Tears of Joy!

After a long and eventful night (which included BW peeing on me and our bed, and later having an "explosion" that resulted in Matt needing to fetch the carpet cleaner in the middle of the night...), I was spending a little morning time with the little man in bed.  He was happy to have just been fed and thankful that I was starting to change his very dirty diaper (for this boy, food comes first!  he must get that trait from the Monroes).  As he lay naked on the bed (a precarious position as you can imagine), my phone rang.  And having JUST recently emptied my full voicemail inbox, I decided I should probably start answering a few calls here and there.  Plus, it was an unknown number, so I was hoping it would be our doctor's office with some news.

And sure enough, after almost 3 weeks, we finally got the news!  Benjamin's newborn screen came back with the all clear!!  No cystic fibrosis for our little guy! 

This was Ben's reaction to the news:

Meanwhile, Matt and I hugged... and cried.... and couldn't believe we were finally hearing the answer to our prayers. 

God is good.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever." Psalm 118:29

After many months of worrying, it is sort of unbelievable to finally have some peace about this issue.  We are so thankful to have this beautiful HEALTHY baby boy in our lives, and I wouldn't trade any of the heartache we've faced.  The difficult questions about what we do as two parents who are cystic fibrosis gene carriers as we think about expanding our family in the future will be put aside for the time being so we can fully enjoy our new life with, thankfully, a little less to worry about.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but we are so unbelievably grateful for our family and friends who have offered endless support, encouragement, prayers, and shoulders to cry on during this last 9 months.  We have been blessed with amazing people around us, and I don't know how I would have made it without them.  God certainly knows what he's doing taking care of us, that's for sure. 

I have been reminded in recent months of how fragile life is and how it can be taken from us in an instant.  I have wept for friends that have lost loved ones or even spouses who were barely 30 years old.  And no, I will never understand God's ways.  Yet, I see (or try to see) him at work in great ways through it all. Our trials have been miniscule compared to those of others, but I am thankful for the reminder (which I know I always need) that God is in control, and he is faithful.  Even if our journey were down a different path, I know he'd still be taking care of us.  We're just grateful for the path we see today.

And now, Ben is back to his regular daily activities.