Longing for home but thankful for all the blessings!

First off, Chase just has a viral bug that gave him a fever and vomitting. No line infection!!!!!!!!!! To those of you who know about central lines, this is a huge relief. We get to go home tomorrow!!!

BIRTHDAY PARTY STILL ON!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Secondly, I want to share with y'all the mental and emotional turmoil I went through on our way to the hospital. Pretty bizarre. Of course, my first reaction was frustration and anger; "I can't believe we are going back to the hospital AGAIN." And of course questions came up like: "what am I doing wrong for him to keep getting infections. Especially since he is getting ethanol locks (more on those later)." "Why is this happening now?" "He's going to spend his first birthday in the hospital." "I can't believe I'm being pulled away from my other son, AGAIN!" You know, thoughts like that. I was royally ticked (for those of you who know me, know it's not a pretty sight)!
So this lasted for about 30 minutes. So I started praying first for strength to get us (me) through this. It didn't take long for me to get the message. And this is where it might seem a little strange for some of you. I started to remember that each time we go to the hospital (which fortunately has been very little but I tend to forget that blessing when I'm headed to the hospital) something wonderful comes out of it. Hear me out:

The first time was here in Ft. Myers in April. It was just a week stay. Not too bad. But out of it came that amazing event that I shared with you all about Chase's first surgeon and how he stated that Chase's story had "renewed his Faith." Maybe not a big deal to some of you, but planting a seed for the Lord in one person...................BIG DEAL TO ME!!!!! Not only that, but we got the word out about Omegaven in this hospital.

The second time we got stuck in Boston just a few weeks ago, actually. The blessings from this?: 1. We got to meet the Brogans (the family who's blog introduced us to Omegaven. www.eleanorbrogan.blogspot.com). (Thank you Brogans!!!) 2. Got to meet another family who were just in the first stages of the whole short-gut experience and gave them some words of encouragement 3. Got to see Chase without a central line...............B-E-A-Utiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4. Got to see our Boston team (always a blessing. We love you guys!) 5. and last but not least, we found out that Chase will, undoubtedly, be off of TPN and Omegaven all together and his central line will be removed VERY SOON!!!!

So instead of being angry, I knew that God had something good that was going to come out of this hospital stay. I became hopeful, anticipatory, and daresay....excited. I often get excited when I know God's got something in store for us. A wise woman (Carmen Corbitt, I'm talking about you) once said, "God must have something wonderful in store for us because the devil sure is trying to stop it from happening." So, so, SO true. When something good is about to happen, the devil tries to throw things in the way to prevent it, or keep us from realizing it. But I wasn't about to let him have that.

So we got here and it didn't take long for the little blessings to start "pouring down." Here they are:
1. Had numerous nurses come to our ER room to "see the miracle baby."
2. Had one doctor call him nothing short of a miracle, jump to one knee, raise both hands up high, fingers stretched, and called him a "SUPERSTAR!!!!!" Mary Katherine Gallagher fans can appreciate this one. Nanny Beef, you were the first person I thought of. I immediately picked up the phone to tell you about our "superstar doctor." (PS~luv you!)
3.And last but not least!!!!
Dr. Mon, Chase's first surgeon, stopped in for a visit. It was nice to give him a big hug. But that's not the end of it. Dr. Mon told me that they were actually transporting a TPN/lipid dependent patient to Boston for the Omegaven, TODAY!!!!! He had told the family about Chase and they collectively decided to get to Boston ASAP!!!!!!!!!

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! So our efforts to spread the news about Omegaven HAS reached someone. Can't really express (or type) how exciting that is for us!!!! We know God is using this Omegaven, just a simple fish oil currently made from anchovies, for good things and we want everyone to know about it.

So yeah, it's tiring to be at the hospital. Sleepless nights, bad food, and noisy nurses. But look what else has come out of this.

God always has something good for us...........even in the darkest moments. Don't forget to look for them! :)~