Community and Smiles

Big Smile

Bigger smile!

I finally caught his smile with the camera!

Joseph is doing very well. He went to the pediatrician on Thursday and Dr. Yim thought he looked great. Joseph is almost 11 pounds and he has kept up with the ounce a day gain rate. His ENT doctor saw him this week as well. He liked his progress as well and they are working on scheduling his surgery to remove the nasal tubes. It should be sometime before Thanksgiving.

We sort of lost track of a couple of months through all this. I cannot believe that we are talking about Thanksgiving--but we look forward to its arrival. This will really be a special Thanksgiving as we have so much to be thankful for. It will be even better if he Joseph can be done with his bionic nose.

Last week I wrote about the miracle of breathing for Joseph. Tonight we were watching the video tape of the day he was born. We had not seen it yet and it was amazing to relive the time just two months ago (Joseph turned two months old on the 12th) when he was born. On the tape I heard myself mention that it seemed like he was having a little trouble breathing through his nose but I kept reassuring Mary that all was well. Little did I know that a few hours after that moment I would be in an ambulance with Joseph heading to another hospital while Mary stayed at Verdugo Hills Hospital. I am glad we did not watch the tape until now, because we know that it all turns out OK. In fact it turns out better than OK! These two months have taught us more than we could have imagined. We are closer as a family and a community. We have a closer relationship with God. People who have never even seen Joseph except through this blog have a closer relationship with God. I listed many of the faith communities that have been praying for Joseph in a blog back before his heart surgery. I think it is worth mentioning again. Joseph was in the care of:

The Franciscans

The Holy Cross Fathers at the University of Portland and Notre Dame

The Carmelites Sisters (Mother Regina Marie was on pilgrimage and had a whole busload of religious praying for Joseph--and cheering when they heard good news!)

The Dominicans (especially those up at Flintridge Sacred Heart)

Sisters of Saint Joseph (alerted by Sister Maryann who is at Saints Felicitas and Perpetua)

The Jesuits (Fr. Schall is a relative and teaches at Georgetown)

A cloistered nun in the Midwest who takes prayer request over the Internet!

The parishes of:

Saints Felicitas and Perpetua (The church and the school were all praying--thank you Fr. Paul and Mrs. Aparicio)

St. Bedes

Holy Family

Pope John Paul II, in Montana---yes -- Montana!

Our Lady of Lourdes

St. Andrews---Fr. Paul Sustayta is there. He was a classmate of mine at St. Francis High School. I asked him to pray for Joseph on the day before his surgery. Fr. Paul got in his car and drove down to the hospital to spend time praying for Joseph. The next week at mass they mentioned Joseph in the intentions. A lady walked up to Fr. Paul and asked, "just who is this Joseph Lund---They have been praying for him over at HolyFamily too!"

There were churches and people in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Massachusetts, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, France, England and Scotland.

I know of individuals who were praying for Joseph from several different faith traditions. There were so many in fact that I have often thought that maybe Joseph is destined to grow up and assist with the unification of the church.

Many of the staff of the hospital told us they were praying for Joseph. We even received notes from people we do not know who heard about Joseph and were adding their voices to the chorus of prayer.

I am sure that I have not listed all of the faith communities that united around this little child. There are many more and I will probably have an addendum next week. But the point is that it has been a miracle that this single child could bring about so much prayer. I have often thought about this and I am absolutely convinced that this is the case. People have shared stories with us about how this has helped them with their faith, their family, and their perspective. The power of prayer was felt so strongly by our family that there could be no doubt of its presence. We never felt alone even at one in the morning while pacing the halls of Children's Hospital. Once again with thank you for your miracle of prayer and I hope you feel the power of prayer as strongly in your life as we have.

God Bless,

Kenny