Ears Wide Open

Tomorrow my eight year old daughter will be have whats called a sistrunk procedure.
PJ has a bump on her throat we first noticed 4 years ago, after issues with her season allergies. Our general practitioner referred us to an ENT doctor, after having x-rays done, where they confirmed the "bump" as a thyroglossal duct cyst. At that time the ENT doctor stated it is not uncommon and could possibly go away on its own then come back with sinus drainage . Well, it never went away. In fact it gradually grew every fall and spring when she had allergy congestion and when she had colds.
Two weeks ago, she ended up with the rampant influenza virus sweeping across the country. Thankfully PJ did not have as severe of a case as the rest of the family, (mommy was down for a week!) with a fever for 2 days, sniffles and then a cough lasting only a week. However this minor case caused her "bump" to grow the biggest it has ever been, about the size of a half dollar. This is when I decided to make an appointment with the ENT to schedule a removal.
I didn't have contact information or even remember the name of the office where we took her the last time. I did remember the doctor's name though and "googled" her name. After calling the office to schedule an appointment, I found out this information was out of date and was not the current work place of this ENT doctor. I scheduled the appointment anyway, knowing my daughter's information was easily accessible since it was the same health organization. Come to find out it wasn't even the same office! But my instincts told be it would be fine. After filling out paperwork,  getting my son situation with coloring pages (which he willingly colored 2 pictures, this is a miracle in itself) sitting PJ in the "cool" chair, we got to talk with this "other" doctor.
I am so glad we did! Come to find out the former doctor didn't like doing this procedure and had this current ENT doctor do the procedure on her patients when they needed it. He has done this procedure hundreds of times and is very confident about it. I was put at ease. He talked directly to PJ about everything as well, which she loved.
During the consult he mentioned it is easier to remove the cyst when it is at its smallest, while we were there I noticed it was actually the smallest it has been in a long time (yes, it shrank in the last week)!!! Everything seemed to be lining up for this to be done, so I decided to schedule the surgery. For PJ's sanity (she like to linger on things until they become all she thinks about), I thought it best to schedule it sooner than later. Never in my dreams would I think that sooner would be 4 days from our appointment! Yes, our visit was only last Friday. Everything was indeed coming together smoothly!
We have a pre-op exam this afternoon, then we head to the hospital tomorrow morning at 8:30 for the removal of the thyroglossal duct and the hyoid bone. PJ is in good spirits about the whole thing, more excited about getting it removed and an overnight stay in a hospital! I am confident everything will go well (maybe oddly confident, I keep being told I should be nervous be because my daughter's throat will be cut open, ha ha!), and she will have a smooth recovery.
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In Proverbs 8, Solomon talks about Wisdom. The chapter talks about listening and discerning. The following scriptures stood out to me, relating to the past couple weeks:

1Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice!

 6-7Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception.

14Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.

33Listen to my instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it.

 

God's hand was in this the whole way, from finding the right doctor to the shrinking of the cyst, from timing of procedure to the calmness of patient and mother. All because I had wisdom to listen.
God gave us all wisdom, (some call it the little voice in your head, some call it conscience) we just have to be open to listening.

Isaiah 55:3 “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.

Call me Ephphatha

"Call you , what now?!"
Call me Ephphatha!
Why on earth would I want you to call me... um, what was it again?
Ephphatha... Ef-fa-tha, Aramaic for "Be Opened".
Let me back up a bit here. I don't make New Year's resolutions, I haven't in about 10 years. I never keep them, feel like a failure when the year ends, and nothing was accomplished with that goal. Two years ago I heard about this challenge, the "One Word" challenge. Basically, you pick a word to describe who you would like to become. Keeping this word in mind you shape this characteristic as a process, rather than trying to change in one day. This year my church has decided to do this together, creating a type of accountability. (more info can be found at My One Word or One Word 365)
This year, after deliberating, praying, soul searching, for a couple weeks, I decided on my word. There are a few reasons why I chose the word I did. Right now, I am at a transitional period in my life. I bought a house last year, I am in the process of looking for a job, I want to be more active in my kids' daily life and well, things just aren't the way they should be. When I laid it out on the table, what I wanted to change, the word open kept coming to mind.   Open to new opportunities. Open to be me, the real me. Open to change. Open to possibilities. That's when I decided my word would be...  You guessed it! OPEN! While finding a scripture to help me along with this word, I came across a little story in Mark.
Mark 7:31-37 is about a deaf, mute (some say mute, some versions say speech impediment) man who was brought to Jesus to be healed. Jesus, led the man away from the crowd, stuck his fingers in the man's ears, spat on his own fingers then touched the man's tongue, and said "Ephphatha". Immediately the man could hear and could speak as plain as any other.
That's what I want. No, I don't want some dude to spit on his finger then stick it in my mouth. I want to be able to listen to opportunities, speak the truth and (going one step further) I want to see the possibilities.
The meaning of the name Ephphatha is "open minded woman", so as I said before:
Call Me Ephphatha