The sweet baby above is Annabelle – and she needs your prayers and positive energy. She was born with spina bifida – a rather extreme case. Her parents were advised that termination might be their best option – according to one of their doctors he had only seen one case as extreme as hers – and the baby passed away within hours of being born. They chose to hope for a miracle and fight for their daughter. She was born on Thursday – has already had two surgeries – and continues to fight and beat the odds every moment of her life. She is sooo strong – she’s alert, recognizes her parents’ voices and has been breathing on her own since she was born. She can visit her dad’s blog – and to the blog devoted to her journey – to find out more about her and her very strong parents – their faith, tenacity, and strength amazes me.

For some especially amazing photos of Annabelle and her parents go to this blog. Kristin is a professional photographer who is part of the community rooting for Annabelle.

Here are Annabelle’s parents’ current prayer requests:

1) That our little stubborn, obstinate, prize-fighter, Annie heals and recovers from all that she has been through.

2) That all of Annie’s internal organs are working properly.

3) That Bella is able to soon eat all the food that her mom has been working so hard on providing for her.

4) That Annie Lu’s total neurological development is beyond all expectations. As I told her attending nurse: “We are praying for a straight-A, track star and we will settle for as close as we can get”

5) Pray for Holly and I to keep our sanity. My head almost spun 360 and popped off after watching the nurses spend 45 minutes transferring my little girl from the mobile unit to her bed (2 feet away) yesterday morning. Although I am not proud of it, I might have shoved someone through a plate-glass window if they had said the wrong thing at the wrong time . . . .