Mother's Day & Answered prayers

Mom and I in Cambodia 

Mother's Day has never been a big deal in our family. My mother is so practical that she never wanted to celebrate a hallmark-created holiday. But this year I look at this day a little differently. I am 20 years old and single. I am by no means a mother. As much as I cannot wait for the day that I am one, I am more than willing to wait for the man the Lord intends to be by my side if and when that day is to come. However, I would say that I have definitely had the opportunity to get a small taste of motherhood. Both the joys and the hardships. The hardships are hard, but the joys outweigh them all.

My mom always told me I have always had such a crazy natural motherly instinct. I love one of the stories she would tell me about when I was 2 years old and a friend of hers had a baby that was a few months. Still in diapers myself, I wanted to change and feed the baby. My mom said it honestly kind of freaked her out that her toddler already had such outward signs of motherly instincts. When my brother was born when I was 4 years old, she says I immediately started changing, feeding, and carrying this tiny infant. Other parents thought she was nuts for allowing her preschooler to carry the newborn around. So when my sister was born when I was 6, she practically already had a live in nanny. 

It's neat to see where the Lord instills passion and drive in us from a very young age. For each of us it is different and for some it isn't so obvious so soon. But as I look at the course of my life so far, I love that the Lord has continually allowed me to walk down a path of serving Him that has consisted of caring for little ones. 

Being a mom is the most selfless act in life that I think exists. At least I know this is the case because I was raised with a mother who was this way. Many lot I was crazy for what I am doing now, but I didn't think twice about it. Because I was raised by a woman who would do the exact same thing. If there's a need, and the Lord puts my mom in a position to help, she fills the need. No matter how big or how small. She never puts herself first, ever. 

Because my mom and I are practically the same person, I too agree that today is a semi-silly holiday. But I am thankful for a day to be reminded of how incredible of a mother I have. As I sat in the hospital today, I looked around at all the mothers I was surrounded by. New ones each day come and ask me if Daniel is my baby, and I explain the situation- that I am not in fact his mother. But there's still this sweet connection between myself and these other moms. One of them responded with, "but for now you get to be his mom." It was almost like she was saying, I realize he isn't your child. But we understand how hard it is to sit next to a sick baby's bedside. We are all in this together. The mom's like to talk to me quite a bit, and I often have trouble responding. But I have learned here that I can build a lot of trust and sweet friendships off of a simple smile, or sharing of a diaper, or holding their baby so they can run to the restroom. There's lots of ways to show love outside of words. And within the community of these tough moms, there's a lot of love! Because that's just how moms are built- to love. Especially mine!

No huge changes with the baby today. He was definitely more alert and wanting to play! Great signs for sure. Still a potential for discharge tomorrow. He's eating like a champ and even gained .1 kg today. Doesn't sound like much, but we rejoice in any amount going in that direction! 

Last thing I have to share. God did a REALLY cool thing today. I have been praying a lot that He would somehow intervene regarding the language barrier. The Lord did amazing things when I was here back in March with breaking down walls when it came to communication, but this time around has been a lot harder. Advocating for a sick baby is difficult in and of itself, then throw on top of it that you can't really speak to those taking care of the child. For example, I noticed there were signs his IV infiltrated the other day. I kept trying to explain it but it just wasn't working. I texted one of my trusty nurse friends back home and had her google the translation for, "I think his IV has infiltrated because….." So it's been tough. Today, they admitted a baby to our room with rotavirus. A super contagious and nasty virus. The last thing we need around our already immunocompromised heart baby. So I quickly turned into the crazy pedi parent that the nurses talk about at the nurses station. I just couldn't let this be okay. So I was running around like crazy trying to talk to anyone who would listen, and again, no one really understood. Then all of a sudden this sweet medical student/intern approached me and asked in PERFECT ENGLISH, how she could help me. I almost cried. So much weight and stress was lifted in that moment. We chatted and she said she would do everything she could to get him moved. But the point here is- God answers prayers. Always. Sometimes no answer is an answer. But He doesn't ignore us. I've been crying out for help with the language barrier. Today, He provided. And more than I could have ever imagined.