We were a bit concerned about the cough and fever Kate developed last week. When we went to the Doctor, he confirmed a bit of congestion, but then told us some scary news: Kate’s heart rate was really high and he was going to send us to Flint (the same hospital William spent his first 8 days in). He wanted us to see a coronary pediatrician. Yikes. Long story short, we spent 2 days in the hospital while Kate recovered from a mild case of pneumonia. We are all feeling much better now. I just finished a Bible study from the book of Daniel and the whole weekend was reminded of a great lesson I learned. God gives us big miracles, but in the midst of those miracles, he often gives us “mini miracles” that we don’t often give Him credit for. So here is my list of “mini miracles” from the last week . . .

• We are thankful for great friends who were able to change their plans at a moment’s notice to take care of William. And we are thankful for a son who is so easy going and easily adjusted to some pretty crazy days of being shuffled around. Mom was able to come up and be with him for the last day, which helped him get back to normal.
• Speaking of Mom, I’m so thankful for a mom who is willing to drop everything and drive 4 hours to help out. It eased our stress level so much. Plus it was great to come home to a clean house, no laundry, and a good meal.
• Our biggest miracle is that Kate’s heart is strong and healthy. We are so blessed with healthy kids. Being in a pediatric unit is not the most encouraging place to be and we quickly realized how blessed we are.
• We are so glad to only have one child in the hospital. William and his friend, Addi, got into the salt de-icer at the church. When Addi’s mom asked them if they ate it, William replied, “Yes, we didn’t.” She had to call poison control and flushed a bunch of water through them.
• Poor little Kate got poked 8 times while the nurses tried to get an IV into her. Every single one of her veins collapsed on them. By the time it was over, we were all crying. It was so terrible, yet they were scared of her getting dehydrated. Finally the nurse told the doctor she would not try any more. We were so thankful that she stood up to him and also thankful that Kate continued nursing normally so she did not get dehydrated.
• After some pretty terrible meals (the picture is of pureed green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy– obviously we received someone else’s meal!!), we were so thankful when our good friend Zeke, who owns our favorite Tim Horton’s restaurant, brought a huge bag of food and goodies to us. It lasted us the rest of our visit.
• Finally, on the morning we were discharged, the doctors made their rounds extra early, allowing the nurse to start the paperwork over an hour early. She brought the papers into us around 10:00, saying that she had never discharged a patient so quickly. We were home by 11:00. Peter had not started preparing for his sermon, and also had a funeral to prepare for. We had over 4 hours extra for him to get things done.

We are again reminded of a God who cares for us and who shows up in every little thing. I am overwhelmed by how much he provided for us– and then I think of all the hundreds of patients in that hospital. God must do millions of “mini miracles” and big miracles there each day! It would be astonishing to know of them all.