Noah's story

I should start this blog post out by saying... I knew it had been a long time since I sat down to write on this blog. I had no idea it had been 3 years. It actually made me laugh out loud. It's proof and a glimpse into the craziness and busyness that has been the last few years. But today, I knew it was time to write again. Rather, to share some writings that have been going on in my private, personal journals. I love to write and have since I was a little girl. But, writing is more of a treasure to me now than it ever was before. My mother-in-law, Joanne, passed away before Dalton and I were married. The conversations I had with her were few. But Joanne loved to write and tucked inside books and bibles that were given to Dalton after her passing, are letters and prayers that speak to our hearts even now. This has further encouraged me to write. As a wife and mother, this blog has served to keep us in touch and updated with our close friends and family. During 7 years of marriage, we have traveled from Virginia all the way to Saskatchewan, Canada and back to the east coast. After 3 precious boys were added to our family, writing has become more difficult, especially on a public forum like this. However, I have made a priority to continue writing in private/personal journals. One for my amazing husband, and one journal for each of our 3 sons. My thoughts, my prayers, the journey the Lord has taken us on. Sometimes, I fill them with promises from God's Word. I pray these journals encourage them and lead them back to the feet of Jesus throughout their lives. But this journal today... this is for you. For my friends and family far away. For those that have asked and pleaded for us to share our journey of the last year. 

Last year our son, Noah, experienced serious unexplained health issues. In the whirlwind of it all, it felt impossible to keep everyone updated with the details. Many have asked how he is doing. I can never thank you all enough for your prayers. And today, the miracle of celebrating Noah's 5th birthday with him is not lost on me. I've tearfully thanked and praised the Lord many times today. So today, on his birthday, I thought.... what better time than to begin sharing his story. I pray it blesses and encourages your heart. I'm going to release sections of it each day over the next few days as it's a long, detailed story. But this story is laced with the goodness and faithfulness of Almighty God. It's one worth reading. 4 months after I began writing it... here you go! Better late than never. 

5-5-16

This morning I sit in my home, surrounded by the noise of playing children, overwhelmed by the grace and love of my Lord, Jesus Christ, with conviction in my heart to share with the world about the journey we have been walking through the last several months with our 4 year old, firstborn son, Noah. Back in February, Noah was admitted into a children's hospital in the area, with his health condition looking very grim. As word spread of Noah's health, God's people began to pray. Hundreds of people were praying for our little boy, and not only did Noah pull through, I firmly believe Noah was healed by Almighty God as a result of the prayers of God's people. I have heard countless requests to share Noah's story, to journal it. I have had every intention to because it's an unbelievable God size story. But, with 3 small children at home and a busy schedule as a pastor's wife, I've found every excuse in the book to put if off until "later". I really feel like this "inability" to find time to write lately is a tactic of the enemy. Satan would love to silence the works of the Lord. To muffle the declaration that Jesus still heals today. I refuse to let that happen. May the Lord be glorified in and through this story. This is God's story, not just Noah's story. And as we have witnessed first-hand a miracle from the Lord, I also feel that we have a duty and responsibility to share this story. May it glorify and bring all praise to Jesus Christ. This story is not going to be short or concise. Please don't attempt to read it all at once. Pace yourself maybe. I acknowledge that it's a doozy. I feel that if I'm taking time to write it, I want to include every little detail. Why? Because God was in the details. Because I don't want to forget. Anything. I want to tell of the works of the Lord as long as I live. Because we have seen the Lord do a mighty work in our boy.

To fully understand this story, we need to backtrack in time a bit. As a baby, Noah had a lot of frequent ear infections, nothing major. He also had problems with his blood clotting. Thankfully we had no major cuts or injuries so it was never much of a problem. Right before Noah's first birthday, we moved to Saskatchewan, Canada. This was when we first started noticing a few unusual things with Noah. On occasion, I would notice little "blood spots" on his skin. Broken blood vessels for no apparent reason. They would go away on their own within a few days time. At one point he caught Roseola and was extremely sick and covered in a rash. But that was viral and he recovered within a week or so. Fast forward to age 2. We moved to Roanoke, Virginia. While in Roanoke, Noah started having problems with his breathing. It appeared to be similar to asthma attacks but he was never diagnosed as having asthma. He was sick, often. Never with anything major but frequent illnesses, ear infections and breathing issues. His younger brother, Cohen, had just been born and it seemed our newborn had a stronger immune system than our 2 year old. 

On Christmas Eve 2013, we had traveled to visit my parents in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Noah was not feeling well. We were told he had a virus/cold just prior to the trip. (You will see throughout our story that a "virus" was often all we were told by doctors. It seemed he always had a virus. A common cold. Nothing specific, just some sort of virus that would pass in a few days.) After a few days at my parents, he was crying almost constantly, really high fever, lethargic, he stopped eating and drinking and so we took him into the ER. I really hoped they would find that he had an ear infection or something minor and send us on our way with medicine. I will never forget how that day played out. My parents took our newborn, Cohen, to the Christmas Eve service at their church. Dalton and I sat in the ER holding Noah, trying to comfort him. They ran a few tests, took an X-ray of his chest, drew blood, started an IV of fluids, etc. Then the doctor walked in and asked us to sit down. My heart dropped to the floor. I could literally feel it. The fear. Here is what he said, "For a 2 year old, after as much fluid as we have given him, he should have perked up or bounced back by now. I'm highly concerned at how lethargic he is even after all of the fluids. He was dehydrated originally, but now he is not. When we put an IV in a 2 year old, we expect a lot more fight than he put up for us. The tests reveal that he has strep throat and RSV. His blood work is concerning and abnormal and he has low iron. He's anemic. I have an ambulance outside. We are transporting him to CHKD children's hospital. Pediatrics is not my specialty and they are the best. I can't in good conscience send him home. Yes, strep throat and RSV would make you extremely sick but I strongly feel there is something else going on. I want to get to the bottom of it. Here is my business card, I would love to hear from you what they find out." 

So off we went. Noah's first ambulance ride. Our first time in a children's hospital. When we arrived, the staff was incredibly nice but the hospital was also incredibly packed and busy that night. After several hours there, they gave us different reasons that illness itself could skew his blood work. They wanted to see his improvement after starting the antibiotics. They weren't too concerned. We went home and to be honest, I felt thankful. I didn't want them to find anything wrong. I wanted to spend Christmas with family, at home. I wanted to see our newborn and have a special first Christmas for him. And we did all of that. But this was really the beginning of a lot of unanswered questions concerning Noah's health...