Hope and Children

It has been over a year since we said goodbye to our son. Many things have happened in the course of a year; life has not slowed down. We have experienced ups and downs. One thing has remained the same since our journey with Jordan: an appreciation for the blessing of each day. Losing a son gave us a profound understanding that our lives are not permanent. We believe that we have everlasting life through Christ Jesus, but "our" lives on Earth are not permanent.  That shouldn't come as a suprise, but we tend to live and act as if we can live forever by our own strength and protection. 

Someone asked us a profound question yesterday that many may be afraid to ask. "How do you take joy or look forward to having children in circumstances that are not ideal for having children?" An extreme example of this was a Jew raising a child in a Jewish concentration camp. In our experience, it was going through with a pregnancy with little chances of survival. We were fortunate enough to face the reality of that question and come out on the other side of the experience stronger in our faith. Why is that? Hope. We had the blessing of understanding God's nature and taking hope in Him. Take the following quote as an example.

Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16 NKJV)

Jesus did only what He saw His Father in Heaven do. He did not turn away the children. In fact, He rebuked anyone who would do such a thing. Life is not permanent. Where are we to store our treasures? Our family chooses to store our treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven. We do that by building our relationship with the Heavenly Father and investing in other people; especially in the lives of children.

Something very basic, but very beautiful happened in the little time that we had with Jordan. A mother and a father received their son with excitement, hope and love. We held his hand. We kissed him. We prayed with him and dedicated him to the Lord. Believe us. God was with us and although we may not entirely realize how now, those things were building up treasures in the Kingdom of Heaven. As for the actions of our son Jordan, an infant, he gave us far more hope for the future than we could ever have given him.

We are so excited to share two pieces of very exciting news. The first is about Ian's parents. Ian was the little boy who passed away the day before baby Jordan. His parents have had an extremely rough road trying to bring healthy children into this world. Not yesterday morning when they welcomed a little boy, Christopher, into their family. We are so excited for their family and thank God for Christopher. Congratulations to them! Also, we are expecting to welcome a little girl into our family in March! After three sonograms, everything looks very good. We couldn't believe it when they told us it was a girl. We eagerly await her arrival and thank God for His many blessings.