“…Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing in prayer…”

St. Paul to the Romans

May 8th we welcomed John Lee. It has been an incredible two months. We have learnt a lot about ourselves. We have experienced extraordinary love from our family and friends, and strangers. 

We have are constantly reflecting on our time with John Lee. Our faith has been stretched to say the least. It has been a demanding time where we not only received an awesome gift of a son and also witnessed wonders of modern medicine. We could never have come up with our experiences.

Our lives and of those around us have been stretched to pray and hope. We have specifically been looking for endurance.

Let me touch on my lovely wife Amy. When we found out that we will go through a period of uncertainty, Amy was preparing to begin tax season; we were certain of a grueling four months (January – April) of work. She would have to go through it while pregnant, full of uncertain emotions on top of all other emotions experienced by an expectant woman. 

She handled it with gusto!

Then came delivery. She delivered quickly, on the day when her water broke, but John Lee had to be taken away. She could not see him she recovered.

As a new mom, I am sure, you are look forward to feeding (she planned to breastfeed), nurturing, and do all the new mom stuff. This would not be happening—although while at Rady’s, for a small period she got to breastfeed.  

So how do you deal?

Amy did everything is could and was to by the medical staff. On top of that we knew that there is an army of prayer warriors lifting us up in prayer. We can feel it! It was not easy not to be able to hold John Lee when she could not, nor be ‘mom’ all the time to the little guy. She cannot always hold, feed, nor change his diaper, bathe him etc.

Having our faith stretched does not mean we are capable of handling our situation with ease. On the contrary I believe our mandate has been life altering beyond what we can bear. It is humbling to admit this. Friends reading our blog posts may assume that we are grasping our situation just fine, but we are heavily relying on sustenance that is not from within us. Again, I reiterate that we can feel it when you lift us up in prayer.

In past posts we mentioned that I had been back home twice. During this period I could feel being removed from a heaviness. On the second trip I evaluated what was happening. Where we are there are great living quarters, with great amenities. The people are broken like we are. Their lives have been altered in different ways.

We share stories a cross tables. Update each other on what is happening with our loved ones. Rejoice with each other on great news. 

The atmosphere is heavy.

So being home is great. The situation is greatly reduced to your own, even in hard times. When in your are in a communal environment, it is amplified.

These have been some of our experiences Since John arrived. 

My hope is for Amy to go home soon, with John, and experience singularity and being a new mom. Meanwhile, we are here and we need endurance together with the families around us to get past the valleys that may seem endless at times.

—Quick update on John Lee—

Today they had put a new chest tube in due to fluid building up around his lung. Part of this build up is from his lymphatic system leaking fat from the formula. So now he has to go back on IV nutrition. This could be another week or two. As long as John Lee is on IV nutrition, he will be in the icu. 

We are also waiting for him to have an MRI to determine the cause of the seizures. This will happen sometime this week. They are not rushing to do this because they care more about his respiratory condition. He is responding to medication for the seizures and has not had any since early Sunday morning. 

While we wait for his vascular and lymph systems to heal, we are hoping to be able to move forward with bonding. Physical and occupational therapy are working with him more too. His thumbs are very stiff, so he will be getting hand braces this week.