To God be the glory . . .

I was perhaps a bit brief last night, so thought I would add a little more.

Tobias was released yesterday after 3 months and 3 days. 94 days. One fourth of a year. It puts me in mind of the verse, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." ( James 4:15) How little we control and how great must be the One who does.

Toby came home weighing 5 pounds 5 ounces, a big improvement from his start of 1 pound 13.
A couple more ounces, and he will have tripled his birth weight. It is truly amazing. I reviewed a lot of his chart the last week in the hospital. There were no sudden changes or giant leaps forward but just (how carelessly I use that word) the daily sustaining grace of God and new mercy every day. Tobias is a miracle but not so very different from each of us. We were privileged to see part of his journey to this point, which most babies make in secret; and some of us had the further privilege to participate with God in the process. ( I can't help noticing how effortlessly He usually does it and how apparently tenuous it is with us involved.)

Many of you participated through your prayers on Toby's behalf. We are deeply grateful to you and for you, knowing that in some way not fully understood God chooses to use our prayers. Many also helped us with cards, visits, encouraging words, and generous gifts. God used you to give us hugs when we needed hugs, laughter when we needed laughter, and even tears when we needed tears. Thank you. A special group of you were hand-chosen by the Lord of the universe to be His hands here and give the physical care that Toby needed. (And you did it with such humility and kindness.) You have a special place in our hearts and no, we will not forget the NICU.

Toby brought some paraphenalia home with him. He is on oxygen and expected to be so for three or four months. He is on a monitor, probably for a month longer than the oxygen. We are also giving breathing treatments twice a day. And that's about it. Not bad for a baby who started out on the "critical" list. His heart surgery is a thing of the past. He has some minor hernias for which he will need surgery by about September. The eye doctor continues to monitor for possible problems, but does not expect anything major at this point. The major ongoing issue is expected to be his lungs. A ventilator can do quite a bit of damage while it's saving you. But even that should become much less of a problem in the next 5 - 7 years as new lung tissue grows. It is easy to believe as he seems louder every day.

Who wants to praise the Lord with me?
(Set your alarm to go off every three hours because that's how often he needs to eat.)

I will try to get to some at-home pictures in the next few days. We've been busy here!