Hope and Promise and Blessings

Today is a good day for our family. My nephew, Brody Franklin Moss was born at around 12:30 in the afternoon. He's gorgeous. And I am reminded how sweet and precious newborn babies are, what a miracle new life is, and how blessed I am to be able to have a relationship with my niece and now nephew because they live around the corner from me. Holding that new little life, I couldn't help but thank God for the gift of life, and feel a little twinge of sorrow for the birth mothers of the world. Holding little Brody, I can't imagine having someone else raise him or not getting to watch him grow up. Of course all the emotions of my own child's birth are brought back to me. It's hard to believe that big ol' Connor was ever that tiny, but he was! He was almost exactly they same size as Brody. It's such a privilege and a blessing to be part of new life, especially when it's a child you love!



Also, my little Connor has strep. He is a tough kid. This is the child who NEVER complains that his ears hurt until about an hour before his ear drums burst. I have yet to get him to the doctor before his drums are about to burst because he doesn't ever run a fever with an infection and he never complains. So on Saturday when he told me it felt like there was a thorn in his throat, I gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. The next day he was totally fine, running, playing, happy. Monday he woke up with a rash over his entire body and I knew immediately that his "thorn" was strep. Sure enough, we went to the doctor and he is now on antibiotics. Which led me to think of Katie and her kiddos. When Katie's kids get sick with something like Strep, are they even able to be seen by a doctor? Are there antibiotics to give them? If so, surely they aren't readily available and it can't be as easy to get them as it is for me. Also, I thought of how hard it would be if we didn't have insurance. For me, there was no thought whatsoever of whether to take him to the doctor, but I know for so many people, it's an agonizing decision on whether or not something is worthy of the money it would take to be seen by a doctor, which means kids get sicker and sicker until it's a must and probably the condition is far worse. And of course, my copay for his medicine was $10. No problem to pay at all, but what about if I didn't have insurance? How much would it have been? And my little nephew was born today in a clean, sterile environment where my sister-in-law had adequate care and pain medication. There was danger, certainly, as there always is, but it was minimal. We never really worried that her life or the life of her baby were in danger. How different our experience today would have been if we were living in most other countries in the world. Tonight, I will go to bed thankful for the privilege of living in this country, for the insurance that allows me to keep my kids healthy without thought of money, and for the medical care that is available to us that makes little illnesses like strep a, well, little illness that can be cured within 24 hours.

And also, Stellan has RSV. Many of you follow MckMama, as I do. And her precious little miracle baby is in the hospital. How blessed their family is that this precious baby, who everyone prayed so hard for and fought such a spiritual war for, doesn't have to suffer and die with something like RSV, but he can be helped and kept comfortable (at least semi-comfortable) and his Mama can be there and know that very capable and smart people are helping him and God has placed him in a place where there are tools to help him. Aren't we all so blessed!