Memorial Day, the day before Marcella's big day! While most families are planning cook outs and running to the store for last minute things, we were by our baby's side. Because we were not sure how recovery would be for Marcella, we decided the family did not need to visit after the surgery. Marcella was hooked up to different machines which were spitting out different vitals every hour and even us as parents were afraid to hold her in fear of messing something up. Also, we didn't want to disturb her from resting, which we felt was most important before her big day. 
People started visiting right before noon and we continued having visitors in short bursts throughout the entire day until 11pm or so. We got a lot of meals and goodies to last us in the hospital, since we were not quite sure how long we would be staying. Having all of the visitors was a great way for us to keep our minds busy so that we were not focusing on the surgery tomorrow, and instead we were able to enjoy our loved ones and our precious baby girl. 
Our pastors Gilbert & Eileen were able to visit us and bring peace and support to us through prayer and fellowship. It was amazing to have powerful words of encouragement that could refocus our mind in the right direction. Pastor Gilbert read Psalm 139 which is affirmation of God's omnipresence and reassures us that God is always watching over us. Even when we feel lost and "alone", confused and in doubt, the Lord knows the purpose of our journey and every step of it before it comes to pass.
Pastor Gilbert gave a beautiful prayer over Marcella that brought everyone in the room to tears. At the end of the prayer, Marcella let out a yelp, and we all took that as her version of "Amen"! Pastor Eileen shared with us an organization called Maryssa's Mission and put us in contact with Mitch Rivas. She shared with us part of his journey and said he may be able to help navigate us around the hospital as well as put us in touch with resources within the hospital that could help us during our stay. It was nice to know that there was someone who had been through this that we could relate to and could lean on for support because they too know the journey we are faced with. It is a unique journey, and it is hard to explain to anyone who is not knowledgeable about the heart and things specific to cardiac kiddos.
Through our church, House of Praise, family/friends and also Mitch's foundation many people were uniting in faith for a successful surgery for Marcella and a speedy recovery. We were feeling extremely blessed to be part of such a strong congregation of prayer warriors and we were faithful that the Lord had big plans for Marcella's life.