Where to begin...(long introduction)

I'm not really sure where to begin this whole blog thing. First of all let me go ahead and tell you I am horrible when it comes to grammar so please don't judge me because I am good at math, so that makes up for it. But the whole purpose of starting this blog wasn't just so people can read what I'm thinking and what's happening (even though I'll probably include that stuff in here) but it is to keep track of the many ways God has blessed our family. Our goal as a family is to bring as much glory to the Lord as we can and to be used for His good in whatever way He sees fit.

So let me tell you a little bit about my family. We are far from perfect, but we try to live our lives in a way that will honor the Lord. My husband, Kyle, is 24 years old; he's currently in his 2^nd year of seminary; and works diligently to provide for our family. He is a youth counselor for a children's home, and while it doesn't pay wonderfully, it affords him many opportunities to show these young men what a godly example looks like. He has a great, dry sense of humor and would be very embarrassed if he knew I was writing about him. I, Jill, am a 24 year old new mom and I love it! I am blessed to be able to stay at home with our almost 4 month old son, Tommy. Kyle and I have been married for almost 3 years and I have never met someone that I admire more than him. Just about 4 months ago, Kyle and I welcomed our son Tommy into this world. We didn't know if Tommy was a boy or a girl, we chose to find out once he was born (which we really liked doing – it made the birth even more exciting).

When we found out we were pregnant with Tommy, Kyle and I began to pray together daily for him. We prayed for very specific things – that God's will would be done in his life, that God would use our child for His good and to further His kingdom; that he/she would have a great personality and be a very good baby; that He would save our child at a young age; and that the labor and delivery would go safely, quickly, and smoothly. During my pregnancy with Tommy everything was pretty normal – all ultrasounds looked great, we even had special ultrasounds done to check his heart b/c heart defects run in our family and everything looked just right. On the wonderful day that Tommy was born he came out pale and with a fever. I had started running a fever during delivery and they figured that's why Tommy had one, but his was high for a new born. So they cleaned him off, let me hold him for a couple of minutes, and then took him to the special care nursery to check him out. Kyle went with Tommy while our moms stayed with me. Shortly after Tommy was born the doctor came down to tell us how Tommy was doing. He was on oxygen because he was having trouble breathing on his own, they were giving him an antibiotic for the fever just to be safe, and upon examining him the doctor was fairly certain that Tommy had Down Syndrome. I thought that if I were ever to hear something like this that my heart would sink and I wouldn't know what to do. But because of our great God, who we prayed to everyday for His will to be done in his life, I felt great comfort. If I wasn't a Christian I don't know what I would have done because I would see no purpose in my child having to deal with this for the rest of his life.

That night Tommy was examined by a cardiologist because in children with DS heart defects are very common. Tommy has what they refer to as an ASD and it is one of the more common and successfully treatable heart defects. As long as he keeps gaining weight like a champ he won't have to have surgery until he is 1 or 1 ½ years old. (Which is another big blessing b/c some babies can't gain weight until this defect is fixed but Tommy is very healthy...aka chunky). A couple of days later the tests came back and it was confirmed that Tommy did have DS. While it was something we never expected, we knew it was the Lord's will and that He would use it for His glory. It's so funny to think back now because when I was pregnant with Tommy, Kyle and I had a conversation in the kitchen of our house and I remember opening up the refrigerator door and asking, “Can you imagine having a kid with down syndrome? That would be so hard. That would be the rest of your life caring for that child.” Little did we know that the little life growing in me did have down syndrome. But let me reassure you, while I would never choose for my son to have DS I would never choose not to have Tommy. I don't know if that makes sense but so many people have told me that I seem “okay” with Tommy having DS – I am much more than “okay” because I have beautiful, healthy son. Don't get me wrong – I'm not offended by the statement of being okay with him having DS, I just don't feel like that's how I would explain it.

Oh and don't let me forget to tell you that God has answered all of our specific prayer requests from before so far (except for the saving Tommy at a young age – we can't really communicate that too much yet). Tommy is the most content and sweet baby I have ever had the pleasure of being around; he has such a laid back personality and is rarely fussy. The Lord used our experience in the hospital to allow a fellow church member and nurse to share the Gospel with over 9 people, and the delivery was fairly quick and safe. God has been so good to us.

There are a lot of things about DS that we obviously didn't know about. The most common thing is low muscle tone, so far Tommy has pretty good muscle tone – his head control is somewhat lacking but we are working on that and he doesn't put much weight in his legs yet. But he is very strong when it comes to socially interacting – he loves to be talked to and cuddled. It is a huge blessing that we live where we do because we have the opportunity to be involved with the Down Syndrome of Louisville (word on the street is they're the best in the nation) and also he can get various therapies to help in his development through First Steps for the first 3 years of his life.

Tommy is greatly loved by all of our family and they've all been extremely supportive through all of this. We are very blessed. I know this blog is really long – hopefully they won't all be this way but I might as well begin with a long introduction – this way future posts might make more sense. I thank the Lord for my family and the many ways He takes care of us when we are so undeserving.