Welcom to Holland

My friend Cherish is going through a pretty rough spot right now and although she feels so torn and like she isn't doing enough, I can honestly say that all of those who are blessed to be in her life have learned so much from her & her husband over the past weeks. Their little boy Noah was born with a congenital heart defect and has had a rough go. He is a strong little boy, and he finally had his first surgery last week and then they closed up his heart this Monday. Noah has to undergo 2 more surgeries by the time he is 2, but I know this little guy is a fighter and he is going to be okay. The outlook is great, he will have to be on meds, but besides some restricted activity he should lead a normal life. What better outlook is there than that when your baby is born with something wrong. I can't even begin to imagine what Cherish & Bill are going through emotionally. I mean I know what I felt like when they told us Kolby had hemophilia. I was shocked, then I felt guilty, a long time to just accept it for what it was. And there is a lot of learning and there is going to be a lot of learning for a long time. My heart goes out for Cherish & Bill knowing that they to have a lot of learning left to do, a lot of scary situations to deal with. But I have hope that all will be well and that God will walk them through each and every situation and that they will always find the good in what they are dealing with. Cherish posted this short article on Noah's Care Page and I just had to share it. Beware, I cried an awful lot because it is might beautiful.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.


And I think I will just leave it at that...