Consider Helping a Family in Need...

As I have noted several times in the past, I had an epiphany of sorts when my friend, Michelle, started a blog to report about the open heart surgery her newborn baby, Zachary, had to have immediately following his birth. During her hospital stay, Michelle met other parents whose babies were in worse condition that her little Zachy... babies who needed heart transplants and sadly, babies whose earthy lives were taken much too prematurely. As she blogged about Zachary's condition and progress, she also asked her readers to pray for these individuals who were part of a "heart family" she now belonged to.

And so I started to read their stories.
I started to pray for them.
I started to realize how incredibly blessed I was.

And that was the epiphany.

It's not that I didn't KNOW how blessed I was prior to Zachary getting sick or prior to "meeting" Suzie & Lindsay or Rebecca & Annabelle or the others I read about...

It's just that I was too busy getting caught up in the struggles of daily life to FOCUS on how blessed and lucky I was to be in those so-called "struggles"...

It hit me:

There were babies out there who didn't have the health to be able to scream at the top of their lungs just because a toy got taken from their hands....

There were babies out there who didn't have the health to eat real food and subsequently throw it all over the floor...

There were babies out there who didn't have the ability to roam freely around their homes destroying most everything in their pathway...

There were mothers out there who didn't have the privilege of hearing their children fight together anymore...

There were, and are, mothers out there who would consider it a privilege to have the "frustrations" that I blogged about earlier today...

It hit me:

What I considered to be "struggles" really were blessings!

And that's how my blog started.

I've continued to follow the stories of the babies who are struggling.

I pray for them.
I rejoice with them.
I hope with them.

And I continue to FOCUS on acknowledging that my own "struggles" really are "blessings". I'm not perfect. I still lose my patience and find myself complaining much too often. But I'm trying.

This brings me to my point.

I've been following the story of a little girl who was born 3 months early and weighed only 1 pound. She is now 10 months old and has never left the hospital. She was very close to being able to possibly be discharged, when things went terribly wrong during a surgery last week. It now appears that Kayleigh, too, will leave this earth much too soon.

I checked in on her tonight and read a post about the dire circumstances this family is currently in. I urge you to consider reading it and consider donating if you feel that you can. I know there are so many people in need right now, but I honestly cannot imagine the extraordinary stress and grief this family is currently enduring. You can read about Kayleigh and the post at:

http://www.kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

And as far as my friend Michelle's sweet boy Zachary goes, he will undergo a second open heart surgery in May. He recovered very well from his first surgery, so please keep them in your prayers in hopes that he will fully recover from his next surgery... and quickly! Michelle has 4 older boys on top of little Zachary... she deserves a parenting award!


Thank you for considering the intentions of those mentioned here.

Now...

Go give your kids an extra hug & kiss tonight!