Yesterday we had a very special visitor spend the afternoon and evening with us. During all of those long nights in the NICU I would have never imagined we'd develop such great relationships with a couple of our primary nurses, luckily we did. Anyway, one of those nurses came out yesterday and it was a very nice visit. I often think how in the world those NICU nurses do it. Our story was a horror story at the time but even with all we went through, it was better than all the other families that had their babies dieing right beside us. It never crosses your mind that you will have a baby and something life threatening be wrong- ever. And when you witness the sadness of a place like the NICU, it really rocks your soul. I ask her every time I see her how she does it and if anything ever freaks her out and of course she is one of a handful of rock stars that is meant to have that job. Just as I never would have thought about the NICU life, I've never thought about the families that loose their babies to heart issues or cancer. In a million years would you ever think a 2 year old has been in the hospital non stop most of their life just waiting on a heart transplant or a 5 year old dieing of heart issues or what about a 2 year old that has had cancer since he was 10 months old and now two critically fighting for his life because the cancer is overtaking his little body? It is horrific and it makes me realize that although the beginning of our journey was scary, we have so much to be thankful for and to celebrate because beyond the braces, equipment, therapies, glasses, etc. we have healthy thriving children. It's hard not to ask God why and I know He has a path paved for us all so instead of asking why, I give thanks that we have so much life with our children and that He allowed us to have all three of them.
At the end of the day so much in this world does not matter and only a handful of things really do. Priorities in life should be around Christ and everything else falls into place. You never read in the Bible about going on vacations or building swing sets and while we may be guilty of those things, my priorities will always be my kids and Ricky- always.
Usually I never post two times in one day but I think this message needs to be shared. The precious little kids I spoke about are all in the Houston area and are friends of friends. Please remember them in your prayers today and please don't forget to look at all we have to be thankful for. No matter what your situation is unless your baby or loved one is fighting for every breath they take, you have so much more to be thankful for. Life is short.
XOXO,
Krista
