There is a light

I have never woken up to so much sun light in my life. Our bedroom had two huge windows that, even with the blinds closed, could  not contain the power of the sun as it announced a new day in Cincinnati. Even when I discovered that I could pull heavy curtains over them they still shouted loudly......another day is coming! Get up! Manage.

And what will this day bring. Perhaps a family will be all smiles because they are going home! Or maybe there are fun activities and great food listed on the board of the dining hall. Maybe you will see the first smiles ever on the face of parents who are told they will leave this weekend after 5 months! Their son is finally making his own blood after 13 years,  bone marrow transplant, and the loss of both of their jobs! Maybe today Cori's friend Maggie will be discharged after complications.

There was a day that brought all of these things and more. There was a day I first saw one couple smile. And there was a day when I met one of the most remarkable women I have ever known. Her child was the cutest, most animated  little stinker ever. He just KNEW Cori wanted to be his friend. We had passed in the hospital playroom so he was bold. To my surprise I saw Cori lift her dress to show him her old colostomy scar. Then he ran to his mom to ask how long HE had been on a catheter, hoping to win the bragging rights over Cori. Later that night I saw Cori kiss him on the cheek. I had to do the PC thing and correct her, but day after day, night after night, they "hooked up". And that meant I got to know and love his mom. I was to have many encounters that were in answer to my cries for God to get real with me. How much more real can  God be than to give you someone to love? When her ride finally comes for her and we hold each other and cry............Is there ever a time God is more present?

One day the light went on in the parents of the 13 year old. He got to come to the RMcD House. Then his  blood pressures went off the chart and he fell back on his bed in seizures. And he went to Intensive Care. And the light in their eyes went out. 


There is a light above the chapel at the Greater Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House. 



Wes met a compelling case this weekend. Normal little girl doing well. Starts having seizures. Nothing works. And they have to remove the left lobe of her brain for her to live. 
And the girl with bolts in her upper and lower jaws,  halo across her face. The 4 year old who looks two with no hair. The Chinese 3 year old with the same condition as Cori. 


Another Mom, baby has to have three transplants the first months of her life. Back every year for 7 years. Nutrition from a tube from her backpack.


I went to bed very late one night with worries about Cori and Ava and what a load my absence was putting on everyone in NC.  I told God I could not do this, especially with Ava having Spina Bifida plus a likely diagnosis for other systems like Coris's plus documented developmental delays. I needed God to be real and lead me, especially about Ava, about these procedures, about Cincinatti, about everything. 


 That evening a mom I had talked to and never expected to meet got a room opening at the RMcDHouse. And I met her daughter with all the medical issues Ava will have.........I sat across from this beautiful 5 year old and I saw Ava.  And I began to believe that we could do this.

The next day Cori had her hardest tests. Multiple blood draws to determine kidney function. Before our first appt a lady asked me if I was her mom. Just then her Chinese daughter's name was called...Malia, Cori's middle name. And all morning long Cori's procedures followed Malia's. The we had time in the waiting room while a father took care of his Chinese daughters. We introduced ourselves and our children. Parents with Chinese daughters always ask what province the girls are from. I easily guessed that one of his daughters was from the same province as Lily. 



But what caused me to quake was that the one having the same testing, with the same initial wrong diagnosis from China, was not only from Cori's province, but was from the same orphanage where AVA waits for us today.


I hear you, God.  


And we came home knowing why there is a light and what it means..


If the light comes on it stays on for 24 hours to honor the RMcD child who has passed away. It came on three times this week. 


Our child will most likely not die because of her condition. But she surely would have before adulthood in China. I do not want to spend my next two or three years in Ohio, but if that is what Cori and Ava need, we will. Kicking and screaming.