Written on  JULY 8, 2015

One of our friends daughter from our support group received the Gift of Life today. She was blessed with a kidney. My heart gets so overwhelmed with happiness when I read our kidney friends make the transplant list or they get kidneys. It is a beautiful thing. I get so excited and joyful for that family that I can’t help but cry happy tears for them.

I can only imagine what that is going to feel like. Matthew will have to wait another, maybe, 6 months. Starting in August we will be able to start attending the family counseling  and support groups for donors and recipients. I am excited and nervous. I have heard so many different opinions about parents donating to their children. On one side it would be good to donate to him now because we won’t have to wait long. He will be a normal kid sooner. But on the other side if I give him a kidney now, when he is older, if anything, God-forbid, happens, I wouldn’t be able to give him a kidney. And we have been told that when you are on the transplant list as an adult, it could be years before one would be available. Now, as a child, he gets bumped to the top of the list.

I have learned to take in every second of each day. I do everything I can some days just to make my babies laugh. I want to hear them laugh. I want to see their smiles. I want to be surrounded by happiness. I want to be surrounded by JOY! And I want to make sure that my babies are happy.

Before Matthew, I never really cherished them like I should have. I feel like I maybe even took life for granted. But I have since learned that life is so precious. I want to breathe in every second of all their lives. Sometimes I would just sit at my desk and watch them. Really watch them. Watch how they laugh with each other, watch how they joke with each other, watch how they walk, talk and even argue with each other. It’s beautiful. Life is beautiful. Their lives are beautiful.

Our family has been so blessed with the Gift of Life. Every second of every day is so precious. Life is a Gift.