Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:7–11.
7 「你們祈求，就給你們；尋找，就尋見；叩門，就給你們開門。8 因為凡祈求的就得著，尋找的就尋見，叩門的就給他開門。9 你們中間哪一個人，兒子向他要餅，反給他石頭；10 要魚，反給他蛇呢？11 你們雖然邪惡，尚且知道把好東西給兒女，何況你們在天上的父，難道不更把好東西賜給求他的人嗎？
聖經新譯本（繁體•神字版）, 第二版. (香港: 環球聖經公會, 2005), Mt 7:7–11.
The Bible verse referenced at the beginning of this blog post was a set of verses that I held on during this entire past week. I often reminded God of this verse, among others, while I was praying throughout the week for my family. God is a mighty God and He gives tremendous gifts, especially to those who put their trust in Him. We are eternally grateful for the mighty miracles God has bestowed upon us this week. Daniel is well and is finally at home with us! A full two days earlier than expected!
This past week has definitely been one of the hardest weeks of my life. Last Sunday when we found out Elizabeth’s water broke, it was very much the same manner in which it broke when Noah was born. May 29th, Elizabeth’s water broke just a little in the late morning. I prayed and thought that we needed to go to the hospital to check it out (same as last time), but Elizabeth wasn’t sure it was her water that broke. Needless to say, since everything was looking similar to the last time and this is our second child, I was a lot more calm and collected. I thought that everything was safe and sound taking Elizabeth to the hospital. Man… I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Once we got the hospital, sure enough, her water had just broke a little and the countdown had begun for delivery. That being said, it wasn’t that straightforward. We waited almost 72 hours for Elizabeth to give birth and eventually June 1st, Daniel was born (one day shy of being a May baby like his daddy). This long drawn out process had us worried already quite a bit, but Elizabeth was assured that the water didn’t completely break and she had some time to delivery Daniel naturally. Unfortunately when Daniel was born, sometime in the delivery process, he swallowed a considerable amount of amniotic fluid (for someone his size) and he developed a lung infection shortly after birth. His breathing began to grow faster and his O2 levels began to drop. We were greatly concerned that something terrible was beginning to happen. Shortly after he was born, he was admitted to NICU. While he was in NICU for the first 12 hours, he quickly developed jaundice on top of the other issues that he was admitted.
Admitting Daniel to NICU only after 3 hours of being born, not even really being able to see or hold him was especially difficult. The hospital we were in here in Guangzhou was extremely strict, they wouldn’t even allow us to see little Daniel through a window. We were now separated from our newborn child, without the ability to hold him for the first time or even get to spend a lot of time with him. The doctors wouldn’t take any photos or allow us to call and put the phone close to his bed.
Thankfully, today, the doctor mentioned to us that after the first three days of antibiotics and one day observation, they believed he was well enough to go home! Daniel was now breathing on his own, infection cleared up, amniotic fluid was clear from his lungs and the jaundice had subsided. The doctor did warn us that his jaundice could become a problem again over the next 1-2 weeks, but thankfully we were recommended this interestingly little gadget from the hospital. It is called the Bilibaby, it is a smart device that allows us to check his bilirubin levels at home and will automatically send a report of each check to the doctors at the hospital to make sure his jaundice does not come back. What a cool idea!
In closing, there is a lot that God has taught me this week and I would love to write another post about some of those things. They are life lessons that I believe one can only truly learn from being married and having a child. I wrote them all down in my journal while waiting for Elizabeth to give birth on one of those first three days. Thank you everyone for your prayers, they have made a tremendous impact in our lives, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and SPIRITUALLY! We also owe you all a great deal of gratitude! It was amazing to think there there were people praying from almost every continent in the world! You all are amazing friends and I consider you all to be family! We will keep you updated and I will write another one writing about some of those life secrets the Lord shared with me over this roller coster of a week! God bless you all!
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