It’s Friday already! And I really thought that I would post this post sooner… but apparently that didn’t happen. So it was already 5 days ago when I took a train to Toronto to visit my good friend Tanya who I left behind in Toronto when we came home in August. I’ve written about Tanya before and I’m so blessed to call her a friend. We grew quite close as we walked the same path of being mom’s to our girls waiting for heart transplants and she was (and is) an inspiration to me and a huge source of knowledge. She also makes me laugh alot… which is good, laughter is always good.
Anyhow, I hadn’t seen Tanya, or her daughter Aleeda who received her new heart August 2nd, or Tanya’s three-month old baby daughter Britton in almost 2 months – so thankfully Jason encouraged me to go. And I’m glad I did as it was wonderful to see them again. Aleeda looked amazing and it was so nice to be able to hold her and cuddle her and see her happy, and she grew! Since she has received her new heart she has grown so much and filled out, and her hair is longer and she looks like a new kid. And I was also so pleased that she remembered me and wasn’t mad that I hadn’t visited her in so long. And baby Britton is getting big and is so sweet! She was my therapy baby when she was a born – holding baby’s for me is the best therapy I could ever get – and I even got to babysit her briefly while I was visiting this time. I felt like a nice sort of aunt.
Here are the girls in their stroller, the sweetie-pies. I love how Britton is on the bottom shelf…
Now even though Aleeda looks amazing, she is still in hospital, which is rather frustrating. Especially considering the fact that she has been in hospital since July 2012. Can you just imagine? Tanya has not lived at home with her husband in 15 months and it will still be a while before she gets all the way home. Hopefully soon Alleeda will soon be released to live at the Ronald MacDonald House, but until her feeding issues get sorted out, she is stuck in hospital. On Tuesday morning Aleeda did get a g-tube, so that ng tube you see on her face is no more – which is always nice to see. But please please pray that God would intervene here and heal Aleeda’s tummy so she can go home. My dream is that their family will be reunited and home by Christmas, please pray with me!
I came home on Tuesday and I made it back just in the nick of time to watch William run in the cross-country finals. And I when I mean just in time, I mean that I had to run and bum a ride of a stranger (another mom whose child was running) to make it there 2 minutes before the race started – but I saw him start and finish – and William came in 6th! Out of all the grade 3 boys in the city, running a kilometer and half. We are so proud.
And then Wednesday was back to real life for me, but I felt really unsettled and a bit down. It didn’t seem that terribly hard to go back to Sick Kids when I was there, but coming home again made me realize once again just how much I missed Ava. But it was more than that… it was seeing families who we knew while we were there with Ava, and who are still there, as well as meeting new families who have sick little one’s and even seeing Leo’s family as they waiting for him to come out of surgery. It made my heart ache for these families who have to go through so much. I can’t tell you how much strength we got from our faith in God as we walked through our journey with Ava. It covered us with peace and joy even in the darkest times, and now I’m committed to pray for the families that I’ve met who are still walking through it.
But I know that losing Ava has changed me forever, and has even changed my view of the world. I know now that I have no control over life, I know that bad things do happen and things aren’t always going to turn out as I want. But am I worried, or discouraged or even depressed? No I’m not. 
Because I have a personal relationship with the one who has control over everything, the same guy that allows these seemingly bad things into my life for a reason and when I get to heaven He is going to show me how these things all turned out for His glory. Praise God, He holds it all in His hands.
I love this verse… here it is again…
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Amen.
