HEART REBIRTHDAY

My mom and my sister have their own names for today. My mom calls it Lauren's Rebirthday. My sister calls it Lauren's Heart Birthday. I think that both of these sound like they need presents so we'll see if they show up with gifts in hand.

For me, today is the anniversary of the scariest day in our lives and the beginning of a life change. It is also the day that miracles became real and that God moved obviously and clearly in our lives.

Every night, I pray with Lauren before she falls asleep and I thank the Lord for our day together. And when I pray that, I mean it with all my heart. Lauren fills my life with joy. I can't imagine what my world would be like without her. And thanks to the miracles of God and the amazing work of the nurses, doctors and all the other people at Children's Hospital who were a part of her story, I don't have to have a world without her.

Please pray for our family today. We are headed down to the hospital to finalize the fundraising that we headed this year and to visit the ICU. Lauren was their baby last summer. They took her, and the rest of us, into their hearts as we shared Lauren's victory. This is a day that we need a little bit of extra strength to live in the joy of the present, instead of the fear of the past. One day I will be able to look back at the posts of last summer and not sit here in tears. It still hurts my heart to remember. Praise God for all of his miracles!