Angel Wings

This past weekend, I went to Snyder to have a garage sale at my Mom and Step-Dad's house. I had so many friends donate items for us to sale; it was to raise money for our upcoming trip to Baylor. Once I got to Snyder, I started checking my Facebook. I was seeing so many posts from my Lubbock friends, asking for prayers for a little boy named Andrew. Andrew saw the same pediatric Cardiologist that Eli sees. One post in particular read, "Please pray for a fellow heart mom. Her son Andrew is in kidney failure and desperately needs a miracle!". After this one, I saw many more posts from many more people, asking for prayers for Andrew. I caught myself several times throughout Friday thinking of Andrew; and I would stop and pray. Later in the day, there was a new post from another friend; "Labs have about doubled...not looking good. We are home and plan on staying here. Please pray for me and our family and that I find the strength to get through. This is the most painful thing ever. Dr. R is saying maybe 6-12 hours maybe 24. Please pray.". I read this and, again, stopped to pray.

Friday night, I was exhausted. We had lots of prep work for the garage sale and I was just worn out. Since Adam stayed in Lubbock, Eli and I shared a bed Friday night. As tired as I was, I just couldn't sleep. Eli snored all night and took up most of the bed. But this is not what kept me up; I laid in bed, next to my own snoring little miracle, and thought to myself, "What would I ever do if I was told he only had 'maybe 6-12 hours maybe 24'? How would I handle this? And how would I spend those last precious few hours?". I thought about Andrew and his family all night. What were they doing at that very moment? Laying in bed with their little boy, holding him, crying, telling stories and just talking? And of course.... praying with every breath.

Through Eli's snoring, grinding teeth and tossing and turning, I held Eli. I shed a few tears. I prayed for Andrew and his family. I thanked God for every precious moment I had with Eli. Finally, I think I dozed off around 4:30 am, only to wake up again at 6:00 am. I said another prayer for Andrew and rolled out of bed. It was time to get up and get ready for the garage sale. We opened at 8:00 am. But by 6:30, cars were already driving by and by 7:00, we were hit by a flood of people. It was a crazy morning, going non-stop for the next 6 hours or so. But, at one point during the morning, I finally had a chance to check Facebook. The first post I saw dropped my heart and brought tears to my eyes: "Andrew earned his wings around 6:08am. He is w/ our Lord and no longer in pain!"

I think I was probably in shock for several minutes. This little boy, that I didn't even know, had me in tears and thanking God for Eli. It is nice to remember some times that things could be much worse; but to be reminded of this due to the loss of life of a precious little child.... It just didn't seem fair.

I called Adam later that afternoon and gave him the latest update on Andrew. And then I told him how lucky we were that Eli was still as healthy as he is. Adam agreed, as crappy as things have been, we're blessed.

I want to encourage everyone to take a look at your life. Thank God for your blessings. And pray for those who may be struggling and hurting; whether you know them or not. No matter how bad things may be, someone else may be hurting far worse. And please, say a prayer for comfort for Andrew's family.