Heavenly Father.  Your prayer has been incredibly important to the life of our daughter, her improving health, and the comfort and peace of her parents, grandparents and extended family.  While we have been in the middle of a storm, you have been helping to build our strength by seeking the Lord’s mercy and healing for our precious Alison’s body and mind.

We do not yet know how this journey is going to end, but we believe that the Lord will make our daughter whole for His glory and goodness.  Why he has chosen to smile upon our request, we will never be able to fully understand.  Yet, the Lord’s love and strength are as deep as they are wide.  Even if the Lord chooses a different path for our little girl, we trust that His wisdom and foresight will be the best for our family.  It is tough to realize that we are not in control.  The relief comes when you realize that you do not need to be because the Lord is in control and his view is eternal.  Our Lord is a good and merciful God and in Him do we trust and depend for everything that we value in this world.

Alison is doing better today, but she is struggling with a few issues that we ask you to pray about.  Her doctors have tried to fully remove her from her nitric oxide gas four times and she has not responded well each time.  Alison needs to be able to let go of the nitric oxide to facilitate her eating the nourishment that Stephanie is blessed to provide and to be able to remove the final doses of the blood pressure medicines.  Please pray that the doctors will be able to remove the nitric oxide from her body, as well as the remaining blood pressure medicines that were meant to address the pulmonary hypertension.

Her steroid treatment has ended, but she is now fighting a mild infection.  Her white blood cells are elevated and are worrisome.  Please pray that the Lord will protect and heal Alison from any and all infections.  The doctors also desire to remove some of Alison’s existing IV insertion points to limit infection and install a new arterial IV that will better protect Alison from infection.  Please pray that the Lord will guide the doctors’ hands and eyes as they attempt to install a new arterial IV into her little body and remove the existing one.  The doctors tried to make the switch yesterday and today, but were not successful.  They will try again tomorrow.

Her blood gas has continued to jump around due to the medications and the fact she is now moving her arms and her legs.  Her blood gas hovers between the mid 50’s and low 80’s on a daily basis.  Her blood gas needs to get above 100 and stay there consistently for her continued healing.  Please pray that the Lord would continue to heal her little lungs so that she can better oxygenate her body.

Alison’s neurologist is still unable to fully test her little brain because she is still dependent on several medicines and is still depending on the nitric oxide.  Please pray that the Lord will continue to protect and heal her little brain.

The swelling in our precious little girl continues to go down slowly.  We are now able to fully recognize her little hands and feet, although there is still swelling in her arms and legs, her upper torso and her head.  We are still unable to see her neck due to the swelling.  Please continue to pray that the Lord would remove all the swelling from her little body which is still interfering with some of her treatments.

Our little girl is having trouble resting during the night due to the change of medicines and the fact that the doctors are allowing her to wake up.  She had to be medicated the last two nights to allow her to rest.  She seems to have her days and nights reversed.  Please pray that the Lord will provide little Alison’s body and mind the quality rest they need to get well.

We are truly thankful for your fervent prayers for our precious baby the past 18 days.  We will never fully know how much strength, peace and healing the Lord has given us and our Alison because you have been fervently praying.  Please continue to pray for our precious daughter.  She has come a long way, but she has a longer way to go.

The doctors continue to say we have another four to six weeks before our little Alison might be able to come home and enjoy the nursery Stephanie and I spent so many hours working on.  The doctors have said that Alison is still critical, but she is stable and improving each day.  We need the Great Physician to continue to bless His precious child and provide wisdom, strength and love for those who are attending to her health needs.  Please pray for these precious people that they will not only depend on their experience and education, but that they will allow the Lord to work through them.

Thank you for all you are making possible,

Langston and Stephanie