Attalie- “the Lord is exalted.” “God is great.” “God is my refuge.”

That is what comes up when you google the meaning of baby girls name, Attalie.

Psalm 46:1

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Isaiah 12:4

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and proclaim that His name is exalted.”

Kyle and I had the name Attalie picked out before we realized the meaning, and long before we knew that she would be diagnosed with a complex heart condition.

In honor of February being Congenital Heart Defect awareness month I wanted to share some thoughts and share some of Attalies testimony that’s already taking place.

My heart is feeling “overwhelmed” with thankfulness and appreciation for just how good our Lord is. He is so intentional, so personal and so loving.

In the midst of all the diagnoses and doctors reports, it is EVIDENT that He has his hand over our baby girl. When we originally found out about Attalie’s Heart Defect we were told a few things:

1. most babies do not make it close to full term…. we are now full term and will soon pick an induction date.

2. Given her heart condition we are afraid other organs are going to start failing soon because of the lack of flow in and out of heart.

At our last appointment, not one but two doctors told us that they are very shocked at how well her other organs and her body is growing given her diagnoses. That usually babies are measuring in the low percentile or start measuring behind on growth scans.

This is not something they usually see.

BUT GOD.

Attalie has stayed within the 40th percentile and her measurements are constantly on “schedule.”

The list could go on and on about the things we were told to prepare for that have blown doctors away but i kept it short.

From the very beginning, Hes proven that He has the final say

We know the doctors meant no harm with informing us of the possibilities, in fact, that is their job but we are thankful the Lord has already showed just how good He is and proven them that statistics have nothing on Him and HE GETS THE GLORY.

“The Lord is exalted.” “God is great.” “God is my refuge”

He knew her name would carry so much meaning and HE knew that it would testify of HIS goodness. He gets the glory.

No matter what is to come, rather He chooses to heal her miraculously, surgically or heavenly, He has proven that He is who He says He is.

He is our refuge and He is great.

Through this, Kyle and I both have testified that our walk with God has been strengthened. We have prayed prayers that are hard. We have hung on to hope when our hearts are broken. We have found a new meaning in what it means to trust. And we have discovered a whole new level of what it means to cling on to one another and lift each other up. Our walk with God and our relationship with each other has grown through all of this and once again, it’s because “God is great.” And “God is our refuge.”

The future feels so unknown and scary at times, but we know the Lord has his hand over Attalie and us and we are so thankful.

He truly gets the glory from all of this.

-1/100 babies are born with CHD yearly.

-25 percent of them need very complex intervention.