Gladness

'Praise the LORD, O my soul; and all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits -
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.'
Psalm 103 :1-5

After spending 5 days in the hospital, Noah is now back home with us!
It truly amazes me how quickly Noah can bounce back from a surgery that would surely knock me out for weeks. And his disposition continues to remain easy-going and happy, which is such a blessing.

Noah's surgery went very well. We are very thankful that even though Noah's bowel was sinking back into his tummy, it had not gone far enough for stool to be leaking into his body, which we were quite worried about.
During surgery they cut Noah's loop of bowel, so he now has 2 pieces of bowel coming out of his stomach (which he did the first time around as well). These pieces are on the large side, in an effort to prevent them from sinking again. Everything has been working well. We need to continue making sure that Noah gets lots of fluids, which has been easier than we expected! Noah loves soup (a typical dutch boy!) and gets that for lunch every day. We also have freezies every day - we are probably the only family that does this in the winter, but it works!

While Noah was in surgery, the surgeon also looked at Noah's abcess, which had been coming back and causing a lot of pain. The good news is that the entrance for this abcess is right along the edge of Noah's bum hole and now that no stool can come out of his bum, it should heal properly. The surgeon did not want to stitch this opening closed as this would cause scar tissue, which would cause problems later on.

We are reminded time and again that Noah's journey is far from over. In his 21 months, Noah has already had 7 surgeries and needs about 4 more in the future. This is not a pleasant thought and we pray for peace and strength when the time comes.

We also reminded time and again that we are not in control of things and are constantly being humbled and brought to our knees before the throne of our Heavenly Father. The road is not always easy, and without Him, we would not be able to stand.

Here are a few pictures from Noah's 2 weeks at home over Christmas:

So happy to be together!

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Don't mind the pink! It's all I could find!

Stegenga Sinterklaas:

We have learned that time is precious and goes by way too fast. So this year we bought a video camera for Sinterklaas and have gotten good use out of it. Now all those precious moments can be captured and watched later!