Mind is racing

In the fever of it all, we forgot a few things.

Namely thank yous!

First of all, thank you Lord for all you have done for this baby. Thank you for holding him in your hands and looking upon him so favorably. Thank you for protecting him when he needed it, cuddling him when he needed it, calming him when he needed it, feeding him when he needed it, and carrying him through this period.

Thank you for protecting us. While we have felt the most stress we have ever felt in our lives, thank you for keeping us together and keeping us grounded in your love. Thank you for a consistent reminder of our lack of control and of our need to let you take the reins and steer us towards the clear.

Thank you to the doctors and the NICU nursing staff. I would name you all here, but I would leave one out and would feel awful so I will just say thank you to the teams that were there for all this. Thank you for the way you cared for our baby boy and the way you cared for us too. Your jobs are centered around making sure the children are taken care of, but you do so much more. Your positivity and the way you all have calmed our stress is a testament to you as people. Your professions do not require that attribute, and you all have it. Very special people, all of you.

Thank you to our families. The Wurms and the Flynns. This has been the most brutal time we could have ever imagined. Thank you for your support, phone calls, well wishes, prayers, encouragement, visits, etc. He is blessed to have Grandparents to begin with, to have these is truly above and beyond that. Words can really never describe.............yeah.

To brothers and sisters and families attached, thank you for being friends. Being siblings is something we did not choose, but to have you choose to be friends with us is something we cherish. Thanks for the calls, the cards, the emails, and to my sister, thank you for being here that day. I keep saying that God wanted to make sure you got to see him, and I still stand by that thought.

Thanks to our friends. To Matt and Jen, Tony and Collette, Brandon and Eva, Justin and Jo, Ben, Starr and JJ, Nicole and Derek, Danielle and Rob, Staysi and Dave, Tiffany, Jesse and Sara, Kareem and Mandy, Nick Z, Steve and Heather, Kyle and Jenny, Crystal and Annette, were still praying for Crystal's miracle, The Costco family, The City of Fife family, Chad and Jen, The Yahoo fantasy football posse, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, friends of friends, people we don't know, people we haven't met, all the way down the line. We could not have made it through this the way we have without your support. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

The parking garage team at the hospital. Thank you for being so patient with us. Seeing the same faces for 90+ days has to be strange for you, too. We thank you for being so kind and helpful. I am sure you can get bored of the same old thing, but your smiles sent us away with good feelings and that was something we needed now and then.

The Overlake team. Thank you for starting us off on the right foot. Thank you Dr. Mann for following us around.

Last but not least in any way, the rest of the NICU families. I am not sure where to even begin with all of you, but thank you for sharing your lives with us. Thank you for sharing in our stress and for sharing the lowest points imaginable with us. Thank you for looking out for Mason when the monitors were going off. Thank you for a smile as you passed. Thank you for kind words and for lessons in diaper choices. Thank you to Mandy for reaching out and showing us that this is not a death sentence. Thank you to Anju and her family for showing us what being steadfast looks like. Thank you to Alex and Collin for being so darn calm and so cool. The diaper class was a very positive memory among a clouded reality. Thank you to Jodi for your fire and passion. Thank you to all of you for sharing in our joy and our fear.

Special thank you goes out to Kelia and Elanor. Thank you for showing us that fragility and fear is not something to run away from, but something to stare down. We pray for your little one and know that you will be well taken care of. We look forward to sharing your success story with you all the way. We will be keeping up with the progress the best we can.

If I have missed anyone, I am sorry. Trust me that you are thanked as well.

God bless and we will check back later. The first day has been great.