Monday, December 3, 2012

Show off!

Nana, Ruthie and I embarked on what we hoped would be our last trip to Cincinnati for a while. We nicknamed it our "Miracle Confirmation" trip. Because by all intensive purposes, Ruthie appears healed and has never shown any sign of respiratory distress or any problems or concerns since her surgery. We assumed she was healed and haven't really worried much. That is until about 2 days before her appointment.
I have had a peace about this appointment for the past year. I just knew she was fine and that all the doctors would tell us she was fine. But, about two days before the appointment, I began to doubt. Stupid me forgot how far she had come. Forgot how God had met us so far. Forgot how amazing prayers worked. I am ridiculous. We got her to the hospital and she was a trooper. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything because of the anesthesia she had to have. I held it together most of the day. Excluding one moment, when I had to hold her down while they held a mask over her face so that she could breath in the medication. Then, with her fast asleep, I passed her to the nurse. Walking out of the room, I just kept thinking, she's fine, she's fine, they are taking such good care of her, she's fine, I'm fine..... then, like a shot to the gut, I rememebered the verse that had gotten me through the first 6 weeks of her life in the hospital, and the first 2 weeks at home. Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. But but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And God immediately restored my peace. I was able to eat lunch and relax. They called me about 45 minutes later to come pick her up. She was awake and ready for me to come and get her. Boy, she was MAD! She was inconsolable. She wanted to eat and drink but couldn't because she was so mad at everyone! Mom and I finally got her to eat and drink something. She took a good nap and finally snapped out of it. She was back to her old self and we were ready for the results. 
Dr. Lim (yoda - the surgical genius that God sent our way) walked into our room with a smile on his face. And a "Wow! she is so big!" We looked at her CT scan together and I couldn't believe my eyes. I was looking at two, count them, 1, 2 lungs!!! They had told us that her lung capacity would grow until she was about 3-5 years old. She may have limited activity until then.... So, when I see this CT picture, I was a little confused. Two full sized, functioning, full of blood vessels and NO residual CPAM mass. I was speechless. Yoda told us that he wasn't surprised but very happy. This is about all the emotion you will get from him. But we could tell he was very pleased and excited about her recovery. Her "miracle" lung is still recovering. The lung is full size but is still thickening and regenerating. (AMAZING) But as far as activity, she is ready for anything. She has no restrictions. She is no longer at severe risk of future problems. We discussed many things but he continues to reiterate that if  Ruthie had not been at that hospital, with our surgeons, had she not been born via Exit procedure, not only would she had probably not made it, she wouldn't have the recovery she has today. In being willing to put myself at a greater risk, they were given the time they needed to remove all the mass and were able to giver her a better outcome. I would do it again in a heartbeat. God basically paved a pretty, clear path to Cincinnati for us....all we did was follow it. So, all in all, pretty amazing stuff. As Dr. Lim was walking out of the room, he said he had to go check on two other CPAM babies in the NICU. I told him I pray they all come out as well as Ruthie has. He just smiled back at me and said "oh! Me too!" 

Oh and when do we go back to Cincinnati for a check up....oh try 2 years!!! Yep when my child is 3 years old we have to go back for another CT scan! Woot Woot!  

Ruthie is currently sick. She has a fever but we know it's not her lungs! Onto typical toddler sicknesses....I must keep repeating Phil 4:6..... over and over and over again!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

One Blessed Year


My sweet Ruthie turns 1 tomorrow. She's precious, patient, serious, spunky, cautious, and curious. She is the most amazing blessing that we could have ever been given. Thinking back on her year, she's made me laugh and cry in happiness, sadness, and frustration. Just before Ruthie was born and a little after, I would find myself being jealous of other moms. I was mad because I wasn't normal. I didn't get to hold my baby. I didn't get to see her when she was born. I had to watch them replace her chest tubes over and over. I couldn't put any of the cute newborn clothes that I had on her. But now looking back, I'm able to see all the wonderful things I got to see that a typical mom wouldn't. I got to see her breathe on her own and celebrate her lungs expanding with no help from the machines! Putting clothes on her was SO exciting! Tears of joy when the last chest tube was removed! Going in for check ups and amazing the doctors at her recovery. Spending weeks in the NICU learning how to care for her. Spending time with Jimmy on Cincinnati road trips while our sweet one sleeps in the back. Watching first hand a miracle happening!

As for Ruthie's continued check ups, so far so good. She's cleared every test and check up with one minor hiccup at her cariology appointment. No big deal, we'll go back in a year for a check up. We've got the big 1 year Surgery check up coming in late November with the thoracic surgery master. She'll be getting a CT scan of her chest. This will let the "Yoda" (the surgery master) know if they got all the mass out when they did the surgery at her birth or if they missed some. It will also let them know how her little lung is growing and inflating properly. If you have seen Ruthie, or have spent any time with her, you wouldn't think she was sick at all. By all appearances, she is better. But we'll wait for the pictures of her insides to be for sure.

My story hasn't been, nor ever will be, typical. I've come to terms with that. I know that God's blessings sometimes come with hardships. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Friday, June 29, 2012

a sweet surprise






I am reminded again how blessed we, Thorpe's, are. Some time after Christmas one of my wonderful sis-in-laws, Susan, gave me a CD of pictures she and Greg had taken from Ruthie's birthday. I looked through them when we got home but then put them away. I just took the CD out again, placed it in my mac, and relived some of those moments. I was surprised to find something that I hadn't seen before! A video of our doctors explaining to my family how the surgery went. It was a recap of the surgery and an explanation of some post-surgery care. They really took time to explain a lot. They, of course, told me all of this too, but I was recovering from surgery and missed about 75% of it. I was so floored by their surprise at how well Ruthie and I had done. It was so funny! They didn't even know they were being filmed. I think Greg was being sneaky! One thing I did notice about their faces.... They were hopeful. I don't remember seeing them this way until this point. Ruthie's surgeon was still very cautiously optimistic but he was optimistic! What a wonderful gift that was. Thank you, Susan and Greg!!


This picture is Ruthie with her great grandfather's mandolin. Thank you PawPaw!!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

back to blogging

After a pretty long sabbatical from writing my blog, I've decided.... it's time to come back. I would like to thank all of you for reading and encouraging me all along the way. "What's new with the Thorpe's" is and was so very therapeutic to write. We have been through several things since the last time I blogged. I went back to school (for two weeks), we went on a family vacation, Ruthie had her 6 month check up in Cincinnati, and I saved her life with the Heimlich maneuver.... wow! we've done a lot! 

We'll start with Ruthie's check-up. Ruthie visited her cardiologist. She had an echo (ultrasound of the heart) done. She had to be sedated for this. It wasn't a very strong sedative. Just enough to make her sleepy for the test. She did amazing! She slept through the whole thing! AND when she woke up... SHE WAS HILARIOUS! I hated laughing at her but....who am I kidding....we cracked up! I won't show you any of the pictures or videos we took of her. We'll save those for her 16th birthday party. After a long wait, we got the results of her echo. Her pulmonary hypertension (pressure in the blood vessels heading from her heart to her lungs) is GONE! We were given the okay to wean her off her final medication. She was not as excited as mommy and daddy were! We will return to the cardiologist in 3 months just to double check that it's not coming back. 

We also had an x-ray done. Her sweet, wonderful, genius surgeon was super busy saving other babies so we didn't get to see him. But we had the x-ray and left it for him to review. I got a call from him this week letting me know that he didn't see anything to worry about on the x-ray. Everything looked great. There were some weird things on the x-ray that would alarm someone else but he said that it was exactly what he was expecting. Her lungs don't seem to be inflating completely but....duh.... she only has 1 lobe (there's supposed to be 3) on the right side. Of course, it's not going to fill the chest cavity yet. I don't know about you but if you've met my little miracle, she looks like she's doing great. She still gets out of breath pretty easily and i don't really let her cry for extended amounts of time. I don't want her to wear herself out. But other than that, she's a-o-k!

So, on to the life saving mommy! I have started giving Ruthie little puffs and yogurt melts. She loves them and didn't choke for weeks. Then, one day, whilst cooking bacon, i looked over at Ruthie in her high chair and low and behold.... She was choking. I pat her back trying to get her to spit it out. nothing. Beginning to turn grayish blue around her mouth. I, then, remembered my newborn emergency training from the hospital (thank you nurse erin!!). I snatched her out of the high chair, held her head down on her belly, and patted her back a couple good pats. She threw up right away. I held her for a minute. Set her in her bouncy seat, gave her a drink of juice and she was fine. So was I. When i finished the bacon, I called Jimmy to let him know I would be running late because of Ruthie's choking.... I lost it! I stated crying in retelling him the story. It didn't occur to me to be scared until that moment. Thank you Lord for keeping my cool for me.

Overall, we're doing good. No complaints. Things here are relatively quiet. Praying for our friends.... praying for a couple waiting on adoption, two waiting on sons to arrive, and another who lost a son.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Ruthie's healing

As Ruthie heals and grows, God has taught me so many things. Just being a parent gives me great insight to how God loves us as his children. But the nugget I got this week was about how he heals us; from physical ailments to guilt from sin.

Ruthie's healing has been miraculous to say the least. I guess the first time I saw her healing was when I was 20 weeks pregnant. The doctor told us she had
several markers for a genetic disorder and she would either have downs syndrome or a fatal disorder that would kill her in-utero or just after birth. Jimmy and I, our family, and our closest friends prayed. I mean, PRAYED, PLEADED for God to heal our daughter. One week later, the test came back CLEAR. She had no abnormality. God had instantly heard our prayer and healed Ruthie. We had another ultrasound to confirm and all the markers they had seen were completely GONE. She still had the lung mass but the genetic problems were gone.

As for her lung problems, God's healing has been a bit slower. From the time she was diagnosed to the time she will be completely whole will be around 3 years. Beginning with a surgery I had at 22 weeks to around her 3rd birthday, God will be healing her. Through her healing over these 3 years, she is on medicines, has had 2 surgeries, and even though 2/3 of her lung was removed in the 2nd surgery it will regenerate into a full lung. But when God's healing is complete in her, she will have two full lungs and will probably be free from further lung problems.

So, what I have learned about how God heals us from our "issues".... God CAN heal us. immediately. completely. fully. But he also chooses to heal us THROUGH our circumstances. For example, if you are struggling with depression. God CAN heal you instantly. Please pray big prayers! God hears our prayers and his healing comes in different ways! Sometimes God's healing does take time. Maybe he is in the process of healing you.

Here's the thing... Ruthie spends about half of her life out of breath. She gets out of breath eating, crying, laughing....anything really..except for sleeping. As she gets some distance from her surgery, it will get easier and easier for her to breath. So, as God is in this process of healing you, you may get out of breath. Your healing may be painful. But your pain will lead to greater results. You may feel like God has forgotten your healing. He may have missed you. NO WAY! God is working through your life. "
We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him." Romans 8:28 God is using your circumstances to bring glory to him. So whatever you need healing from, depression, a physical pain, addiction, a lung mass, pray for healing. We did.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Thoughts from a new mom

I've been thinking a lot about labels...Christian, wife, sister, daughter, friend, teacher, colleague, mentor, etc... I've had labels for a while now. I think adding "wife" had been the largest adjustment to make until now. It's also been the most rewarding. Now I'm adding the label... Mother. hmm.... I thought having a mother, a good mother, I knew what I was getting into. HA! Even having the best mom, I had no idea the life-changing excitement that was heading for me. But more on that later...


I began to think about these labels as hats. For example, on my way to work, I would put on my teacher and colleague hats and then driving home, switch to the homemaker and wife hats. But, then, I realized the “Christian” label shouldn’t really be in this category. Because we really don’t ever take that one off (or at least we shouldn’t). No matter what hat we put on, we are still Christians. For metaphoric purposes, lets say we put on our “Christian” t-shirt. So, this label, Christian, permeates every other label. Striving to be a good mother doesn’t mean we change a diaper really well. What are our goals? I mean really... deep down, what do WE want? If you have on your “Christian” t-shirt, then your goal should be to point others toward Christ. Showing his love to others and proclaiming his name is our goal. So, as we change our hats, our overall goal shouldn’t change. What should change is our audience. At home, wearing our “Mom” hat and our “Christian” t-shirt, our goal should be to show Christ to our children, pointing them to him by our love, patience, and discipline. As we go to work, change hats but don’t take off the t-shirt. We should be showing our co-workers Christ, telling them how great he his and how life changing he is. We don’t necessarily have to go through the halls, cubicles, and break rooms shouting, “How Great is Our God.” Although, you could and that would be awesome! Just be nice. Offer to help someone. Buy someone’s coffee. Talk to them about their family. Remember, most of you reading this are in the bible belt of America. So, be aware, your co-workers have probably had a run-in with a Christian at some point. And sadly, not all Christians leave the best impression. So, PLEASE, leave a GOOD impression. Also, your co-workers may also be Christians. Talk to them about it. Encourage each other.


Realizing all the labels/hats that I wear, it stressed me out. I really want to do all those things really well. Failing at these things is not an option. I refuse to be a bad mother, a bad wife, etc. BUT think about it, what are you wearing.... If you are wearing your “Christian” shirt, it shouldn’t matter what hat you have on. Continue with the same goal. Showing others Christ through you and your actions. I’m convinced if we concentrate on the t-shirt the hats won’t matter.



26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galations 3:26-27




Couldn't resist showing some pictures of my little miracle!! She is doing great! Growing and smiling! She can hold up her head and is smiling more and more. She has also found her hands. She reaches for stuff and sucks on her knuckles. Her little personality is showing through!! Her health has been great! Thank you again for all your prayers and Praise Him for answering them so extravagantly!





Show off!

Nana, Ruthie and I embarked on what we hoped would be our last trip to Cincinnati for a while. We nicknamed it our "Miracle Confirmation" trip. Because by all intensive purposes, Ruthie appears healed and has never shown any sign of respiratory distress or any problems or concerns since her surgery. We assumed she was healed and haven't really worried much. That is until about 2 days before her appointment.
I have had a peace about this appointment for the past year. I just knew she was fine and that all the doctors would tell us she was fine. But, about two days before the appointment, I began to doubt. Stupid me forgot how far she had come. Forgot how God had met us so far. Forgot how amazing prayers worked. I am ridiculous. We got her to the hospital and she was a trooper. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything because of the anesthesia she had to have. I held it together most of the day. Excluding one moment, when I had to hold her down while they held a mask over her face so that she could breath in the medication. Then, with her fast asleep, I passed her to the nurse. Walking out of the room, I just kept thinking, she's fine, she's fine, they are taking such good care of her, she's fine, I'm fine..... then, like a shot to the gut, I rememebered the verse that had gotten me through the first 6 weeks of her life in the hospital, and the first 2 weeks at home. Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. But but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And God immediately restored my peace. I was able to eat lunch and relax. They called me about 45 minutes later to come pick her up. She was awake and ready for me to come and get her. Boy, she was MAD! She was inconsolable. She wanted to eat and drink but couldn't because she was so mad at everyone! Mom and I finally got her to eat and drink something. She took a good nap and finally snapped out of it. She was back to her old self and we were ready for the results. 
Dr. Lim (yoda - the surgical genius that God sent our way) walked into our room with a smile on his face. And a "Wow! she is so big!" We looked at her CT scan together and I couldn't believe my eyes. I was looking at two, count them, 1, 2 lungs!!! They had told us that her lung capacity would grow until she was about 3-5 years old. She may have limited activity until then.... So, when I see this CT picture, I was a little confused. Two full sized, functioning, full of blood vessels and NO residual CPAM mass. I was speechless. Yoda told us that he wasn't surprised but very happy. This is about all the emotion you will get from him. But we could tell he was very pleased and excited about her recovery. Her "miracle" lung is still recovering. The lung is full size but is still thickening and regenerating. (AMAZING) But as far as activity, she is ready for anything. She has no restrictions. She is no longer at severe risk of future problems. We discussed many things but he continues to reiterate that if  Ruthie had not been at that hospital, with our surgeons, had she not been born via Exit procedure, not only would she had probably not made it, she wouldn't have the recovery she has today. In being willing to put myself at a greater risk, they were given the time they needed to remove all the mass and were able to giver her a better outcome. I would do it again in a heartbeat. God basically paved a pretty, clear path to Cincinnati for us....all we did was follow it. So, all in all, pretty amazing stuff. As Dr. Lim was walking out of the room, he said he had to go check on two other CPAM babies in the NICU. I told him I pray they all come out as well as Ruthie has. He just smiled back at me and said "oh! Me too!" 

Oh and when do we go back to Cincinnati for a check up....oh try 2 years!!! Yep when my child is 3 years old we have to go back for another CT scan! Woot Woot!  

Ruthie is currently sick. She has a fever but we know it's not her lungs! Onto typical toddler sicknesses....I must keep repeating Phil 4:6..... over and over and over again!

One Blessed Year


My sweet Ruthie turns 1 tomorrow. She's precious, patient, serious, spunky, cautious, and curious. She is the most amazing blessing that we could have ever been given. Thinking back on her year, she's made me laugh and cry in happiness, sadness, and frustration. Just before Ruthie was born and a little after, I would find myself being jealous of other moms. I was mad because I wasn't normal. I didn't get to hold my baby. I didn't get to see her when she was born. I had to watch them replace her chest tubes over and over. I couldn't put any of the cute newborn clothes that I had on her. But now looking back, I'm able to see all the wonderful things I got to see that a typical mom wouldn't. I got to see her breathe on her own and celebrate her lungs expanding with no help from the machines! Putting clothes on her was SO exciting! Tears of joy when the last chest tube was removed! Going in for check ups and amazing the doctors at her recovery. Spending weeks in the NICU learning how to care for her. Spending time with Jimmy on Cincinnati road trips while our sweet one sleeps in the back. Watching first hand a miracle happening!

As for Ruthie's continued check ups, so far so good. She's cleared every test and check up with one minor hiccup at her cariology appointment. No big deal, we'll go back in a year for a check up. We've got the big 1 year Surgery check up coming in late November with the thoracic surgery master. She'll be getting a CT scan of her chest. This will let the "Yoda" (the surgery master) know if they got all the mass out when they did the surgery at her birth or if they missed some. It will also let them know how her little lung is growing and inflating properly. If you have seen Ruthie, or have spent any time with her, you wouldn't think she was sick at all. By all appearances, she is better. But we'll wait for the pictures of her insides to be for sure.

My story hasn't been, nor ever will be, typical. I've come to terms with that. I know that God's blessings sometimes come with hardships. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

a sweet surprise






I am reminded again how blessed we, Thorpe's, are. Some time after Christmas one of my wonderful sis-in-laws, Susan, gave me a CD of pictures she and Greg had taken from Ruthie's birthday. I looked through them when we got home but then put them away. I just took the CD out again, placed it in my mac, and relived some of those moments. I was surprised to find something that I hadn't seen before! A video of our doctors explaining to my family how the surgery went. It was a recap of the surgery and an explanation of some post-surgery care. They really took time to explain a lot. They, of course, told me all of this too, but I was recovering from surgery and missed about 75% of it. I was so floored by their surprise at how well Ruthie and I had done. It was so funny! They didn't even know they were being filmed. I think Greg was being sneaky! One thing I did notice about their faces.... They were hopeful. I don't remember seeing them this way until this point. Ruthie's surgeon was still very cautiously optimistic but he was optimistic! What a wonderful gift that was. Thank you, Susan and Greg!!


This picture is Ruthie with her great grandfather's mandolin. Thank you PawPaw!!

back to blogging

After a pretty long sabbatical from writing my blog, I've decided.... it's time to come back. I would like to thank all of you for reading and encouraging me all along the way. "What's new with the Thorpe's" is and was so very therapeutic to write. We have been through several things since the last time I blogged. I went back to school (for two weeks), we went on a family vacation, Ruthie had her 6 month check up in Cincinnati, and I saved her life with the Heimlich maneuver.... wow! we've done a lot! 

We'll start with Ruthie's check-up. Ruthie visited her cardiologist. She had an echo (ultrasound of the heart) done. She had to be sedated for this. It wasn't a very strong sedative. Just enough to make her sleepy for the test. She did amazing! She slept through the whole thing! AND when she woke up... SHE WAS HILARIOUS! I hated laughing at her but....who am I kidding....we cracked up! I won't show you any of the pictures or videos we took of her. We'll save those for her 16th birthday party. After a long wait, we got the results of her echo. Her pulmonary hypertension (pressure in the blood vessels heading from her heart to her lungs) is GONE! We were given the okay to wean her off her final medication. She was not as excited as mommy and daddy were! We will return to the cardiologist in 3 months just to double check that it's not coming back. 

We also had an x-ray done. Her sweet, wonderful, genius surgeon was super busy saving other babies so we didn't get to see him. But we had the x-ray and left it for him to review. I got a call from him this week letting me know that he didn't see anything to worry about on the x-ray. Everything looked great. There were some weird things on the x-ray that would alarm someone else but he said that it was exactly what he was expecting. Her lungs don't seem to be inflating completely but....duh.... she only has 1 lobe (there's supposed to be 3) on the right side. Of course, it's not going to fill the chest cavity yet. I don't know about you but if you've met my little miracle, she looks like she's doing great. She still gets out of breath pretty easily and i don't really let her cry for extended amounts of time. I don't want her to wear herself out. But other than that, she's a-o-k!

So, on to the life saving mommy! I have started giving Ruthie little puffs and yogurt melts. She loves them and didn't choke for weeks. Then, one day, whilst cooking bacon, i looked over at Ruthie in her high chair and low and behold.... She was choking. I pat her back trying to get her to spit it out. nothing. Beginning to turn grayish blue around her mouth. I, then, remembered my newborn emergency training from the hospital (thank you nurse erin!!). I snatched her out of the high chair, held her head down on her belly, and patted her back a couple good pats. She threw up right away. I held her for a minute. Set her in her bouncy seat, gave her a drink of juice and she was fine. So was I. When i finished the bacon, I called Jimmy to let him know I would be running late because of Ruthie's choking.... I lost it! I stated crying in retelling him the story. It didn't occur to me to be scared until that moment. Thank you Lord for keeping my cool for me.

Overall, we're doing good. No complaints. Things here are relatively quiet. Praying for our friends.... praying for a couple waiting on adoption, two waiting on sons to arrive, and another who lost a son.

Ruthie's healing

As Ruthie heals and grows, God has taught me so many things. Just being a parent gives me great insight to how God loves us as his children. But the nugget I got this week was about how he heals us; from physical ailments to guilt from sin.

Ruthie's healing has been miraculous to say the least. I guess the first time I saw her healing was when I was 20 weeks pregnant. The doctor told us she had
several markers for a genetic disorder and she would either have downs syndrome or a fatal disorder that would kill her in-utero or just after birth. Jimmy and I, our family, and our closest friends prayed. I mean, PRAYED, PLEADED for God to heal our daughter. One week later, the test came back CLEAR. She had no abnormality. God had instantly heard our prayer and healed Ruthie. We had another ultrasound to confirm and all the markers they had seen were completely GONE. She still had the lung mass but the genetic problems were gone.

As for her lung problems, God's healing has been a bit slower. From the time she was diagnosed to the time she will be completely whole will be around 3 years. Beginning with a surgery I had at 22 weeks to around her 3rd birthday, God will be healing her. Through her healing over these 3 years, she is on medicines, has had 2 surgeries, and even though 2/3 of her lung was removed in the 2nd surgery it will regenerate into a full lung. But when God's healing is complete in her, she will have two full lungs and will probably be free from further lung problems.

So, what I have learned about how God heals us from our "issues".... God CAN heal us. immediately. completely. fully. But he also chooses to heal us THROUGH our circumstances. For example, if you are struggling with depression. God CAN heal you instantly. Please pray big prayers! God hears our prayers and his healing comes in different ways! Sometimes God's healing does take time. Maybe he is in the process of healing you.

Here's the thing... Ruthie spends about half of her life out of breath. She gets out of breath eating, crying, laughing....anything really..except for sleeping. As she gets some distance from her surgery, it will get easier and easier for her to breath. So, as God is in this process of healing you, you may get out of breath. Your healing may be painful. But your pain will lead to greater results. You may feel like God has forgotten your healing. He may have missed you. NO WAY! God is working through your life. "
We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him." Romans 8:28 God is using your circumstances to bring glory to him. So whatever you need healing from, depression, a physical pain, addiction, a lung mass, pray for healing. We did.

Thoughts from a new mom

I've been thinking a lot about labels...Christian, wife, sister, daughter, friend, teacher, colleague, mentor, etc... I've had labels for a while now. I think adding "wife" had been the largest adjustment to make until now. It's also been the most rewarding. Now I'm adding the label... Mother. hmm.... I thought having a mother, a good mother, I knew what I was getting into. HA! Even having the best mom, I had no idea the life-changing excitement that was heading for me. But more on that later...


I began to think about these labels as hats. For example, on my way to work, I would put on my teacher and colleague hats and then driving home, switch to the homemaker and wife hats. But, then, I realized the “Christian” label shouldn’t really be in this category. Because we really don’t ever take that one off (or at least we shouldn’t). No matter what hat we put on, we are still Christians. For metaphoric purposes, lets say we put on our “Christian” t-shirt. So, this label, Christian, permeates every other label. Striving to be a good mother doesn’t mean we change a diaper really well. What are our goals? I mean really... deep down, what do WE want? If you have on your “Christian” t-shirt, then your goal should be to point others toward Christ. Showing his love to others and proclaiming his name is our goal. So, as we change our hats, our overall goal shouldn’t change. What should change is our audience. At home, wearing our “Mom” hat and our “Christian” t-shirt, our goal should be to show Christ to our children, pointing them to him by our love, patience, and discipline. As we go to work, change hats but don’t take off the t-shirt. We should be showing our co-workers Christ, telling them how great he his and how life changing he is. We don’t necessarily have to go through the halls, cubicles, and break rooms shouting, “How Great is Our God.” Although, you could and that would be awesome! Just be nice. Offer to help someone. Buy someone’s coffee. Talk to them about their family. Remember, most of you reading this are in the bible belt of America. So, be aware, your co-workers have probably had a run-in with a Christian at some point. And sadly, not all Christians leave the best impression. So, PLEASE, leave a GOOD impression. Also, your co-workers may also be Christians. Talk to them about it. Encourage each other.


Realizing all the labels/hats that I wear, it stressed me out. I really want to do all those things really well. Failing at these things is not an option. I refuse to be a bad mother, a bad wife, etc. BUT think about it, what are you wearing.... If you are wearing your “Christian” shirt, it shouldn’t matter what hat you have on. Continue with the same goal. Showing others Christ through you and your actions. I’m convinced if we concentrate on the t-shirt the hats won’t matter.



26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galations 3:26-27




Couldn't resist showing some pictures of my little miracle!! She is doing great! Growing and smiling! She can hold up her head and is smiling more and more. She has also found her hands. She reaches for stuff and sucks on her knuckles. Her little personality is showing through!! Her health has been great! Thank you again for all your prayers and Praise Him for answering them so extravagantly!