Marked as HIS

This is Miss Susan,' the Haitian lady said, introducing me, for the second time, to a tall, Haitian toddler, whose eyes were bright with fever. 'She is your other Mummy', the lady continued, 'She and Mme John had an utterly miserable time with you when you were a baby!'

The small boy listened quietly, barely blinking as his mother talked, and I laughed, not because she was joking or exaggerating, but because she was telling the truth, and because of the truth she hadn't told.

Jonathon came to us in the spring of 2009. Born over 2 months before his due date, he was several days old and had not received any medical care. Jonathon was icy cold and desperately dehydrated. Had it not been for some exceptional nursing skills, he would have been dead within minutes.

Over the days that followed, Jonathon's condition became more critical. He was resuscitated for over two hours one morning. Unable to revive him, we withdrew treatment so that I could hold Jonathon in his last minutes. Miraculously, he did not die!

I laughed as Jonathon's mother talked, because we did have a truly miserable time with Jonathon. Yet here he was, a big strong boy, ready to start pre-school in a few months. The struggle we experienced then made the sharpened the joy today; Jonathon had survived seemingly impossible challenges as a premature baby. 

We learnt that after he was discharged from our NICU, Jonathon had suffered life threatening croup on a visit to a town in the North of Haiti. He had required surgical intervention and had 'died' on the operating table.  Four times, we counted. Four times in less than 3 years, he had died and risen again.  I was soaring now. My baby was back, and he was T.H.R.I.V.I.N.G. I knew God's hand was on him. I experienced a surge of anticipation. I might never know God's plan for this child's life, but I knew Jonathon was marked as his.