Answered prayers

God's answers prayers -- in fact, I'd be willing to go as far as saying God still performs miracles, especially miracles that beat modern science. Want proof? I offer 2 stories from the past week. In this first story, while they're some of our closest friends, I don't have permission to use their names on the blog so I'm only using their initials....

M & K were married at almost exactly the same time Jonathan and I were married on June 20, 1998. In fact, if one of our groomsmen hadn't been attending our wedding in Tennessee, he would have undoubtedly been at M & K's wedding here in Ohio because he knew M from work. M & K dreamed of a large family -- larger than mine, even (which I did not dream of, per se)! They got pregnant very early but sadly suffered a miscarriage. They were pregnant again within a very short period of time and in early May 1999, they welcomed a beautiful baby girl, F (my Nathan was born in July of that year). I met K while at a Pampered Chef party when F & Nathan were about 18 months old and we've been great friends since! K baby sat my kids while I worked from September 2002 until June 2005 and she's had my kids during various maternity/pregnancy hiccups and even during a few of my kids' births. During all this time, their desires to have a large family seem squashed as they were never able to get pregnant on their own after F was born. It broke my heart to tell them I was pregnant FIVE TIMES when I knew they wanted more babies so badly! K was eventually diagnosed with PCOS (google that when you've got time). Even with meds, they were still unable to conceive and were just about to give up. That is, until March. Lydia was born on a Monday -- March 2nd. I was discharged on Wednesday the 4th but Lydia stayed because of her jaundice, remember? Anyway, while I was having a melt down on that Friday the 6th because I had planned to take Lydia home and the doctors had just told me I likely wouldn't take her home after all, I got a phone call from K asking me if I was sitting down. Immediately my heart started pounding hoping that she was going to tell me what I thought she was going to tell me, which she did! She was pregnant! Why am I telling this story now? Because M, K, and F welcomed baby boy J into their arms just a few days ago in the wee hours of the morning. And what an answer to prayer he is! I can't wait to meet him but haven't even bothered to call to go over because of all the sickness going on here at my house.

But, wait! There's more!

Second story -- if you're a blogger and follow other folks' blogs, you may have already heard of baby Stellan. Stellan's mom, affectionately known in the blogging world as MckMama, was told that her son likely would never be born alive, due to a dangerous heart condition where his heart goes into SVT which stands for words I can hardly pronounce, much less spell. It basically meant that, while in utero, little Stellan's heart was beating over 200 beats per minute. Miracle #1: he arrived -- healthy -- in October 2008! And for the first four months of his life, he seemed to be SVT-free. But, alas, the SVT reared it's ugly head again and since then, little Stellan's heart has had many episodes of SVT, many times ending up in the hospital clinging to life. They've had a terrible time getting the right meds for him and have often changed meds around. It's mind-boggling to read this little guys journey! And, just a few weeks ago, he ended up having a terrible SVT episode, one where he celebrated his first birthday in the intensive care unit. This past week, he flew to Boston to see his specialist where they planned to admit him on Sunday, wean him off his meds, and perform a surgery called an ablation this morning (another one for you to google!). Stellan had an ablation earlier this year but it was unsuccesful. They were not wanting to try another one until Stellan reached 40 pounds but with this last episode of SVT, they felt they were out of time. Sunday morning, while waiting to be admitted, his heart went into another stubborn episode of SVT. His mother literally watched his heart stop beating at one point and blogs that she "[thought] to myself, "Am I watching Stellan die?"" As a mother, I can't imagine! So, his ablation was moved up and was performed yesterday instead of today. They didn't really know what to expect but were hoping to "kill" the bad part of Stellan's heart. It was risky, at best. He could have ended up with a pacemaker or worse.... But, yesterday, God heard the many, many prayers of His people and Stellan's surgery ended up being what MckMama calls "A Home Run"! They hit a lot of bumps in the road but just moments ago, they were taking little Stellan off the vent that was helping him breath since his surgery and he has been SVT-free all night long, meaning they can be very optimistic he'll never have another SVT episode!

We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Sure, I don't know this MckMama or her family personally but I don't have to know her to celebrate along with her. Because, just like her, I'm a Christian, a wife, and a mother. I do know what it's like to watch your child lay in a hospital bed even though I don't know what it would feel like to wonder if they were dying. Timothy's never come close to that. But, I can be thankful right along with her and our good friends cuddling their new son -- thankful that GOD HAS HEARD and answered!