Time

Before creating Ashley's Journal I had no idea what a blog was. I had never seen one, read one, or heard of one. Since the creation of Ash's and the telling of her story I have become a follower of a few that I hold dear to my heart. Most of them tell stories from other mommy's perspectives and are filled with the day to day care, celebration, and struggle of their children's fragile lives. What encouragement I have found on particularly difficult days of Ashley's life by reading the hearts of these other mothers. There is one blog however that is written by a husband and it contains the story of not only his wife but of his micro preemie daughter. What an amazing journey God is taking them on and what an encouragement it is to see the way they are walking it. This morning they received "the call". That is the call for the donated lungs that his wife must receive in order to be granted more time. I'm praying this is the last call they will need to receive and that the lungs will be the ones God set aside specifically for Tricia.

Time. It is the most precious thing we have. When you have faced the day knowing that your loved one's time is running out and when you have held the tiny body of your child next to you night after night knowing this could be the last one you are given with her then time becomes all you have. I wake each morning and thank God for another day with Ashley Kate. I thank Him for giving us more time. I spend each moment of the day looking at her face and realizing that our time with her is a gift. A gift not to be wasted but to be lived. Without our "call" she would be gone by now and our time with our youngest daughter would have ended. I can't imagine life without this ornery pickle in it. She has grabbed on to it and hasn't let go and we are so very, very thankful. Thankful for our call, for her gift, for the time we have been given to love her.

If you have never considered organ donation then I ask you to please, please consider the gift you would be giving. Time is precious and to those of us who have stared the clock in the face as our children desperately hung on we know that without the gift of organ donation our time with them would have ended. April is organ donation month and I love knowing that the gift of time and a new life is being concentrated on just as new life is budding all around us. I step into the yard and see the new grass, the bright green leaves appearing, the robin's hastily building their nests and I am aware that the time we are given on this earth is a gift. Soak it in. Each moment of the day. Find joy in the little things that surround you.

Nate, Tricia, and Gwenyth, I pray today is the day your new life begins and your time together is extended. God bless you guys today. Trish