A New, Very Special Friend

I have been wanting to share this wonderful story since right after Christmas time but with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, getting back into the school swing of things, and other silly reasons I just haven't gotten to it.
BUT NOW IS THE TIME!!!!!

Let's go back to the week after Nathan's last surgery.....it was the night before we were due to head back to Atlanta for stitches removal and our 1st opportunity to see the results of this 3rd surgery. Like ALL of the surgeries, Rod and I are both very anxious about EVERYTHING. We start worrying if we have done the right thing?, have we made Nathan's ear look even more "different" than it already was?, were surgeries the right road to take?, is Nathan really going to appreciate what we have done in the years to come?..........and the list of worry and doubt goes on and on. I usually lose ALOT of sleep about all of the afore mentioned, BUT not that night!!!! Just after we had tucked the boys into bed I sat down at my computer to do a little facebookin' (just as I know all of you do too~~wink, wink) and I noticed that I had a new message in my inbox. I wasn't sure who the person was that was writing me but someone (thank you Lord) made me open that message. You see, all of those questions of worry that I have had in the past, have always ended up in my prayers at night. At the end, I always ask God to please show me something to let me know that we have made the right decisions for our sweet Nathan. As I opened the message and began reading these were the words that I read:
My mom and I were just looking at your blog and saw one of your children in a bandage very similar to ones I often wore as a child. We were instantly intrigued and saw that your son has microtia, too. I was diagnosed with it around the same age and went through all four surgeries as a young child. My parents and I were just talking about what a blessing those surgeries have been and the positive influence they have had on my life.I hope y'all have had just as great of experience as we had and that your son is quickly recovering from this most recent procedure. We saw that y'all are from Auburn which is where I am living right now, too. I am finishing up my senior year at Auburn and am learning how fast time flies! Hope those message didn't creep you out too much, but just wanted to encourage you and let you know how much those surgeries pay off! God bless!-Caroline

God's timing is PERFECT!!!! You see, this amazing young woman happened to be looking at a mutual friends blog that night and "decided" to click on a link that led her to my blog. We had never met nor spoken before but because she was led, for whatever reason, to "peek" at my blog and discover she had something in common with this little boy she had never met, MY PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED!!!! Thanks to some encouragement from her mom, she decided to email me -- she was worried that I might think it was "creepy" or strange that a random stranger was contacting me. Little did she know that it did the total opposite~~ I sat and read that email with tears streaming down my face, I called my family and read it to them, only to produce the same reaction (my mom was even teary). So that is the long of it!!!!! Now for the short of it.......being that Caroline is a student at AU we set up a time for her to come meet us/Nathan. That little meeting happened last week......Everyone, meet Caroline!!!!!

I can truly tell you, that it was THE MOST WONDERFUL visit! The insight she provided Rod and I on how Nathan is feeling or how well he is hearing in certain situations is/was priceless. She is the cutest, sweetest thing......she brought Nathan some cookies she had made. They were "2" cookies ~~~ in honor of him now having 2 ears. They compared ears (Nathan's is still swollen a good bit) and talked about their "scars" and surgery. LOVE HER!!!! We hope we can continue this special friendship that we found in her.

Caroline, from the bottom of our hearts....thank you, thank you, thank you! It truly was a pleasure to meet you and spend some time with you. Our prayers are that Nathan will grow up to be as confident, caring and endearing as you are. We still hope to meet your parents one day soon and please come visit us anytime!