Have you ever been given a gift and mistook the value of it? To the giver, it was a very valuable treasure, but you thought it to be something much less. I’ve done that before with Christmas and birthday gifts. Maybe, at times, I didn’t value the gift as much as the giver of the gift might have wanted.
I think back to the first Christmas Mark and I spent together. Even though we had known each other for many years, Mark and I both got each other gifts that were not especially appreciated. After the exchanging of our gifts was over, there were a few uncomfortable moments, then we both asked each other “Why did you get me this or that?” We thought we knew each other’s taste better. We thought we knew what each other might want or need in the selection of our gifts. We were wrong.
On March 10, 2008, God gave me a wonderful gift. He gave me a precious child named Victoria Jayne. But on May 7, 2008, God decided to give me an even greater gift. He gave me the chance to see how blessed I was to have Victoria in my life. I had the terrible opportunity of imagining what life would be like without her. If you remember the Christmas classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” well, I kinda felt like George Bailey. I’d been given a chance to see how great my life really is.
See, God knew what I needed in a gift. The gift He gave was highly treasured by Him. Even though I didn’t realize it’s value initially, I could never forget Victoria’s priceless value now. As I fed Victoria this morning in CICU, gazing into her beautiful brown eyes, I realized I had fallen in love with her long before her birth. Even though I was frightened by all the “what if’s” during my pregnancy, I know now that I loved Victoria even then. I know that we will have much to overcome together during her life, but I will always love her and accept her. I can say now without reservation that I love my gift!
Today we were given another gift from the Lord. We were able to finally see Victoria graduated to a real hospital room! From the way it looks, we will hopefully be able to take our little gift home on Sunday or Monday.
She looks so good and breathing much better than that last video! So glad that the 3 of you are together in a room.
So true that we take so many things for granted or don’t realize the value of what God has given us. Praise God from whom all blessings flow…the perfect gift giver!
What a wonderful post!! So happy that you will be coming home soon.
Gosh we miss you guys!!!! That is great news that you could be able to come home soon! We are so thankful for you guys and for Victoria. God has some very special plans for this special little girl.
We love you and look forward to your homecoming.
Bryan, Andrea, & Joshua
It’s great to see you all in a room. Victoria looks like she is now on the road to recovery. “God IS So GOOD”. She will be a blessing to you and all her family. I still remember little Matthew that I kept. He is 19 now and he still knows me when he sees me. He gives me a big tight hug and tears come to my eyes.
Love and Prayers,
Mrs. Woodruff
She is SO cute! Wish we lived close enough to see you in person. You all are loved and prayed for in Las Vegas,,,
Dave, Annette & crew
Oh Heather! I’m so happy ya’ll are in a room now.. she looks so good! and so precious!.. and moms lookin good to! ha! I’m so glad God has answered prayers.. and allowed such miracles to happen.. Never thought I’d see a miracle in my lifetime but I think I have now.. Yep, I know I have.. Can’t wait to see her again at home where I can hold and spoil her some too like everyone else is gonna do. and to play with Elyssa and Natalie.. my girls love kids and are very good with them especially Kayla.(she can be very entertaining!). I’m so happy right now I want to call u but I’m at work.. so better not.. I’ll call u later though… Hurray for Victoria! Keep on shinning u sweety pie!
love,
allison
All I can say is – to God be the glory!!!
Heather,
I just wanted to share a beautiful story with you that happened to me yesterday in walmart. I was there with my little 8 month old granddaughter going about my business (fighting everyone) going down an aisle. I had stopped to look for something when I noticed someone was hugging my granddaughter. At first I was concerned and then when I looked it was this beautiful young girl who had DS. She was hugging her and rubbing her face and telling her that she was pretty. She was touching her with the sweetest touch and never tried to hurt her at all. Her mother told me she was sorry and told her daughter to move on back. When we were starting to move the girl placed a kiss on her hand and then placed her hand to my granddaughters face. Just before we moved she hugged her one more time and said, I Love You. My heart just melted. When I looked at her she was beautiful, she had long dark brown hair, with big brown eyes, and I noticed on her chest where sometime in her life she also had open heart surgery. All I could think about was your sweet baby girl and how she has already touched so many peoples lifes. I know she has mine. I don’t no if you listen to Martina Mcbride, but she has a song called, She’s a Butterfly. I was listening to the cd in my car the other day and this song came on, and it made me think of your sweet baby girl. I know that my comment has led into a sermon but I just wanted to share this song with you.Its called
She’s a Butterfly
She remembers when she first got her wings
And how she opened up the day
She learned to sing
Then the colors came, erased the black and white
And her whole world changed when she realized
Chorus:
She’s a butterfly, pretty as the crimson sky
Nothing’s ever gonna bring her down
And everywhere she goes
Everybody knows she’s so glad to be alive
She’s a butterfly
Like the purest light in a darkened world
So much hope inside such a lovely girl
You should see her fly, it’s almost
magical
It makes you wanna cry, she’s so beautiful.
God bless the butterfly,
give her the strength to fly
Never let her wings touch the ground.
Heather, I pray God’s blessings on you and your precious family.
Janet Holsombeck
heather, i logged on to tell you about my experience last night. turns out it was much like that of janet’s in walmart. i was at that new mexican restaurant in saraland where alana loves to sing kereoke. anyway, there was this really cute little girl that came over and sat down right beside aiden. her mom was very appoligetic, but i told her that alana does it all the time and she was welcome. she sat with us for along time and was absolutely in love with aiden. she was so sweet and gentle. very polite and full of personality. i didn’t even realize that she had DS until her mom told me. she was almost exactly alana’s age. they played and danced together all night. after her mom told me, i started to notice a few differences, but mainly, all i could think about was little victoria and how precious she is and how she is going to get along just fine once she is healthy! we have been praying for her and alana loves watching the vidoes of elyssa’s baby sister over and over. meeting that little girl last night just made me even more excited to see what God grows victoria to be! north mobile’s own little mirracle!
we love you guys and can’t wait to see you. please don’t hessitate to ask if there is anything we can do.
amanda shirk
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