The time was quickly approaching to send Hailey off to surgery. So many friends and family were there that day to see her and give us a much needed hug. But as the last half hour came before surgery, it was just Jeff, Hailey, and I in her room. She was getting scared. Tears were starting to fill her eyes. She was trying so hard not to cry or show us she was afraid. I whispered, "everything is going to be okay honey". I wanted so badly to spare her of this pain, but I knew it was necessary in order for her to get better.

And then the moment no parent should have to endure came as my little angel began begging me not to make her go through this surgery. She cried, "Please mommy, I'll do anything you want me to, don't make me do this." "Oh honey", I replied. "Please mommy, I'll give you all the money in my piggy bank at home, don't make me do this." I fought back the tears as I told her she would feel so much better when the surgery was over. She was still determined. "I can just keep throwing up mommy, it's not that bad." "Oh, but you'll get more sick each day honey if we don't take this "bump" out, I cried." She paused a minute and only like my Hailey could do she turned the negotiations around. She had accepted the fact that she could not get out of this surgery. And with a very strong and determined tone she stated, "Okay then, what are you going to give me for doing this!" I took a deep breath and quickly a vision flashed in my head of her piggy bank at home with a hand-written note taped on the front that read, "This money is for a cat". I quickly answered, "how about a cat". Jeff slowly looked up at me with a half smile and eyes that said "are you out of your mind". "Yes, I want a kitty cat", she perked up. "Okay angel, you got it" we answered together.

Jeff and I joked while she was in surgery that maybe the sedative medicine had kicked in enough and she would not remember the "cat" conversation. However, it wasn't two minutes after the ventilator tubes came out of her throat that she whispered, "you promised me a kitty cat". We promised, she remembered; therefore, we would be adding a kitten to our family!

I think about God's sovereign choices He makes as my Heavenly Father. There are trails He allows me to endure. There is pain He knows I must go through to make me better on the other side of the trial. He doesn't negotiate happiness, He doesn't negotiate avoidance of pain, His negotiations are already complete. He exchanged His life for ours. He endured the pain so that we would have the power to have victory in this life. He made the Great Exchange.