Part 1 - When Joshua Had An Event

Friday morning, Joshua put his hand on his heart and said, "Mom, I don't feel good." 

Oh MY heart! 

Last Friday took the stuffing out of me.

Through it all I was rocking the three C's - calm, cool, and collected.

By Saturday, I was toast.

Joshua? He's totally fine.

As far as we know.

(This was his "I want to grow my hair pony-tail long and get an earring" phase.  

I could write a whole post about that. And you would be surprised.)

In twenty months on this continent, Joshua has never complained.

 Ever.

He is an awesome kid with a smile that lights up a room, or a family, or a church, or a town.

I repeat, Joshua never complains. Oh, except when I won't let him play the IPAD. 

Being the non-alarmist parent that I am, I sat on the "my hearts hurts" thing for about an hour keeping a close eye on him. He pushed through a math lesson and when I looked over, he had his head down on the table and was zoning out. 

He seemed to be breathing okay. But talking was diminishing. Kind of like when you are in labor and you have to concentrate on what is going on inside. Talking would be too much trouble.

I then asked him if he wanted to play the IPAD, the ultimate distraction. 

He nodded, "No."

I called.

Cardiology.

Immediately.

"Come in," they said after deciding whether it would be ER or their office. 

Ten minutes later, we were out the door and the kid had the nerve to fall asleep in the car. Totally readjusted the rearview mirror for that seventy-five minute white-knuckle-drive.  

At this point, although I certainly didn't WANT anything to be wrong, I also didn't want to show up and have them say that he was totally fine. I hate wasting other people's time. Being our first event with Joshua, I wasn't 100% sure he wasn't being grumpy. 

He is a normal 9 year old boy, after all.

While he was sleeping and I was alone with my thoughts, I figured  maybe I would send a few texts to some other heart moms who would understand the alarms going off in my head. Every stoplight, I furiously texted and forwarded. I kept the circle small 'cause at this point, I really thought it would be NOTHING. 

Rest assured praying people, if it was SOMETHING, social media would have been bombarded!

I will get to the rest of the story but as I was driving home, I reflected on the amazingness of whom I texted. 

Three China hearts moms.

Three other families who adopted seriously ill children not knowing if they would live long enough to get home.

From the same orphanage in Hangzhou.

Talk about the tie that binds! Can I be honest? I'm not sure if we all lived in the same town that we would be the best of friends. We all have very different lives and are at varying stages in life.  

But....we all went to China.

And we all adopted children with extremely complex congenital heart disease. 

And not one of us has a single-solitary-regret. 

Of this I'm sure.     

Here are the Heart-Hero-moms with their Hangzhou Honeys!

Andrea, with her son Bryce, is a dear friend who was the last person to visit Joshua in person before we left for China. She told me about his pigeon chest (thank goodness I was prepared for that because it is shocking) and confirmed his dear personality. She helped me through those first six months of learning how to live with a terminal diagnosis. We've never met because she lives in the northwest corner, yet somehow that doesn't matter a bit.

Mary brought Ivy Joy home last year and has endured five open heart surgeries alongside her daughter, spending many months thousands of miles away from her home in Arizona. Her inner strength is contagious and her calm spirit kept my sanity intact when we landed in Boston with Joy in a bit of an emergency situation.

Sonia adopted her very own Joshua and brought him home to Florida. The boys skyped from their hospital beds soon after and share many memories from their time together in Hangzhou. Sonia cares deeply for the least of these and is only a text away for some serious Calling-On-His-Name when needed.

These three women all responded within FIVE minutes. 

Assuring me of their prayers, support, and love.

Seriously? We four Hangzhou mommies hail from all four corners of the United States: Northwest, Arizona, Florida, and the Northeast.

What a square!

There are many other beautiful and supportive China heart moms that I have met along the way, but darn, I don't have their numbers...

This adoption thing is so much more than I ever imagined.

So much more. 

Part II - in which I thank others and tell.......the rest of the story where Cardiology was VERY glad I called.