About Us

In addition to the fact that we love Jesus, there is something else very important for you to know about our family.  We don’t believe in Congenital Heart Defects.  Before you decide that we are wacky or confused or in denial, let me explain.

Rather than living our lives with our eyes glued on the challenges we face, we believe in an all-powerful and all-loving God who says that all of His creations are perfectly and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-16).  All kinds of craziness would attack our every day and night if we believed that Jacob’s heart is “defective.”  In our household we don’t describe Jacob’s heart as defective or abnormal or wrong or even backwards.

We don’t understand all of the reasons why Jacob’s is so different from most of ours.  But we do understand this:  Jacob’s life shows off God’s creativity.  It shows off how phenomenally God made our bodies that they can still function so marvelously with a heart that is so unique- so radically different than the norm.  Jacob’s life shows off the amazing ingenuity and determination of doctors and healthcare professionals all around the world who invest time and money and energy and creativity to dream of ways to keep kids like Jacob alive and well.  Jacob’s life also acknowledges many families who face the very difficult-to-understand reality that heaven includes many kids who didn’t live to seventeen due to complications related to their very different hearts.

We don’t take Jacob’s life for granted.  We count it a privilege to watch God show off in providing for us day by day.  We love watching Jacob live out his strong and courageous life.  And we give him permission to feel all of the feelings we have felt through the years and more if he needs to.  We believe God will be faithful to Jacob as an adult as He has been to us through the years. 

When Jacob was just a few days old, Tom and I sat in our bed at the Ronald McDonald House.  I had a very important question on my heart.  “If Jacob dies, will we still love God, and will we stay married?”  Tom quietly replied, “Yes.”  We are SO THANKFUL that has not been put to the test.

It’s a challenge to walk the path we walk, but it’s important for you to know:  Our God does not make mistakes.  Our God does not abandon.  Our God is good. 

Congenital Heart Defects.  An important term in the medical community.  It allows people to group together many different types of hearts.  The medical community had to call these different hearts something so they could get on with figuring out how to save lives.  Every so often those words have to come out of my mouth because that’s what my audience will quickly understand.  My stomach quivers when I say it because my spirit and soul would not make it if I believed it were true.

Jacob is fearfully and wonderfully made. And all 1 in a 100 kids with different hearts are also perfectly, wonderfully, and beautifully made. You are, too, no matter what your challenges.  You have one life to live so live it well with great integrity of heart and mind and spirit. Clearly think through the messages you receive and believe.

And just in case you are wondering, in 2009 God blessed us with a little munchkin who has a wonderfully “boring” physical heart like most of us.  Jocelyn, like so many of us, provides a backdrop for the many courageous people with incredibly interesting hearts.