Life Is Good: ...A Silver Lining

Monday, May 4, 2009

...A Silver Lining

This is part 2 of yesterday's ~~depressing~~ heartfelt post.

God is truly the God of all comfort. Yes...bad days happen...bad weeks happen...disappointments come knocking at our door, but joy comes in the morning. I have felt God wrapping his arms around me today in ways I desperately needed. Nothing has changed. The disappointments are still there, but His peace has covered over me.

While I would love to impart some words of wisdom and a great "ah-ha" moment of inspiration this says it all:

He Is With You

There's a time to live
And a time to die
There's a time to laugh
And a time to cry
There's a time for war
And a time for peace
There's a hand to hold
In the worst of these

He is with you when your faith is dead
And you can't even get out of bed
Or your husband doesn't kiss you anymore
He is with you when your baby's gone
And your house is still,
And your hearts a stone
Cryin' God, what'd You do that for
He is with you

There's a time for yes
And a time for no
There's a time to be angry
And a time to let it go
There is a time to run
And a time to face it
There is love to see you
Through all of this

He is with you in the conference room
When the world is coming down on you
And your wife and kids don't know you anymore
He is with you in the ICU
When the doctors don't know what to do
And it scares you to the core
He is with you

We may weep for a time
But joy will come in the morning
The morning light

He is with you when your kids are grown
When there's too much space
And you feel alone
And you're worried if you
got it right or wrong
Yes He is with you
when you've given up on ever finding your true love
Someone who feels like home
He is with you

When nothing else is left
And you take your final breath
He is with you

-Mandisa, Freedom

God is with me. You know one of the most incredible, if not the most incredible, things about God is that He loved me enough to actually step down out of the perfectness of Heaven and chose to walk amongst His creation in the form of Jesus. The Christ. The Son of the Living God. His love reaches no boundaries. In my sadness and pain He is with me. In my joy and excitement He is with me. In my disappointments He is with me. He knows me, and not just a mere "knows about me". He truly, intimately, completely knows me. He knows my dreams. He knows the longings of my heart. Nothing surprises Him. Even when I am tacky, rude and whiny He still loves me. His love endures forever. And...His love is there for everyone.

----------------------------------------------------

God knew I was going to be disappointed on Saturday, so He sent His silver lining for my dark cloud in the form of someone very special to me...my sister. My sister, despite driving 2+ hours, getting up way early in the morning after staying up way late the night before still kept coming to the City even after I informed her of the cancellation. We spent the entire day together. It was fantastic. A blessing beyond measure!

And you know me...here are some pictures:

We had fun at the Science Museum (Omniplex)!

We took a short...very short...nap to gain some energy for all the fun!

We pushed buttons.

We made clouds

We played with big blue balls.

We made very important phone calls.

We met celebrities. "Dolly is that you?" Oh wait...my apologies. I have no clue who this woman is. How did I get a picture of her, and how in the world did she end up on my blog? Hmmmm.

We got blown away by a tornado

We slid down a big slide. It was a corkscrew slide from ceiling to floor...2 stories tall.

We played "catch-me-if-you-can" with Mommy.

We made more very important phone calls.

We drove a tractor. This one's for you Grandpa Yogi.

We played with the local wildlife.

We watched the trains fly by.

We got blown away by a hurricane.

We sailed away to uncharted lands.

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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