JOSHUA

To begin, we lost beautiful, identical twin girls November 15th, 2006. It was a routine ultrasound that shattered the pregnancy bubble we both lived in. They couldn't find a heartbeat on either baby. We had our baby shower the day before, so our prayer warriors stormed Heaven with prayer for our family while we induced labor and birthed Emma Claire and Ella Grace, they were just over 28 weeks gestation. To this day, we still have no "medical" reason for their passing. God knows why He chose them, that's the only answer I need. We chose to try again for a baby about 8 months after our loss. Much to our surprise we did indeed conceive and we carried on during the pregnancy as usual. Meanwhile, my heart and soul waited anxiously to hold this baby in my arms, as I no longer had a desire to be pregnant, the waiting was too scary. We found out our sweet boy would need open heart surgery soon after his birth. He had a congenital heart defect known as Transposition of the Great Arteries, the surgeon assured us that although there was a risk, his condition was the lesser of the evils. Needless to say, again our prayer warriors stormed Heaven's doors with prayer for Joshua and he was bathed in prayer before he even made an entrance to this world. We honestly did the best we could to hand it over to God, as we know that the Ultimate Physician is capable of all things. If He chose to save our son's life and use his survival to bring glory and honor to Him then we would do everything in our power to make sure that happened. Joshua was rushed off to NICU just minutes after his birth. He had his surgery to repair this arteries when he was just 7 days old. And, to say that was the longest 6 hours of my life. I don't remember much during the time he was in surgery, it must have been the prayer that kept us from stumbling. God had His mighty hand on our son's heart those moments, and He was guiding our surgeon too! When we saw the surgeon come out to tell us Joshua did exceptionally well and was on his way to recover in the cardiovascular intensive care floor, we could finally exhale! From that moment on, Joshua has exceeded all the odds. He is a survivor that's for sure. He did surprise all his caretakers by recovering so quickly. We just celebrated his 1st birthday and what a joyous moment it was for our family. This little guy has been through so much and survived so much. And, we love him with all our heart and soul. Life is very short and we are never promised to live tomorrow. Since our loss we have diligently strives to slow down and spend more precious time with the ones we love. Joshua's heart surgery was God's way of making us completely count on Him. He brought us to our knees to make us look up to Him. I feel that my son's survival will be a testimony to those that need to hear how much God loves them. My prayer is that his life will be used for God's perfect plan. I count it all joy when we fell into that trial, it produced the perfect fruit that is described so many times in the Bible. It's now my mission to pray over little ones that are going through sickness, surgery, pain and suffering. Blessings, Tina Johns