Want to praise God with me??!!! :)

Seriously, we have an AMAZING God.  Simply AMAZING.  Okay, so Shane's surgery went well!!!  Praise the Lord!  And we can't thank you enough for your prayers!!!  Here's the scoop:

So, the day started out early for me...Emily woke up at 4:30 and wouldn't go back to bed so I was up early praying for Shane already because they were driving to the hospital at that time.  Surgery began at 7 a.m.  I got to the hospital around 9:15 a.m.  I sat with Jody, her parents, and Mom and Dad Dooyema in the waiting room (which was very nice actually!)  We talked and chatted about stuff but all the while you have this nervous feeling inside about what is going on with Shane.  I think it was like 9:45 when we found out that Shane was off of the bypass (which means now his heart had the mechanical valve in and was pumping on it's own!)  This was the best news of all to know that!  Then, around 10:30, Dr. Werner came down to tell us the news that everything was done and everything went fine.  He is a man of VERY few words so that's all we got!  Then it was a little over another hour before we could see Shane.  

Let me tell you it was SOOO good to see Shane.  It was very hard to see him...but just such a relief to see him too.  He had tubes everywhere - his mouth to breathe for him, an iv in his neck, and other tubes that I have no idea what they were doing.  :)  But when I first saw him, he could just squeeze our hands...so we knew he could hear us.  By the time I left, he could barely open his eyes a tiny bit, could give the thumbs up sign, and could shake his head yes or no.  He is SUCH a trooper, soooo strong...and all of this today just AMAZES me.  Do you realize how AWESOME of a GREAT Physician we have??!  It just blows my mind that medicine and technology is now able to fix people's HEARTS.  I'm at a loss for words.  I've witnessed yet  ANOTHER miracle in my life. :)  

And, the amazing thing is that Shane actually ended up having 3 major surgeries in one today.  First, they replaced the aortic valve with a mechanical one which is what was expected.  Second, they wanted to try to fix his aorta but it was too enlarged to they had to put a graft (spelling?) in....and then third, they found a HOLE in his heart that was bigger than the size of a quarter!!!  And they didn't know about this before!  Usually the only way you can find out about this is by having a stroke or an echocardiagrahm but Shane had an echo and it didn't show up!  Soooo....AGAIN we see God's hand at work...AGAIN we see His grace and His protection in Shane's life... and AGAIN today, I could see why God gave Shane such a great gift in Jody as his wife.  Really, to see her care for him at his bedside was such a neat thing.  The fact that she knows so much medically and is such a compassionate servant and encourager is just what he needs.  Shane has always been in God's hands...but I know he's also in his wife's very good hands as well. :)  We love you so much Shane and we're SOOO glad everything went well!  

"Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; 
 his greatness no one can fathom."  Psalm 145:3