Bafney

I've called her Bafney ever since she was in kindergarten.

Harold Jun, this adorable little chubby boy in her class wrote her a love letter.  "Beer Bafney, I luv yoo" is how it started off.  I was 14 at the time, and found it completely and utterly sweet, not to mention hilarious.  The name stuck.

When SHE was 14, Bafney had surgery to address a scoliosis condition that wasn't correcting itself with wearing a brace or  physical therapy.  The surgery required 6 hours of being sliced open and attaching titanium rods to her spine, screwing them into her bones.

Not exactly what a 14 year old girl had in mind after 8th grade graduation.

I won't go into all the details of that surgery.  There were complications-- and even though she was at one of the most prestigious hospitals in Los Angeles and had one of the nations most respected spinal surgeons operating on her, it didn't go well.  The recovery was long.  She made it through of course.  She's a fighter and a winner but it wasn't fun. 

Needless to say, when she came home this summer with pain in her back, we were all a little concerned.  She'd been experiencing pain throughout the school year and upon further diagnosis with another phenomenal doctor, it was apparrent she needed surgery again...  This time to remove the rods.

I called my mom every hour it seemed while she was in surgery.  I wanted to be there so badly for her, but some things at work required of my schedule that I stay here in Oregon during the operation.  We were all praying that her spine had fused so that they didn't have to replace the rods with new ones.  We were praying for a speedy recovery.  For no complications.  For her spirits to remain high.  For her to come out of this with an even greater understanding of...  How much God loves her, even though he allowed this all to happen to her.

She walked the day after surgery.  She kept me posted on all her ups and downs, it was a gift to be able to share in this with her even if it was over phone and skype.  It's been a little over a week since she got out of this surgery, and I am so grateful that she is doing GREAT.  As we talked that night she came home from the hospital, "I'm feeling GREAT!" was her exclamation, as if an exclamation point was hanging in the proverbial air over our conversation.  Her voice sounded as if she was bouncing off walls.  She was walking around.  Talking, laughing, moving freely without pain.

My brother gave her this verse when she was going through some of the hard times with her back: 

"Then Job replied to the LORD, 'I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know'" (Job 42:1-3).

Perhaps this experience is something too wonderful for her to know-- perhaps God has so much more to teach her... Her strength is an inspiration to me and a wonderful reminder that no plan of the Lord's can be thwarted.  We asked why.  I'm sure she as heck asked why... Why twice?!  But who are we to obscure the Lord's counsel without devine understanding of all He has orchestrated.  His plan is far more wonderful than we can ever know.

Beer Bafney, I love yoo.  You are truly a gift.