Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Giving Thanks; Needing Prayers....

At this time last year and for every year for as long as I can remember, my grandmother and I sat and cut celery for the olive salad, spiced our homemade stuffing with fresh sage, mixed our sweet potato balls, and prepared the mixture for the manicotti we’d roll the next morning. This year, we sit vigil. There are no preparations to be made. We just wait for news to come. Thanksgiving this year will not be like the Thanksgivings of years past. Tomorrow we will be thankful not for the bounty of food we lay upon the table but for what little hope we have to hold onto. Thankful that our precious Abigail Rose is still with us. That she is still alive and that our family is together. There will not be turkey, but there will be thanksgiving…

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Three days ago, the morning after my birthday, M and I awoke to a call from my sister telling us that her 26 day-old baby was in the hospital in critical condition. How could we have known that by the time we got to NY after a 5 hour bus ride that that little angel would have had 3 cardiac arrests and be fighting for her life? How could we have anticipated that she would be hooked up to all kinds of machines, that a ventilator would be breathing for her, or that within three days her brain would swell so badly that she’d be in a coma? There is nothing that can prepare a person for a sight like this. The sight of my sister, helpless, broken down, asking the same question that everyone has asked every hour, everyday since this happened – a question that no one can answer or understand: Why? Why does a thing like this happen? Why does God allow such suffering? I have never known pain like this.

Everyone sits around and cries until they are too numb or tired or frustrated. A family that has never really prayed, whose religion has always been so textbook, is now asking God for help and answers. But they don’t come soon enough to make anyone content. Abby’s life is in His hands and the future is so uncertain. The doctors take care not to give us too much hope. They are so grounded in the reality of their science that they forget that our God is bigger than this. It’s just a matter of whether or not He’ll choose to move in the way we hope He will. And how we hope…

I have never wanted anything in my life the way I want to see that precious baby wake up, open her eyes, stick out her tongue at me when I sing… just for one moment to hear her cry. Just to see her again in her mommy’s arms. Right now, she is so absent from her little swollen body… But I know God is present even if Abby seems so far from us. And I thank Him for every minute I have with my family, even when we are at odds with each other and our stress and fear and frustration lead us to lash out at one another…. I thank Him for every minute I can look at that little girl and remember what it was like to hold her in my arms, and picture the way she brought such joy to her mother’s eyes, the way they both lit up like her little glow worm.

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This year, Thanksgiving will not be about eating. We won’t come together as a family at the dinner table we’ve eaten at for the last 26 years. But we will come together…

Please keep my sister Michelle and her husband Shawn and my whole family in prayer this Thanksgiving and thank God for those who are in your lives, even the littlest lives that we sometimes take so for granted.

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Please pray for Abby….

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Nancy Rose,

you probably know that in Italy we don’t have a thanksgiving day. I could thank you for your world and I’m happy to hear that Abbigail Rose is with you. I’m sure She is going better day by day.

I’m catholic and we use to say this phrase:

“Dio ci manda cio’ che siamo in grado di sopportare”.

I’m not sure to translate this in the right way. It means that God send us only things that we are able to support (or to suffer or to tolerate).

Martie said...

Oh Nan, I am so sorry to hear this about Abby! I will pray for her and the whole family to be strong and stay faithful in this most terribly stressful time.

Dear God, I lift up this family to you and ask that if it be Your will Abby will be healed and suffer no long term problems from this most terrible affliction. You are with her, even though she is in a coma, and You will not leave her. You have promised us that wherever two or more are gathered in Your name and pray, You will be there. We know this, and yet in times like these, we humans wonder where You have gone and why You have allowed this to happen to this sweet baby. You alone know the answer. Please be with this family and give them Your strentgh to bear whatever is to come. Thank you Lord, Amen.

Anonymous said...

Our prayers are with little Abby. It is so heartbreaking to have known her this way.

Anonymous said...

Is there any update on baby Abby? We pray that she recovers.

Nunzia said...

Abby is still in a coma. She is showing some facial movement but her pupils are not dialiting. The doctors say that there is a possibility she will never wake up and that if she does there is no hope that she will ever be a normal child and that she will likely be severely disabled. I know that God is bigger than this but I am so afraid to be hopeful. I know His will will prevail and that this is in His hands... it's just very hard to hope when the doctors give us none. I'm just glad that my hope is not in man but in God...

Tim said...

NUNZIA: that must be rough. My prayers are definitely with your family and that precious baby.

cybeRanger said...

You may want to take Holy Communion to proclaim His death (which is for our redemption).

Father God, I pray and give thanks that Abby will be completely healed in Jesus name. Amen!

Anonymous said...

i am praying with all my heart for Abby and your entire family.
-s.

Anonymous said...

Dear Daddy in heaven, You know everything about baby Abby, better than any doctor would know and we look up to You today, to send forth Word and heal all disease. In the mighty name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen

Anonymous said...

Dear Daddy in heaven, You know everything about baby Abby, better than any doctor would know and we look up to You today, to send forth Word and heal all disease. In the mighty name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen

Anonymous said...

it's sad but let us not give up hope for little abby. let's continue praying that she regains consciousness and be a normal child again.

Shanti said...

I'll be praying for the baby and the family as well. I had no idea when you commented on my blog on my cousin's baby, that your family was currently going through this!!

Anonymous said...

It must have been hard on you and yr family. This is my prayer to Abba Father for Baby Abby.

Dear Heavenly Father, every little child is a gift from you above and they are all innocent. Have mercy on Baby Abby and I pray all the disceases to be up rooted and be healed in Jesus most mightly name. Amen.

Many Huggs
PW

Anonymous said...

I want you to know that I will be praying for Abby.
It is a sad thing to see these little ones suffer so. It is probably harder on the parents, other family members, and friends than it is for her though.
One thing we know and that is that God loves these little ones, and He always knows what is best.
That is how I will be praying. For God's best in His Son Jesus, and for His glory.
Father little Abby is in YOUR hands. YOU know her condition, and YOU also know what the future holds for her. Raise her in healing and health according to YOUR divine will. Encourage and strengthen this family. Draw them nearer to YOURSELF. In Jesus Name. Amen.

KayMac said...

Praying for Abby, for her parents, for you and the rest of the family...that you all experience the tenderest of God's mercies during this.

Anonymous said...

Dear Nunzia

Hope everything is all well!

Sad to say goodbye but thank you for yr support and encouragements over the years. I have decided to stop blogging. Kindly remove my link "The Spirit of Life" on yours.

Be strong and courageous my friend. Praying for Abby recovery soon.

All the best and God bless!

Many Huggs
PW

Martie said...

continuing to pray for Abby....any updates at this time? My heart goes out to all of you in this stressful time! Hugs

Nunzia said...

Thanks again to all of you who continue to storm heaven for my precious neice. There has not yet been any change. She is moving her face and grimmacing but no movement of arms or legs yet. They've also now put in a feeding tube... Today she will have another MRI.. the fear is that the swelling will have lessened, meaning this will be all she can do. Please pray that she comes out of this coma soon and is restored.. and for my sister Michelle who is having such a difficult time.

In Him,
Nan

audrey` said...

Please take care, Nan.

In God we trust!

Nunzia said...

This morning I spoke with my family, who told me that Abby "cried" last night and that her arms were twitching, which we saw to be signs that
she was coming out of this. This morning we found out, however, that it was likely that it was just the vent making the sounds and that all
the twitching indicates that Abby has another infection. She had a "rough night" last night according to what I've been told and they are
thinking it will take 5 days to find out what is wrong with her now. Please pray hard for my poor little neice. She is fighting so hard...