Happy 3rd Anniversary! Happy 23rd Birthday!

Today marks the third anniversary of Samuel's first dialysis treatment. Our kidney adventure officially began on March 21, 2007 when we heard the words "kidney disease" for the first time. Two days later, on March 23rd, Samuel was on dialysis! It happened to be Katie's 20th birthday and we gathered in Samuel's hospital room that evening to celebrate. Since then, we have celebrated quite a few birthdays in the hospital, but today I am thankful that we were all together at home to celebrate Katie's 23rd birthday!

In that first week of dialysis, I put together a notebook in which to collect information and record details of each dialysis run. A few weeks after Samuel started dialysis, both Katie and Esther were diagnosed with the same kidney disease. I labeled my notebook "Smith Family Kidney Adventure." Little did I know how appropriate that would be! These last three years have turned out to be quite an adventure for our family! That notebook has been filled and refilled many times. Between us, we have had ten surgeries and countless medical procedures. Samuel alone has had 410 dialysis treatments and five surgeries. I couldn't begin to count the number of hours we have spent in the hospital.

Through it all, God has been gracious to preserve the lives of our children and faithful to supply our needs. It has been a difficult time, but we know that He is using it for good, both in our lives and the lives of others. We have learned so much and have been blessed to meet and work with some wonderful people.

I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet. There is much to report, but I will have to save it for another evening. Stay tuned...