Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in life. We get busy. And sometimes overwhelmed. Maybe it’s the laundry piled up on the couch, or an overflowing trash can, or dirty dishes, but your children have their schoolwork done. Maybe the barn is clean, but the house is suffering, or maybe it’s the opposite. Any way you look at it we get overwhelmed with life here and there. Our journey gets busy.

Sometimes our journey through life is hard, and we have circumstances we can’t understand. We question why we go through somethings and really can’t see the bigger picture. For myself, one journey that I struggled with was my children’s congenital heart defects. I had three babies in a row born with holes in their hearts. For each one, prayer was made, and I am a believer in miracles. I’ve seen God heal people, and intervene and heal in some circumstances with animals. You will never convince me that God does not heal.

My first heart baby was Isaac, who is now six. He is hearth healthy and has been cleared from cardiology since he was a baby. His heart is in great shape with no intervention and perfectly normal. But, other times, God doesn’t straight out fix the problem. My second heart child is Jonathan. He is now almost five years old, and still has a large ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) which is basically an extra large hole in between the top chambers of his heart. It goes so far down toward the middle that there is no place to attach a patch if they wanted to. His prognosis before birth was much worse, and to this day JJ is a walking miracle. He runs and plays and continues to grow and thrive, but does have lower oxygen levels then the average person. It is likely JJ will never have surgery.

  • Jonathan, almost 5 years old
    XL ASD
  • Isaac, 6 years old
    Heart Healthy
  • Danielle, almost 3 yrs old
    Fully repaired ASD/VSD

As if two were not enough, we were graced with a third heart baby, Danielle. Danielle was a surprise, and I had high hopes she would have a healthy heart (my first two sons did not have any heart defects).. We had just taken in a wild little foster child that we did not intend to be permanent, but you know how that works. Malachi ended up joining in with our wild bunch permanently, and Danielle became Aldrich child number seven in our family. Her prognosis was a borderline hypo plastic right heart syndrome. It was quite possible she may have needed to function as a single ventricle heart because the VSD (ventricular septal defect or hole in between the bottom two chambers) was so massive, it was hard to tell how her heart would function. We went to appointment after appointment and it was HARD. My husband is a pastor, and as a pastor’s wife, sometimes we try and hold ourselves to a higher standard. We are just people and the trials of our faith are the same as anyone else. Two weeks after Danielle was born, she landed in PICU with RSV. She was so tiny, and so sick, and it sent her into heart failure. If I remember right this first hospital stay was nine days. It felt like an eternity. As a newborn, it is so hard to see your baby failing to thrive and struggling to live. You question if its your fault or if theres anything you could have done better. You question God, as to why your baby? It’s hard.

Heart Mamas, I want to take a minute to encourage you…You are the warrior. They say our babies are warriors, but the parents are the real warriors. They fight for their children and strive to do everything they can for the best interest of their child’s health. You will see heart mamas in the hall ways of PICU in sweatshirts and disheveled hair, and darkened eyes from their minimal amount of sleep on a cot. You will see their strength and weaknesses in the hospital. You will see countless beds of babies hanging on to a thread of life, often times that thread that is holding them is the hope and care of their mothers. Heart Mamas, you are enough. You’re not a failure, and your child feels that love and support.

Danielle’s journey didn’t end there, a while later she went home and began to be a failure to thrive baby, despite tons of calories going into her. Danielle had to stop nursing and be a bottle baby so I could make sure she was getting enough. Despite the amount of food she was getting into her, her little heart was burning up all of her calories. It was decided she needed heart surgery where her chest was opened up and a small band put on to her pulmonary artery (a PA band) to help restrict the blood flow to her lungs . In theory this would allow her extra time to grow and become healthy enough for a full open heart surgery when she was older and bigger. After the surgery, which was about a ten day stay, Ms Danielle went home a new baby, but it was not a new happy baby .She was fussy and crying and always projectile vomiting and was not gaining weight. Five weeks later Danielle was in emergency procedure draining five ounces of blood off from around her heart. The next day, they had to open her up again and look for a bleed and cleaned out some clots, and decided they needed to tighten her PA Band. She had another hospital stay for recovery time for about a week this time, and we were home and this time she was thriving.

  • Danielle with her special doll with her matching scar
  • Danielle walking a few days after her surgery
  • Her only thing she enjoyed post op were wagon rides
  • Playing horses while stuck away from home

Danielle made it to two years old before she needed surgery. In June of 2020, she had her full repair. She handled surgery like the amazing warrior that she is. It was open heart surgery and she was on bypass for some time, and of course we were worried through it like most parents, but also had the firm belief that God was in control of the situation. Baby girl came out of the operating room a nice beautiful pink tone. I didn’t realize how pale and bluish she was at times in comparison to her fully oxygenated skin tone. Within days she was bouncing back, and doing better and better. She had to have one of those toddler cribs because she was too busy trying to climb out of the crib. When we got home she had six weeks of sternal precautions and could not be lifted under her arms, and follow up appointments, and is not a heart healthy fully repaired kiddo. Her XL VSD is patched, and they patched a large ASD which turned out to be multiple small ones. They removed the PA Band, They left one very small hole just to make sure her heart did not get overwhelmed by the change in pressure. My baby girl now runs circles around her brothers and keeps up with all of them. She climbs like a ninja and loves to ride her “baby ponies.” And loves mini donkeys. I fully expect to see her being a wild little cowgirl as she gets older.

All of that said, finding the blessing in the journey is hard. Obviously Danielle is the biggest blessing in that journey. We almost lost her a couple of times, and I can’t imagine life without her. But there are more blessings throughout the way. The people that came into our path as a result of it, are part of the blessing. We had amazing doctors, and ran into some amazing people in the hospital, and God opened so many doors to witness to people throughout our journey. He gifted me a testimony of strength and the ability to rely on Him and lean on him when I can’t stand on my own.

This last sale, I connected with someone over a donkey. Of all things a mini donkey. Because of that mini donkey, the same day we were conversing about him, is the same day she had a fetal echocardiogram because they got some bad news about their precious unborn baby. Because of my journey, I was able to talk with her about CHD and the support of heart moms, and the support and miracles of God. Do I believe that was coincidence…? No. Not in one bit. God allows through our journeys so we can help other people. Do I think that is solely the purpose? I suppose I’ll never know. But I do know that with all we have been through, we can be a light to other people going through a similar journey, and when they just hit against a brick wall, or feel their world is spinning from underneath them, we can help show them that it is not a hopeless situation. That they can lean on God and we will be there however we can.

The blessing in the journey doesn’t only apply to heart defects, every month we have rescue horses through. The blessing in the journey to me comes through a fiery red head, praying for our horse to continue to recover and for wisdom of how to help her along the way. Or a tiny donkey becoming tame enough that he wants scratches and affection from us. A blessing comes in the form of a wild white donkey who doesn’t trust people, landing in her new home and coming to her new owner to be petted. A blessing comes in seeing the life come back into a horse that has been failed by people. A blessing comes in seeing a pony that was thrown away in a loose pen bring my children together to work with it, and in turn teaches them so many life lessons and confidence.

As you go through your journey, whether its health issues, or horses, or just life itself… Look for the blessing. We are quick to see our problems and slow to see the blessing. Stop, and breathe, and ask God…Show me the blessing in this, and He will.

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