Madison's Dedication Pictures

As promised, here are pictures from Madison's Baby Dedication on September 26, 2010.


Brother Joel Wood dedicating Madison. He said the verse that came to mind when he thought about Madison and her miraculous story is Romans 8:37 "For we are more than conquerors, through Christ who loves us so."
Daddy, Mommy, and Madison
The whole family! (from left to right) Uncle Stacy & Aunt Marilyn, Mayci, Granddaddy T, Nana & Granddaddy, Daddy, Mommy, & Madison, Grammy & Granddaddy, Dalton, and Aunt Diane. To sum up...a whole bunch of people who love Madison and have prayed for her for so long.

The Peanut Eats Cereal

Getting excited about eating cereal!
Ummm...cereal...good!
Video of the event!

Madison is being Dedicated!

One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is that of Hannah, a once barren woman who prayed faithfully to the Lord to bless her with a son. Her account is recorded in 1 Samuel ch. 1.

Hannah said to the Lord, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life." (vs. 11)

The LORD remembered Hannah and she conceived and gave birth to a son and named him Samuel, which means "Because I asked the LORD for him." (vs. 19-20)

And as she committed, when Samuel was weaned, she took him to the house of the LORD and presented Samuel to the LORD. While there, Hannah spoke to Eli, a Jewish high priest and said, "I prayed for this child and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." (vs. 24-28) After this Hannah prayed a beautiful prayer (1 Samuel ch. 2).

What a testimony of God's graciousness to reward Hannah for her faithfulness. Children are a gift from the Lord and it is clear that Hannah grasped what a gift she had been given in Samuel. God entrusts children to us as parents while we live here on earth. But Dustin and I know full well that Madison Grace belonged to the Lord before she was born to us. He knew her before He formed her in "the secret place" of my womb (Psalm 139:15) where she was fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

For this reason Dustin and I know that dedicating Madison to the Lord is a demonstration of our understanding that she belongs to the Lord first and that we commit our lives to teaching her the ways of the Lord while we have her this short time on earth.

This Sunday, at our church, Stevens Street Baptist, Dustin and I will stand before hundreds of people who have been praying for Madison long before she ever arrived, and dedicate her to the Lord. It will be a time of great joy for us as her parents but we know that her dedication is meant to challenge us to "train up our child in the way she should go, so that when she is old she will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

On Sunday, in a small way, I believe I will feel like Hannah did. Having a baby had long been the desire of my heart when the Lord finally blessed us with Madison. Just as Hannah, I had prayed for this child and the LORD granted me what I asked of Him. And that is why will we dedicate her on Sunday.

I look forward to Sunday with great anticipation as we share such a blessed day with our family and church family. Those of you who read our blog that are not a part of our church family, let me remind you of something Dustin said in a past blog:

Family goes beyond being blood relatives. If you have ever cried for Madison, prayed for our family, brought us a meal, traveled to Nashville or Cookeville to see us, or met any need we had, you are family. We have been provided for by hundreds of our family members. We love each and every one of you!

So while many of you will not be present on Sunday to witness Madison's dedication to the Lord, we will still be sharing the day with you. Thank you for your continued prayers for our little family. Know that you are loved and prayed for in return.

Can't wait to post pictures of Sunday's occasion. I know I will be one proud momma!

Love always,

~Mandy

Pictures of the Princess

Madison posing (and I mean really posing) in her Delta Zeta-inspired bubble given to her by Lee Lee (Aunt Amanda's mom).
Apparently the movie "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" was a total bore for Madison. Snooze-fest!
Madison in an authentic, from Graceland, Elvis onesie. Is there any doubt she is Mommy's baby?

She Smiles!

Just had to post the picture I took of Madison smiling. She's really been smiling a lot lately and seems to be a happy baby...until you change her clothes or she gets hungry. I know every baby smiles but considering this is our first and we've never experienced it, we simply melt every time she does it. And they're beginning to be followed by the sweetest little cooing noises. Every day as Madison's mommy brings me increasingly more and more joy!

~Mandy

Questions and Answers

I've been told by several people that we don't update the blog enough so I wanted to post a little something in the way of an update. In all honesty, in looking back over our blog I've realized that we've made the majority of our posts prior to or following an intense or troublesome time regarding Madison. And while blogging during those times has been an outlet for us to express our feelings, let everyone know the current issues, and ask for prayer I now realize that I don't have to wait for an earth-shattering moment to occur in order to share thoughts, feelings, updates, etc.

When I sit in the rocker in Madison's room I often look at my belly pictures hanging on the opposite wall. As I've said on our blog in the past, I can't believe that she was once a part of me, now that we have her here in the world. And while I can look at those pictures with fond memories of being pregnant, I can't help but remember how scared and troubled I was during that time.

January 15, 2010 was the day Dustin and I learned that our precious "peanut" was a little girl. I was 18 weeks pregnant and it was the same day my doctor told us she believed she saw signs of Spina Bifida in our baby. Our joy was quickly replaced with devastation upon hearing the news. The remaining 21 weeks of my pregnancy were bittersweet as I carried my sweet Madison, unsure of what was "wrong" with her or what challenges we would face as parents to a child with Spina Bifida. We had so many questions for the many doctors we saw and the uncertainty of it all was more than we could bear at times. But now that Madison is about to be three months old and we've lived what has seemed a lifetime since January 15th, the questions I had while pregnant I can now answer myself.

These are the questions I asked my doctor after that first ultrasound and here are MY answers.
QUESTION: "What will be wrong with her?
ANSWER: Nothing. Nothing at all is wrong with her. Madison is progressing beautifully and she continues to be an amazing picture of God's healing grace. Don't think for a minute that Madison's middle name is Grace by accident.

QUESTION: "What will we notice is different about her?"
ANSWER: Nothing. When Madison's hair grows back to cover the shunt incision on her head, you would never know by looking at her that she was born with a birth defect. That is the only thing you would notice.

QUESTION: "Will she have developmental delays?"
ANSWER: Everyday Madison is growing and overcoming the odds. Is she a little behind in holding her head up? Yes. But I have to remind myself that while other babies would spend their first month learning how to do this, my baby was connected to monitors, cut on three times, and was heavily sedated and on pain medication for over a week. She gets extra time to catch up. Otherwise she is right on track with her physical and social development.

Dustin and I marvel at how God has worked through our daughter. And to think that a doctor questioned whether or not we should continue with the pregnancy makes me sick. What blessings we would have been robbed of if we had listened to that crazy doctor. What a miracle we would have missed. Madison is a our beautiful and perfect gift from the Lord. She makes loving her the easiest task in the world. Her diapers turn my stomach but her smile melts my heart. I miss her when she sleeps and I am overjoyed to walk into her room and scoop up my warm little peanut and snuggle her after a nap. I love how she tries to sing along with me when I sing her her night-night song (we've caught this on video so I have proof that she does it though it seems impossible she could). When she sucks on her fingers I laugh because she was given a perfectly good passie to suck on but spit it out because her fingers are apparently better. I cry just looking at her sometimes because I can't believe how beautiful and perfect she is. I beam with pride every time I take her out or we go to church and she doesn't make a peep, just sits there like the best baby in the world. I go to pieces when she makes her sweet baby noises and talks to us with her two favorite words "goo" and "huggie."

The only question I'm left with now is this...
QUESTION: "What else will the Lord allow us to experience on this journey?"
ANSWER: We do not know yet. But Psalm 34:4 says that if we will seek the Lord, He will answer us and He will deliver us from our fears. This gives me confidence that nothing else we are meant to endure will be more than our Lord can deliver us from.

Lastly, I want to share a sort of poem (by Roy Lessin) that we were given on a greeting card after Madison was born. This card has really stuck with me and has encouraged me greatly.

Your daughter is here not by chance, but by God's choosing. His hand formed her and made her the person she is. He compares her to no one else- she is one of a kind. She will lack nothing that His grace can't give her. He has allowed her to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.

Roy Lessin didn't know he was writing that about Madison Grace Rawls when he wrote it but he was.

Be blessed.

~Mandy

Things to be Thankful for!

Hey Everyone...

It is Dustin posting this time, and I really have missed putting some of my thoughts on here. We have had a pretty amazing week, and I have been looking forward to sharing with everyone all the things we are thankful for! Two things: I hope you enjoy, and I hope God gets the glory!

So, here are the things we are thankful for!

1. God and His Perfect Will!

This story will end with our visit this past Monday at the Spina Bifida Clinic, but I must start at the beginning. As many of you have read and come to understand along with us, when we learned Madison had Spina Bifida, Dr. Tulipan informed us chances were high that Madison would eventually require the VP shunt surgery to relieve the extra pressure on her brain caused by hydrocephalus. Many, many of you have prayed along with us for God to work miracles in her little body so that she wouldn't require the surgery. We all prayed, and we all believed. I will confess, when we learned that the shunt surgery was no longer unavoidable but imminent, I was hurt. Throughout my prayers for Madison to avoid the surgery, I also prayed as Christ taught us in that the Lord's Will be done. I am thankful that His Will all along was that she would have this surgery. The miracle is that Madison is healed, and He chose to work that miracle through surgeons and modern medicine. This doesn't limit God, because He could have healed her at any moment He chose. I look at this as confirmation that God is the author and creator of ALL knowledge, and that He still healed Madison His way. Madison has been a different baby since the surgery. She is more alert, eats better, tracks movements and noises more easily, and has improved in every way imaginable since the surgery. Even though we had to endure the impossible the night of her surgery, God's Will was done and we are all the more thankful for it. As I mentioned earlier, this was confirmed by all the specialists we saw at Spina Bifida Clinic this past Monday. If Monday had been Madison's ACT, she would have scored a 35. If it would have been her SAT, she would have scored a 1580. If it would have been her GPA, she would have had a 3.98. Many of the specialists we saw referred to her as "PERFECT" in the respective area. Madison's urologist wanted us to monitor the only imperfection we found on Monday, which was Madison's urine output. That is the only reason why she didn't score a 36, 1600, or have a 4.0. For the first time in quite some time, Mandy and I left Vanderbilt without weights tied around our necks! It was awesome to drive back to Cookeville with smiles on our faces and praise in our hearts. Like the title says, we are truly thankful for God and His perfect will and plan!

2. Prayers

I really don't know if I will be able to say the right thing here, but I will do my best. Mandy and I would not be where we are or who we are without your prayers! Throughout this blog, I have come to learn that there are people praying for our family that I have never met. The only thing I think I can say to put it into perspective is that I ask God for the ability to know who all prayed for our family during this time so that I can hug every single neck in Heaven! I believe part of our time in Heaven will be spent rejoicing with one another about was God did for us down here, and look forward to meeting people and knowing immediately that they had lifted us up when we couldn't do it for ourselves. I have prayed that God would return blessing seven fold on the families of every single person that prayed for us. Prayer is the great equalizer! It is God's prescription for our life.

3. God's Word

I will also make another confession here in that I surely haven't been reading the Word like this section implies. However, during the last few months, the Lord has revealed his Word to me in powerful ways through my wife, other believers, random sightings, and divine intervention. Just to name a few: Psalm 105:5, Galatians 6:2, Jeremiah 29:11, Philippians 4:6-9, James 1:17, Philippians 1:3, and of course 1 Corinthians 10:13. Remember, during a difficult time of Jesus' life, he was comforted by scripture when He quoted to the devil himself that the the Word of God says "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." (Deuteronomy 8:3)

4. Family

I don't think I can right much here without crying! During the last few months, our family has cared and provided for us in ways that amaze me. To sum it, they have cared for us emotionally, physically, financially, sacrificially, and most importantly spiritually. Also, family goes beyond being blood relatives. If you have ever cried for Madison, prayed for our family, brought us a meal, traveled to Nashville or Cookeville to see us, or met any need we had, you are family. We have been provided for by hundreds of our family members. We love each and every one of you!

5. My Wife

I thought I got choked up with the last one, but this is a whole different level. Can't say much except God gave me the perfect gift and partner in Mandy! I really can't think of any more words (been staring at my screen for who knows how long), so I will just reference point number one. I am thankful for God's perfect will for our lives and giving me a wife that helps me glorify Him!!!!!

6. Insurance

Enough Said!

7. You

Truly, if you have taken the time to read this blog, or any other posts we have put up, I am truly thankful for you. I hope somehow Madison's life and story have impacted you! Her life is a tale of hope, inspiration, and divine purpose! Madison has already changed the world in seven short weeks.

all my love,

Dustin