Hope for 2012

New Year's Day 2012. I looked back to see if I have ever done a New Year's post to share my deep reflection of the past year or prognostications for the new year. I conclude that this blog is sadly lacking such content.

I greatly enjoyed ending 2011 with a visit from my sister Linda and my sister Jean's cute children yesterday. (For some reason, she really enjoyed attending a wedding without those little darlings!) It was Chavon's 6th birthday, so I got some wedding cupcakes (donated by Anisa on Christmas) from the freezer. We put six candles on it and sang happy birthday to him after lunch. (I wish I would have washed the pizza sauce off his face first!)

Serena insisted it was also her birthday. Well, I'm here to spoil her just a little, and if she wants to blow out a candle it's fine with me. So I lit a candle on her cupcake and told her to blow it out. She looked at me like I just didn't get it. "No, it's my BIRTHDAY," she said. After we sang happy birthday to her, she blew it out with great delight!

Later in the day, I learned that my sister Hope's daughter Brianna had given birth to her first daughter, Janae Hope, back in Virginia. After a long, difficult labor which ended with a C-section, the baby was in critical condition with respiratory problems due to inhaling meconium. She was airlifted to the nearest hospital with a NICU, about an hour from where her mother Brianna is. This morning doctors performed a cardiopulmonary bypass, meaning that an artificial heart and lung will temporarily take over to supply bloodflow to the baby's body. This will give her lungs a rest and build up her blood supply. After several days they will try to wean her from this.

As if all this weren't hard enough, Brianna didn't even get to see her baby. The very thought of that breaks my heart. So we pray, knowing we serve a God of all comfort who heals beyond our expectations. Specifically, we have been asked to pray that Baby Janae's lungs would heal and that there would be no bleeding in her brain. Brianna is expected to be released from the hospital tomorrow, when she will finally be able to go be near her newborn.

Before I knew this yesterday, I was looking at the healthy, energetic Chavon and marveling that he spent the first month of his life as a premie in a neo-natal unit. We have at least three other miracle babies in our family who were born with serious issues. Many prayers went up for them, and they are all thriving.

So we begin our new year with hope. Hope for the best possible outcome: a strong, healthy baby who gets to come home soon to be loved and nurtured by wonderful parents.