“Thank you Jesus that he is healthy enough to cry like this and I don’t need to worry!”

Just today our 3rd child, who is less than 2 months old, was super fussy. As I changed his diaper and tried to console him while he screamed, this was the thought that came to my mind. ⬆️

After our son with HLHS was born the doctors and nurses explained that he should not cry “too hard.” It was very hard on his little body when he would get super upset. With an average oxygen level of 70-85, bouts of crying completely exhausted him. He would turn a little blue and breath very heavily after a crying fit- enough to break a mama’s heart.

Having a child with a significant health issue has taught us so many things but one of the biggest ones is finding the joy in every day.

When you have days on end in the hospital, you learn to take each day as it comes. We learned to not look too far in advance.

As each day came to an end, we always found one positive thing about our situation. This attitude kept us going and kept our face on Jesus and how he was providing for us.

Maybe it was a day of slow healing with many small blessings. Or maybe it was a day of setbacks and the joy in that day was someone bringing us a meal, an encouraging word or the kindness of a stranger.

This habit of “joy finding” has served us well even when we aren’t in the hospital… like today!

So during a frustrating time of soothing our fussy baby today, I was able to find the joy. Thank you Jesus for healthy lungs and heart that are strong enough to cry!