Dear Daddies Who Were There Before Us

There were two of you. One nearing the end of your NICU journey and the other just beginning several weeks before us.

You introduced yourselves to us.

You shared your baby girls with us.

You shared your experiences with us.

You two men gave us hope for our own baby girl.

When you talked to us about your NICU experiences, you brought us peace about ours.

We knew our girl's journey would look differently than your two girl's journeys looked. We knew we would have different experiences and different obstacles to cross.

But walking out of the hospital a year ago yesterday felt a whole lot easier having heard your stories.

...and I know I could never thank you enough for that.

Reading back through the CaringBridge post I wrote last January 22 was extremely hard. Remembering the moment of leaving the hospital empty-handed brought back painful emotions that I haven't thought about or felt in many months.

However, I vividly remember recalling four simple words you spoke to us just three days earlier, "She's in good hands."

...and she was.

In those first days, y'all painted a picture of FAITH for me.

It would be necessary to have faith in the doctors and nurses who took care of Mercy, to believe in their hearts that cared deeply for her the moment she took up residence in one of their incubators, to know fully that they had her very best interests at heart and to trust their knowledge in the medicine they practice.

Over the next seven weeks our faith in her medical staff would deepen alongside our faith in her Heavenly Father.

Not only would it be necessary to have faith in her doctors and nurses, it would be infinitely more necessary to have faith in the God to whom she belongs, to believe in His heart that loves her so much more deeply than we even know how to love, to know without question that He always would have her very best interests at His heart and to have unwavering trust in His sovereign knowledge of every day He would give us to spend with her on this earth.

So... thank you, daddies, for reminding me of the Hands she was in then, is in now, and just how good they are.

**this post is part of a seven week series of 'letters' to people, events and things that were part of the life transforming work God did in our lives during Mercy's stay in the NICU - for more on our growth in the NICU, check out our CaringBridge page**