They Said the "H" Word

Ned's daily progress is nothing short of amazing! I mean, the fact that he has come out of heart surgery and immediately starting weaning of all medicaitons and the vent without hitting one tiny bump in the road is nothing short of miraculous. For me, it is like watching the parting of the red sea. I mean, I sit there watching them make all these changes and think, "this may be the step where Ned jumps ship and refuses to take anymore advances at this time", but, so far, that has never happened. I imagine it is the same excited, apprehension the Hebrews felt as they walked between the walls of the red sea....fearful to believe they could make it quickly to the other side.

They gave him his first food today, just a little pedia-lite- he is accepting it well and we even had a poop! I would never have thought that body secretions could have made me so happy, as I have a very weak stomach and am not the least bit entertained by body functions, but it was a glorious moment!

For those of you who don't know, the "H" word is Home. That's what I said, our doctor used the "H" word today. He is still far from ready to put a timeframe on it, but he did say we were making progress and moving in that direction...toward home, that is....I just like to keep saying it! Don't know if I have mentioned it, but Ned's name in the PICU is "Rockstar"! I am so proud now every time the doctors come in, they tell me how miraculous he is. All I can say is "I know"...and reiterate how thankful we are!

I was just telling Ned tonight how proud I was of him for listening to all I had told him prior to his birth. I spoke with him often, and the main point I attempted to drill into the subconscious of the child in my stomach was that he was blessed because he was getting the opportunity to learn at a very early age what some adults never catch onto.....he would learn how to completely trust in Jesus and rest in His arms. Ned would have to allow himself to be carried from the very beginning and I asked him not to fight against it, but just to rest in God's abilities. These were the conversations I had in public with my very protruding stomach as I walked around Lowe's grabbing up items needed to finisih the construction on the house. I'm sure the gentleman working in the hardware isle thought I was not only completely indecisive, but also somewhat off my rocker?

It's amazing how attentive children are to the calling of the Holy Spirit. When I prayed that others would wake and pray for Ned when I was too weary, there were children who were awoken by His urging. Isn't that both amazing and shameful. We as adults fill our minds and hearts with so many other things, that we miss what our toddlers clearly hear because their lives are still so simplified. No wonder Jesus rebuked the disciples for sending the children away and called them unto himself. They were capable of truly "hearing" the message.

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but my cousin's daughter was having a conversation with her mother on Wednesday about Ned's heart surgery. Her mother was trying to explain why the doctors needed to correct Ned's heart. Her goal was to simplify the anatomy lesson to the level of a 5-year-old so she could gain a basic understaing of heart function. After she had given her daughter the best explanation she could muster, she hesitantly asked if she had understood why the heart was so important. Without hesitating, and without any prior discussion from this perspective, her daughter answered, "yes, because that is where God lives." As profound as that is in its own innocent truth, the enormaty of that statement is increased when you know that just a day before, I stood over Ned's bed telling him not to worry- of course, this pep talk was mainly aimed at myself- because God was the great healer and if He had a specialty, He was most certainly a heart specialist. "Besides, I told him, God's home is in your heart and he won't settle for anything less that perfection."

Good Night and God bless you all! I love you all dearly!

Betsy, Travis, Jack & Ned