I Believe In Christ

There is something very poignant, very appropriate and touching about watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing  "I Believe in Christ" from an PICU room with your child, while all around you are other very sick, compromised children.

I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!

From him I'll gain my fondest dream;

And while I strive through grief and pain,

His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."

I believe in Christ; so come what may,

With him I'll stand in that great day

When on this earth he comes again

To rule among the sons of men.

Children aren't supposed to be lying in hospital rooms, tied to machines, lines, fighting to breathe, to move.  Children should run, laughing, playing, care-free.

Conference is a bit different this time.  Our family is scattered around the western half of North America.  William, Jonathan and Joseph are on the road to Montana where they'll be spending spring break working on an Indian reservation.  Aaron and I are in the PICU at Primary Children's Hospital.  Deborah and Michael are watching from home.  David, Matthew and Andrew are at Conference.  And Mary is in British Columbia watching.  But scattered as we all are, we're all still gathered to hear the words of the Lord from his servants.

I am so grateful for their counsel.  I'm going to have to go back and re-watch and read the talks again.  Somehow, consulting with doctors and respiratory therapists, and working with nurses makes it hard to really focus.

On the Aaron front, he's having a very good day.  He should be peaking now in his symptoms.  Today should be his worst day.  Yeah, once again, this kid doesn't read the script and doesn't play by the "rules."  And once again, that's more than okay.

We've been able to reduce his support on the hospital ventilator quite a bit today, and they may try to make the jump back to his home ventilator later today or tomorrow morning.  He'll still be on quite a bit of support, much, much more than his regular settings.  But the reason he's on the hospital vent is because our home vent couldn't keep him breathing well.  So it's a good thing happening.  Maybe it will be a faster process than I first thought.  But whatever it is, we'll just deal with it and make it happen.

I leave you with probably my favorite quote from Conference.  It's from President Uchtdorf's talk on Sunday morning.

“In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.  

Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny.”

I am so grateful for this knowledge, for knowing that this life is not the beginning, nor the end of our existence.  It is what makes the tenuous nature of this life bearable.  May God be with you.