Life Is Good: Warm Fuzzies

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Warm Fuzzies

Warm Fuzzies (n, pl)--those wonderful things that you do for someone else or someone else does for you that shows an exceptional amount of love in a totally unexpected way, completely speaking another person's love language. (Yocham Family definition)

You know how at times life just carries on. It may be a little chaotic and crazy, but for the most part it's just normal...and good. Life has been good...and normal for a while, but yesterday God reached down from Heaven and decided to bless me with Warm Fuzzy.

THE PHONE CALL

Yesterday at about 11:00 a.m. I received a phone call from the March of Dimes Coordinator/Person. I don't really know her title, but to me she is one of the head honchos for the Oklahoma division of March of Dimes. She works directly with the March of Dimes Family teams. She asked me to share my Mission. Unclear of what she meant I asked her to explain. She said she wanted me to share why I got involved with the March of Dimes. I told her it was because of the experiences with my two kids, and did she want to hear the story of my kids. She said, "yes". I said, "now that I can do!" I told her the *relatively brief* versions of both my kiddos and their beginnings. She was in awe. I don't know if she was crying or not, but then she said she felt like God had led her to me and...

She asked if we would be willing and interested in being the
Ambassador Family for the March of Dimes this year!!

Do you realize what kind of an honor this is? I get all giddy and excited just thinking about it. This is incredible! I can't think of a better honor...and what's even better is that it's not because of anything I have done. It's all because of God's great blessing through our son, our miracle. All honor and glory belong to Him. Did I mention I'm excited?! We will be getting together for lunch on Monday to discuss what this entails. She mentioned briefly about news conferences, speaking to schools and corporations, and fundraising events.

4 comments:

Kim said...: Congrats! You will be an awesome ambassador for the March of Dimes. Your story is truly inspiring.; February 18, 2009 at 9:07 PM
mimi and Grampy said...: Julie & Ryan, That is just Great. I can not wait to hear more. I am in a Family of celebrities. My 10 year old Niece in Illinois is a Girl Scout and she drew a picture of what Girl Scouting ment to her. Out of hundreds, hers was picked to represent Girl Scouting this year. Now you Guys being an Ambassador for March of Dimes. My Cup Runeth Over! Mimi; February 18, 2009 at 11:45 PM
Kristi said...: Oh Wow, how exciting!!!!! Congratulations. I am very happy for you!; February 19, 2009 at 2:32 PM
twin power mommy ♥ said...: That's soo cool!

When i did the walk about 4 years ago, i was approached to talk for my girls and be the ambassador for our area.
The title intimidated me so much that i declined.

I think it'll be super cool for you to be able to share not only Ryan's and Brandy's story, but the story of our Lord being so loving, merciful and miraculous!; February 22, 2009 at 2:22 AM

Post a Comment

Brandy Danielle

Brandy is our firstborn, our precious angel baby girl. Her entry into this world wasn't without excitement. At 26 weeks I started preterm labor with contractions 5 minutes apart. With 10 weeks of strict bedrest, most of which were in the hospital, she made it to 36 weeks.
Brandy was diagnosed with "possible/probable" heart defect around 28-30 weeks gestation. After her birth she was whisked away to the NICU for monitoring and after a few days her defect was formally diagnosed and labeled...atrial septal defect and a cleft mitral valve.
Brandy, upon indications of failure to thrive and pulmonary hypertension, underwent her first of 2 open-heart surgeries at 4 months of age. A week after her surgery on the day of her anticipated discharge home Brandy coded for 13 minutes...a stoke.
From that point on Brandy's life was full of doctor's visits, endless crying, pain and suffering. She underwent another heart surgery, fundoplication and g-tube surgery, treatment for infantile spasms, and a mountain of tests and procedures. Her brain damage was extensive.
Upon counseling of our wonderful, most amazing heart surgeon, Dr. Christopher Knott-Craig, and many hours of prayer, we finally called in hospice and called off all of the extensive medical interventions and surgery needs that would prolong her suffering while possibly prolonging her life. Brandy, our precious baby girl...our angel...passed out of our arms and into the arms of her Saviour, Jesus at the tender age of 17 months.

Ryan Andrew

Ryan, our micro-preemie miracle, is a ball of life. After nearly a year of trying to conceive imagine our delight when we finally knew he was on the way. My pregnancy with Ryan was uneventful at first. It seemed perfect and with all of the precautions for preterm labor being taken and monitored we entered this pregnancy with cautious anticipation covered over by a whole love of naive excitement.
At 20 weeks we discovered our "Baby Peanut" was going to be a little boy. We began to make plans and began dreaming about the day we would meet our son.
Almost 2 weeks later everything changed in our lives. It wa a whirlwind of fear and emtions as I began to bleed, was sent for monitoring in L&D and eventually had an appointment with my OB only to find out that it was serious. I had incompetent cervix with hourglassing membranes. The doctor admitted me to the hospital immediately and an emergency cerclage was placed. The statistics were grim, but the hope was to keep our son inside for at least 10 more weeks. We only made it 10 more days.
Early in the evening of February 11, 2007 our son, Ryan, came into this world in emergency fashion at only 23 weeks 5 days gestation. He weighed 1 pound 8 ounces and was 12 ½ inches long. He was so tiny. All I could think of was “oh my goodness is he really that tiny? And is there any way he could actually make it?” I tried to hold on to hope, but in all honesty I had never met anyone with a baby born that early and that small that ever made it.
Ryan did make it! It was a long, hard road, but in the end he spent 90 days in the NICU. He was on a ventilator for 2 months. Finally on one fine glorious day in May we bundled up our 4 pound 4 ounce baby boy and went home...May 11, 2007.
Ryan is now a spunky, lively, strong-willed little boy. His laughter is contagious and his spirit is compelling. He is our miracle. There are no words strong enough to share our delight and joy that God has blessed us with this little boy.

Evan Alexander