I am accustomed to parenting girls.
Sundresses, hair bows, wiggly pants, tea parties,
princesses, baby dolls, nail polish, lip gloss...
did I mention hair bows?
did I mention hair bows?
I honestly never envisioned myself with a son.
Until, this little man absolutely captured my heart...
I have a fun way that we will reveal his name soon,
but for now we will call him "Noah"
since that is the name his foster home has given him.
Very
similar to our Lily Grace, hundreds of families turned down his file
because of the scary terminal diagnosis that came attached with each
cardiologist's review. Even though "Noah's" file was designated to a
very large adoption agency, none of their families chose to proceed with
his adoption. His file disappeared, until an advocate friend of mine
named Brooke found him on another agency's designated list. Ironically,
it was on Brooke's advocacy website that I first fell in love with Lily
Grace. This sweet lady is very dear to my heart!
After
"Noah's" file had been found, Jacques and I had a prayerful decision to
make. At the time, Lily had been turned down by three medical centers
to be listed for a heart transplant. I was currently living in the
Cardiac Intensive Care Unit with Lily, and her future was extremely
uncertain. Our plate was already full and often times overflowing with
the responsibility of just trying to keep Lily Grace alive. We could
have easily decided that bringing another critically ill child into our
home was crazy, and I think that most of you would have supported us and
agreed. But three years ago, when Jacques and I started down the
journey of adoption, we decided that we wanted to live reckless for
Jesus. We chose to put our comfort, security, and financial stability
on the line and risk everything to give God the opportunity to show up.
And let me tell you friends, not only did He show up, He has blessed us
abundantly in ways that we never dreamed possible. Jacques and I are
at a place right now where we have to rely on God for everything. Even
our day to day living is impossible without Him. In adopting these
children, we have taken on WAY more than we can handle alone.
But His grace is sufficient,
and His power is made perfect in our weakness!
Our
little dude turned two years old this past February. He has a
combination of heart defects that are very familiar to Jacques and I.
"Noah" has a single ventricle heart just like Lily Grace, and a complete
AV canal, which is the same heart defect our Addy Hope had before she
passed away. Unlike Lily, "Noah" has not had any heart surgeries in
China. As a matter of fact, China has deemed him inoperable. It's hard
to tell from the darling, smiling photos but "Noah" fights for his life
with each breath he takes. The medical reports we have on him state
that his oxygen saturation is in the 50's-60's resting, and he is very
short of breath most of the time. Lily's cardiology team at the
National Children's Medical Center has reviewed his medical file, and
they are very anxious for us to bring him home so he can have a heart
catheterization. There are six factors that could in fact exclude
"Noah" from being a candidate for the Glenn Procedure open heart
surgery, but we will not know for sure until after his heart
catheterization. Due to the progressive nature of what the cardiology
team believes is severe ventricular outflow obstruction in the setting
of single ventricle physiology, we are desperate to get our boy home
ASAP.
Yes sweet boy, that's YOUR Papa and Mommy!
Please follow along, as our family's love story
takes us to China and back again!
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made
perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my
weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the
sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10