A new life, a new heart

Joy, today marks a year that something amazing happened. So many incredible things led up to this point. We got you home in June and your first cardiology appointment was August 1. We got the shock of a lifetime that your aorta wasn't just a coarctation that looked like a narrowing vessel.... Your aorta was totally missing a one inch section.

 A ghost aorta.

Gone.

As we stared at those MRI images, I went dizzy and so did your Dad. How on earth did you sustain life with an aorta that wasn't attached? Your tiny body was born with congenital heart disease. You had a narrowing section of your aorta since you were perfectly created in your birth mother's womb. You were the 1 out of  the 110 that are born with CHD. Most newborns have open heart surgery as soon as they are born with a coarc. You didn't have that luxury. Most babies wouldn't live long at all without this immediate surgery. I like to think that God knew exactly how tough you were. As years went on, your sweet body made collateral veins to carry blood around the narrowed section. Your aorta was dying. Slowly dying and disappearing was the vessel that held life in its hands. Your blood pressure was 195/140 - stroke level by far. We learned that we got you home just in time. In a couple of months, if not surgically treated, likely your caregivers would've opened a bedroom doors early one morning and found you lifeless.

You were a picture of health on the outside. No one knew your heart was sick by looking at your outward appearance.

But the Lord said to Samuel, " Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

The Lord really looked at your heart for years. He watched and protected you all of your days.
Your heart is so beautiful, so forgiving, so graceful. Your heart is kind, and loving, and FUNNY. Your heart is strong and brave, fiercely protective, caring of others and bold.

People can be deceiving. People can lie, manipulate, and harbor many negative attributes. Those people can be beautiful outwardly, but ultimately, The Lord sees the heart. The core of us. The important part of us, our souls, our beliefs, our love for Him. All those things can be hidden in your heart, but Joy.... Your beauty radiates from your heart right out of you brown eyes and beautiful smile. Your love of the Lord shows. You're  on fire. Your dedicated to learning about Him, as you would choose me reading a Bible story over anything else.

You are so beautiful.

Your scars are beautiful.

Your pain is beautiful, because from ashes He brings beautiful healing.

You are you - simply beautiful because your heart is.

So. As I gently finger your scar today, I am reminded of September 8, 2015; a day of hope, a day of healing and a day of miracles. May we all see our scars as beauty from the ashes as you do, Joy.