grace led in life

Isla woke up really stressed this morning... Still so confused on what happened with her canceled surgery yesterday and so concerned that at any moment, we were having to go to surgery today. 
Sweet girl tried so hard to process it all but was just unable to understand and she felt so nervous. 
There were homesick feelings today and tears, too. These trips and all that happens on them are a lot... it is exhausting.  

Our flights are booked for Wednesday night, so we knew we needed to do something today to help rest and distract from the stressors. We decided to get in our rental mini-van and go on an adventure! Our family's favorite thing to do is get in nature - fresh air, sunshine, such beauty from God right in front of us...so good! Both our kiddos LOVE being by the water. 

We drove about an hour and a half away... into New Jersey! We have not visited New Jersey before... so, yay, for visiting a new state! We did a little research and decided to head to Cape May, NJ and it did not disappoint! It was so wonderful! What a beautiful little town full of cute personality! 

We stopped first at the Cape May Lighthouse... so cool to see! 

Then we headed to the beach. 
Just love God's creation so very much... it is so beautiful!
The stressors still felt high for Isla, but as soon as she got her toes in that water, it's like it all melted away in that moment. The kids had such a sweet time. We even got to see multiple dolphin pods swim by, too! So cool! 
We didn't do any walking or exploring of the town, needed to keep it low-key and simple - just a drive through, but we did our goal of getting in the fresh air, seeing somewhere new, sitting in the sand and just resting. 

Such a sweet spot in the day. 

(click here) video of our adventure day

We are heading home tomorrow - much on our minds and a lot to pray about. 
So thankful for so many things, even the things hard to understand. 

Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement... all the sweet messages. It really means the world. 

Update: 

We checked in this morning for Isla to have her 14th VEPTR expansion surgery. 
She got all prepped for surgery and I (Molly) was able to bring her back to the operating room about 1:45pm and was with her until she was fully under anesthesia and asleep. I gave her kisses and left the operating room to go wait with Justin and Zeke in the surgery waiting room... 

About an hour and a half went by, and we hadn't been updated yet, which made us a little concerned that intubation was not going according to plan. 
Shortly after we started feeling some concern we were called into a private room to talk with Isla's main orthopedic surgeon and also the anesthesiologist. 
Dr. Anari started talking with us by saying "First of all, Isla is safe..." which we knew meant things did not go according to plan. 
They found that Isla's airway was swollen and unsafe to be intubated. They called in multiple ENT doctors and Anesthesiologists and all collaboratively felt it was highly unsafe to proceed. Dr. Anari made the call that Isla's surgery had to be canceled. Even if they would have attempted intubation and found a successful way to intubate (most likely it would have not been successful), there was a high risk that she would have difficulty extubating or not be able to extubate and that would be detrimental. 
The swelling may be due to her intubation from last Wednesday or could be from something else, too. 
A critical airway can look different every day, and any swelling can make it so much worse. 

There was a huge wave of emotions felt...