My daughter, Crystal, is Tootie's mom. She sent this to me this morning; I want to share this with you:

Stroke:

You almost took everything but we gained even more.

The very first moment you feel your unborn baby kick you begin to have dreams. Dreams of a future cheerleader, or football player, a singer, an artist, everything.

You spend countless hours, minutes, days thinking about what your future holds for your baby. You know that life will be perfect because well...that's what its supposed to be, right?

Then the moment your baby is born you fall in love, a love that you never knew existed, a love greater than any other love you know. This new little person has stole your heart. And life will never be the same.

You watch this tiny little angel smile for the first time, staring into their eyes and its so magical to know that they love you just as much as you love them. You watch them learn to sit up, crawl, stand, walk, and your heart melts when you hear the word "Mama".

And then one night, in the matter of hours all those dreams are crushed. Your baby can't move, your baby can't swallow, your baby can't speak, and your baby is now blind. And your heart stops.

And you think wait....This isn't how the story goes.

You watch your child lay lifeless in a tiny hospital crib for weeks, you see parents come in with their sick children and leave without them, and you wonder "Will I too be leaving alone?". You crawl into that crib with your baby and you pray, and you sing, and you tell her that mama loves her more than anything else in the world and she is never alone.

Weeks pass by, no change, the doctors tell you there isn't anything they can do.

There is family there around the clock so that baby is never by herself because you know what: Love Conquers All.

You go to the Chapel in the children's hospital and you cry, and cry, and cry. And you beg and you plead with God if you just let my baby live I promise...

Then you see your friends kids walking, playing, talking, and you can't control the pang of envy you feel. Because you know your child should be running and playing with them too.

Instead of celebrating your baby's 1st birthday letting her smash her own birthday cake you decorate her room in ICU and the nurses so kindly allow just for today more than 2 visitors at a time. And you sing Happy Birthday and you thank God even under these circumstances that she's made it this far.

Christmas comes and you have tree in her hospital room, her stocking, decorations, cards. This is home. Santa comes to take a picture with your baby. You open presents, you eat a hospital cheeseburger, and you keep waiting for that miracle.

More weeks pass. No change. Its time to go home. And you're scared.

In a matter of three months your baby went from a bubbly, talkative, walking...to a baby confined to a wheelchair that has to hold her head up for her. She has a feeding tube, she cannot see, and she cannot sleep.

There is no book to help you through this.

You come home and you work night and day on simple things; learning to swallow or even just being able to hold her, and you pray even harder.

And then that miracle comes. The doctor says she can see! Its one huge step in the recovery process! And in that moment you think even if this is the only thing she regains; at least she will see the beauty of the world.

And more tiny miracles come to follow; she can drink again from a bottle, she can sleep for a couple of hours at a time.

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I have learned to appreciate what other parents take for granted every day. I rejoice in small gains and enjoy the small things in life. And I know that those doctors were so wrong because God created our bodies; therefore, He can also restore our bodies.

There is a Scripture that talks about a blind boy, and the people ask Jesus "Jesus, who was it that sinned that he is blind, him or his parents" and Jesus said "It was neither him or his parents. He is blind so that they can see My good work".

I can honestly, with all my heart say that I have seen God's good work. I've seen prayer work. I know my daughter is one of God's greatest angels and He has plans bigger than I can imagine for her.

So were those original dreams crushed? Yes, but WE have new and even better dreams now.