Think on Such Things

All of grace. More than ever before, God is showing me a glimpse of how my life is all of grace. How is He showing me that? Well, through the life of my little 6 month old son Moses. Moses has quite the medical history for only being on this planet for almost 6 months. I'd venture to say that he has been in the hospital more than most people will have to be in their life. He's got this problem with his muscles and his feeding. Weak heart, weak arms and back, weak suck and swallow. I guess you could say that weakness is the word to describe him. Weakness has also been the result in my life since he was born. Having a child who has medical problems brings an overall weakness or maybe more just exhaustion. Lots of doctor's visit and therapy. But enough about the circumstance. Let's get more to the God of the circumstances. You see, through all this and even just a few days ago my question and even anger at times is just why God. Why are you doing this to me? Why are you ...

Moses spent 5 weeks in the NICU after he was born. The NICU is a very sad, hard place to be after you have given birth. You walk into this wing of the hospital and see all these sick babies. Some not so sick, some hooked up to every sort of machinery. Some with parents holding them and visiting. Some who never seemed to have anyone at their bedside. Moms crying. Families holding each other. A very sad place. For us, it was a place where we got to bond with our son and start this journey of medical treatment that still hasn't ended for him. It seems as though God wants us to have a presence in the medical community of Winston-Salem. It started with me in the hospital and has continued with Moses. He stayed in the NICU because he was not eating. He just didn't have the energy to eat a bottle. He would only take 10 or so ml in about 30 minutes. For a little perspective, it took him 30 minutes to drink 2 teaspoons. So, he had to have a feeding tube. Many tests, many, many tests...

So, it's been over a year since I've written a blog and oh what a year it has been! In August of last year, we sold our only car to go without for 7 months. Not the most fun thing to go through a real winter without a car. However it was amazing to know that we got rid of over thousands of dollars of debt in one day. In November of last year, we found out that we were having our second child. He was born on July 2nd. Moses Elijah Stone. Doesn't that have a great ring to it? Jesus blessed that baby with a ton of hair! His daddy is a little jealous :) I'll tell you more about his story in a little bit. March proved to be a tough time of self examination and repentance in Dan and I's marriage. We needed and still need to see how much we are in desperate need of Jesus because we are huge sinners. May I went into the hospital for 6 weeks because of preterm labor and severe polyhydramnios. It's where you retain a lot of extra amniotic fluid. At 29 weeks, my bo...