Tuesday, September 4, 2007

99 Balloons - it changed my outlook

Our 11 yr. old son, Tanner, takes piano from my mom's cousin so she obviously knew about Tristan having Trisomy 18. Two weeks ago she told me that she went out-of-town with a group of ladies from her church to a Beth Moore Conference. She said that she was sitting in the van and this lady was crocheting a baby dress and the lady said it was for her granddaughter who is due in October that has Trisomy 18! My mom's cousin immediately told her that we had just found out that our son has Trisomy 18 and that we were devastated. The lady said, "please tell her to go on the Internet to a website called 99 balloons because it really changed my daughter-in-law's outlook". I told my Aunt that I would, but with everything we have been emotionally going through it actually took me a week to remember the conversation and then until today to look at the website. Let me stop here, until now I have really just dwelt on the fact that Tristan would die, that he is - as medical science says - "incompatible with life" and I had really just given up on the hope that he would live, until I watched the video on the 99 balloons website! I can't even begin to tell you the impact it had on me, all of a sudden, in living color I saw this precious baby boy named Eliott, who looked normal and whose parents poured out their love to him every day, celebrated his birthday every day by doing something totally different and did the normal every day things with him, basically living every day not dwelling on the fact that he was considered "incompatible with life" and would eventually pass away - WOW, has my outlook changed. I started thinking, this could be Tristan, he could LIVE, he could live 99 days if the Lord chooses, or he could be the one who lives 100 days or 1 year. Of course, only the Lord knows how much time we will have with Tristan but I know that from here on I will not think about him dying but I will long for him to be born and pray that I will celebrate his life every day, no matter how long or how short, and will not be afraid to hold back my heart for fear of being hurt! After you read this entry please click on the link to "99 balloons" which is right under our family picture, it will help you better understand what we are facing in the days ahead and I promise it will be the greatest 6 minutes you have spent today because it shows in living color that miracles do happen and that we serve a great God!

3 comments:

Melissa said...

99 Balloons is an awesome video. I don't have a trisomy child, but I am working hard to raise awareness for trisomy 13 and 18 and this is the first thing I saw when starting to do my research.

I think everyone needs to see this video.

Melissa said...

99 Balloons is an awesome video. I don't have a trisomy child, but I am working hard to raise awareness for trisomy 13 and 18 and this is the first thing I saw when starting to do my research.

I think everyone needs to see this video.

The Hickels said...

I just stumbled across your blog through the Trisomy 18 website. My husband's cousin's son was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 earlier this month, and we are trying to educate ourselves to best support her and her husband. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences! The 99 balloons video was amazing--thanks for referencing it!