The act of loosing our 22 week little boy has birthed in me a new meaning and outlook on life. It has reminded me that life here on Earth is so uncertain and short. At any moment, it could be our time to leave this world. Although, as a Christian, I long for that day to come to be able to see my Father & Savior face-to-face (and now Noah's face), I still want my life here on Earth to count for something.

Hearing this song today made me think about the important things in life that we (and I) should be focusing on, such as spending time with God in prayer and in His word, spreading his love to others, spending time with those that we love, etc. We shouldn't take life for granted or become too complacent with the lives that we live. You never know when it will be snatched away from you.

So I hope this song will help encourage you to think about the things that are really important to you, and then to go do something about them!

    Sometimes this so-called life can award us, challenge us, suck us in or spits us out. Sometimes life can seem easy to pass by, whereas other times this world may give us obstacles to climb. We have recently experienced one of those obstacles, and we wish to tell you all in hopes that it may encourage someone else who is going through a touch time....

    About 2 weeks ago (two Fridays ago, to be exact), my husband and I went to have our normal anatomy ultrasound to check on our baby Noah. Prior to entering the ultrasound room, we were stoked to see our little one on the screen, and figured it would be a quick and easy ultrasound. Little did we know that an expected half hour visit would turn into a 3 hour visit with nurses and the doctor overloading us with information that no parent likes to hear. As the doctor went on to describe all the serious birth defects she saw, the more confused we became. The question that ran through our minds was: "how can our child be so unhealthy when we ourselves are so healthy?". We decided to have an amniocentesis done (which is where they take DNA samples from the baby while being in the womb) to have them be shipped to a lab for further results. Due to all of this information pressed upon us, we left that doctor's office with a heavy heart.

    The heavy heart continued in a long-drawn out weekend. Waiting for the results to come in felt like an eternity. Monday finally came, and we met with the Genetic Counselor to discuss more in detail what was seen on the scans. However, they also received the first part of the DNA test results, so we also discussed what those were, as well. In a nutshell, our baby Noah had a very rare condition called Triploidy. Triploidy is when a baby has a whole entire extra set of chromosomes (x,y, 13, 18, and 21). Having all of those chromosomes can cause the baby to have severe birth defects because it is too many for the structure of the baby to understand. It is not genetic nor hereditary; it's just one of those rare pregnancies that occur. We were told that babies with Triploidy do not survive, and often times will end in a miscarriage. So, once again, we left that same doctor's office with a huge burden on our shoulders. 

    However, we wanted to make sure we had a second opinion to verify what the doctor's actually saw was true. So, that Friday, we traveled a little over an hour to a more up-scale hospital to have that other opinion. And to our dismay, the same results remained. To say that was a very long hour ride back home would be an understatement. 

    Although I wish I would be saying this differently, that next Friday, our sweet and precious baby Noah went to Heaven to be with His Creator. This has been one crazy roller coaster, and it's only been a total of 2 and a half weeks since this process has started. Although we miss him very much, our faith in the Lord is helping us to get through this un-explainable time in our lives.

    Through this whole process, our NUMBER ONE prayer was for Noah not to suffer. And although I would have preferred to have Noah healed here on Earth, I still know that our prayer was answered...and in the very best way possible! Noah is now healed completely, and he is with our Heavenly Father, who we as  children of  God long for. Noah does not have to encounter any of life's obstacles or challenges. He will never know pain or suffering. He is made whole in the arms of Jesus, and for that, we will always be grateful for.

    I know there will be moments in our lives where we will miss Noah and wish that he was here in our arms, but having the peace that He is better than okay being in the realm of Heaven is so much greater. Plus, it makes Heaven that much greater for us to look forward to!