Yelp. That’s right. I’m a bath guy, and it looks like Noah is to.
That’s my boy!
Archive - life
RSS Feed
Life belongs to God. Not us.
Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday, which is the Sunday that falls closest to Jan 22. Jan 22 is the day in 1973 when the United States Supreme Court decided on the Roe V. Wade and Doe V. Bolton cases which legalized the murder and dismemberment of unborn (aka – abortion) babies in the United States. Sanctity of Life is the Sunday closest to that horrible day where we celebrate life. Not destroy it.
Do me a quick favor; stop reading this post for a second and find a mirror. No seriously. Go look at yourself in it. Don’t you like living? Life is pretty cool, huh? (I’ve yet to meet anyone who says, “You know Rick, I really wish my mom would have murdered me before I was born.”)
Our son Noah was born on December 15, 2010. It was seriously one of the most awesome days of my entire life. Here is a crazy statistic, on the same day we were celebrating the birth of our son, we should have been mourning the murder of the other 115,000 babies who were killed that day. (There are approximately 115,000 babies murdered by abortion every day in the world. Crazy, huh?)
I was recently introduced to the website Abort73.com by John Piper. Their website is the most accurate, and informative I have ever seen. (They are also the ones who created the video posted above.) I would HIGHLY suggest visiting their website and clicking through all of the links about this horrible injustice. They do a much better job then I ever could, so please take the time to read through their site.
I really enjoy their section on personhood. Here is an excerpt;
“Embryos and fetuses are fully and individually human from the moment of fertilization on. If this were not true, if unborn children were not genetically-distinct human beings, there would be no need to even talk about rights of personhood. “Removing a fetus” would be the moral equivalent of pulling a tooth.
Finally I can’t say enough about how much respect I have for John Piper and his strong stance on the murder of unborn babies. He was written and spoke much about this, and tonight will be broadcasting live about this very topic (I highly suggest tuning in.) I have posted one of videos that I really liked in the past, and below you’ll find another. His website has lots of great resources if you’d like to learn more about the proper response we should have toward this great injustice.
One last thing. I know that this is a topic that brings a tremendous amount of pain, and heartache for those who have participated in this in their past. First, let me say that God can heal the deepest of pains. He loves you more then you could ever fathom. Even though some say God is simply an “imaginary being,” He isn’t. He is very real. And one day those who think He isn’t will meet Him (sadly the hard way.) He longs to know you, to love you, and to heal pains you never thought could be healed. If you have any questions about this at all, please contact me. I’d love to pray for you, or help you any way I can.
My friends at Focus on the Family have some great material that you can read if you have ever gone through this process, or are thinking about it. I highly suggest visiting their site, and reading through some of their material.
As you’ll hear John Piper say in the video above, I’m thankful that God knitted me together in my mothers womb. That He is the creator of life. And life belongs to Him, and to Him alone. It is absolutely none of our business, and to tamper with things that belong to God alone is incredibly dangerous. Let me be very clear, I HATE ABORTION! It sickens me that we live in a world that you even have to discuss if it is “right or wrong” to murder millions of babies every year. Babies that can’t run from their murders. Babies who have no choice in the matter (even those who promote this injustice claim to be “pro-choice.”) Babies who want a mommy and a daddy. Babies who want to cry. Babies who want to smile. Babies who want to be loved. Babies who are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Dear God, please have mercy on us for how bad we have messed this world up.
If you are a Christian, please take a few minutes right now to stop and pray for God to put in end to this horrible tragedy. That God would touch the life’s of moms and dads thinking about murdering their unborn baby. And that God would protect these wonderfully, made in the image of God, babies.
I have more to say, but I hear our 5 week old son in the other room, and I can’t wait to go hug on him!
Browers’ to the 2nd power….
Big ups to our friends Johnny, David, Holly, and Lindsey Brower for cooking (and bringing) us an awesome meal (from scratch) – including the most awesome of cupcakes! Johnny and David are brothers (if you couldn’t tell) and there sweet wives are Holly and Lindsey. They just left and I just realized that we had an entire house full of Browers’ in our house tonight. I’m not sure it can get any more awesome then that…!
Big ups to again to all of the Browers’, and to all of our awesome friends who have been bringing our family meals since Noah was born. You all have no idea how much of a help you are being to our family by your incredible generosity.
So to everyone who has brought us meals, sent us gifts/cards, called us, texted us, emailed us, facebooked us, tweeted us, prayed for us, and on, and on, and on….word can’t say thank you enough…! We are blown away by the love so many people have shown to our family, and are honored to call all of you friends.
We love you all. Seriously.
shots are no fun, but stickers are…
Noah did great at the doctor today while they drew all the blood they needed to run the (hopefully) last set of tests. I had to hold him while he screamed today, and that was not very fun. At all. But he endured like the champ he is, and the nurse gave us some sweet Spiderman stickers…! So it was a win!
They are running two tests from today’s blood, that we should get back within the next four weeks. Please keep praying for Noah that he does not have GA-1. We are still scared, and worried, but trusting our great God. He is holding Noah (and us) firmly in His hands…and I’ll say this; there is no better place to be. He has provided so much peace the last 4 weeks. It’s amazing. This is the sort of peace I’ve only read about. It’s pretty awesome to be actually living in it.
-Rick
7 ounces of awesomeness
We have been asking everyone to pray that Noah would gain at least 1/2 an ounce per day. (I also said if you wanted to pray for a miracle you could pray for 1 ounce a day, but that would be crazy talk – at least humanly speaking!) Noah had a weight check today, and has gained SEVEN OUNCES IN FIVE DAYS!!!! (Which is OVER an ounce per day!) This is awesome because it means that Noah is 1 ounce over his birth weight of 8lb, 4oz!!!!
Noah is also 3 weeks old today, and he ended up giving us a gift – 7 ounces of awesomeness!
We are still praying for the next (and hopefully final) round of testing for the GA-1. We would ask that you would PLEASE keep praying along side us. We are asking God for a full negative for GA-1, and that God would bless us by Noah “only” having down syndrome!
Our family has been blown away by the number of people who are praying for, reaching out, and loving on Noah and us. It’s been a life changing experience, and I can’t even began to describe how much of an honor it is that so many people (many whom I barley know) would show such love and care for our son, and our family. I hope you are encouraged by seeing God directly answering so many of our prayers, I know we sure are. So again, from the deepest place in our heart – THANK YOU!
Finally, above all else, we pray that everywhere we go, every doctor, receptionist, nurse, parking lot attendant, blog reader, and twitter follower that crosses our path sees the Greatness of God in all of this. He really has shown us amazing grace, and peace through all of this. Our relationship with our God, our family, and each other has never been stronger. We are learning things about God, and His sovereignty that a life time of seminary could have never taught me. (Although the solid theological training I am receiving at Dallas Theological Seminary, and others in my life, have gotten me through this. All of that “head knowledge” has become deep, deep heart knowledge the last 15 days. I am forever grateful to DTS (and ultimately God) for helping prepare me for this before it ever happened.)
-In Grace, and Truth
Rick
We are praising God at the Smith House
If you have been following our story, you know it’s been a crazy 3 weeks at the Smith household. Long story short our son was born with down syndrome. A few days later we were told Noah’s new born screen came back positive for a very rare genetic disorder called Glutaric acidemia, type 1. GA-1 is extremely serious, and extremely serious. We have been told the odds of Noah having Down Syndrome, and GA-1 were astronomically high. There are three “rounds” of testing Noah must go through in order to rule out that he has this. Each of those tests can either come back positive (which means he has it), or negative (which the doctors remind us doesn’t mean he doesn’t have it, rather that we now move on to a more detailed test.) We received Noah’s blood and urine tests back today, and they both showed negative on the levels that could cause GA-1. (Basically having to do with the build of proteins in his brain, and looking for levels of certain things, but I’ll spare you the medical jargon.) We have been PRAYING NONSTOP that these tests would come back negative, and asking EVERYONE who would pray, to please pray! We are praising God so much today, and at the same time praying for the test round of testing.
We will meet with a geneticist (wow…I never though I’d be making an appointment with my sons geneticist 3 weeks ago, you gotta love God!) in the upcoming week that will let us know what the next step is. We will be doing either a DNA sequence, or a skin biopsy depending on what the details of this last test were. This test will take another 6-10 weeks to come back, so we will have lots of time to pray and trust God. Please keep praying for our family. We’d be glad to send you a picture of Noah to put on your refrigerator to help you to remember to pray for our son if you’d like. Just click on the contact link above, and send me your address!
We are learning so much about God through all of this. I plan on sharing much about that in the coming months as I continue to process all of this. Thank you for your care, your love, and friendship. The love and encouragement we have received regarding our family has been overwhelming. Words can’t say thank you enough. I am convinced that it is a result of everyone’s prayers that Noah is doing so well. We understand that we are no where near out of the woods yet, but we are a step closer. We are still begging God to bless us with a son who “just” has down syndrome! GA-1 is so much more serious then the down syndrome that we have almost completely forget about it. It’s amazing what we have learned about prayer and about our Great, Awesome, Loving, Faithful, Trustful God through all of this! I can seriously and with full integrity say that God really is enough. No matter what you are going through out there, He really is enough. His peace is amazing. We are getting to see areas of God love and grace that I never knew existed. What an honor it is to get to go through this process. I promise to keep everyone posted. Thanks for loving my son and my family.
In Grace, and Truth,
-Rick
Waiting is no fun….but he is.
We are still desperately waiting the results on some very serious tests for Noah (read below for more details), but while we wait we are having lots of fun with this guy! We are so blessed to get to be Noah’s parents!
Please keep praying for Noah, and that all of the tests results for GA-1 would come back negative! Thanks so much for loving on Noah, and our family!
My prayers have become small.
I’m amazed how my prayer life has changed since Noah was born. I’ll be honest, I used to pray for some really stupid things. If I listed some of them the list would take up more words then you would care to read. The last 12 days I have prayed prayers I never thought I would ever have to pray. Last night I was on my knees begging God to spare my son’s life. For him to live long. For me to get to know him. For me to get to talk to him about God, and for us to worship God together. I begged God that Noah’s test for GA-1 would come back negative. I also begged God that Noah would gain weight on his weight check today. (It was important that he got us weight up a little bit today.) I can’t remember if I prayed for 1/2 of an once a day since Friday (which would have been 1 1/2 of an ounce total) or if I asked for a miracle and pleaded to God to allow Noah to gain 1 once a day. Never the less, I never in my life thought I’d be praying for 1/2 of an ounce. Ever. But I did. I drove to the doctors office this morning with my wife sitting in the backseat next to our Son in his car seat. I begged God to give Noah a weight gain. I told God that we desperately needed to see this one small ounce of light in the middle of what feels like complete chaos right now. I used to pray for really dumb things. Things that weren’t important. I have exchanged those prayers for ones that begin with, “Lord please let me son gain a little weight, PLEASE LORD!”
Noah did gain weight. He gained 4 ounces! More then I even asked for. God is good like that. We needed a doctor’s visit like that. I have zero doubt that those 4 ounces were a result of mine, and the great number who have been been praying for Noah and our family, prayers. I was blessed that it was just a little over even what I dreamed I would hear today (an ounce a day). It was if God had quietly told me to keep trusting Him. That Noah was in His hands, and that I have to loose the idea that Noah is mine. Noah is God’s. Man, that is hard to get into my heart. I want him to be all mine. But God keeps reminding me, “He isn’t yours Rick. He is mine. All mine. You have to trust me with him.” Boy, that is easier said then done.
We came home and were quickly reminded that there is still the test results for the very serious Glutaric acidemia, type 1 that we are awaiting on. If you haven’t read the other posts, in addition to being born with down syndrome, Noah’s newborn screen tested positive for this very rare metabolic disorder. It is extremely serious. The doctors have told us that we shouldn’t worry because there can be false positives on the newborn screen, and the chances of him having two genetic disorders would be very rare (Noah was born with down syndrome). Still it is almost all I can think about. My wife is a pediatrician, and wishes she didn’t know some of the things she knows. (Sometime knowledge can be painful, but that’s another post.) We are scared. Terrified. Our hearts feel like they are going to explode with the love, and joy we have for our son, and then they become broken as we worry about “what if…;” then the cycle repeats. One of the feelings I have felt is the that of helplessness. I want to do something. I want to “fix” whatever is wrong. I want my son to have the best life ever. I want my son not to have to worry about if his body will be able to break down proteins, and if any day he will have a metabolic crisis that could paralyze him, or even kill him. I hate that. I wish I could do something. But I can’t.
However, my wife and I both have a relationship with the Creator of the entire universe. The Only One who can see into places in Noah’s body that even a microscope can’t. He can see every single atom. Every single molecule. He only can help us. Help Noah. He can bring peace, even when peace seems to be playing hide-and-seek with us. He can bring comfort, even when it seems no where to be found. He can give us a false positive. Even if the test comes back positive, He can heal Noah. He can sustain Noah. He can do miracles. My wife and I will keep trusting God. We will trust Him no matter the results. Waiting is hard. Every time the phone rings I wonder if it is the doctor calling. I role-play in my mind the conversation. I wonder if she will say, “we need you to come in to the office, we got the results back.” If so then I’ll assume it wasn’t good. Why else would she want us to drive there? If it is good, she’ll tell us over the phone. I keep playing this over and over in my mind. But I keep going back and reminding myself that I can trust in God. He has the whole world in His hands, and He has every single bit of Noah in His hands as well.
I never thought I would be begging God for my child to “just have” down syndrome. I never thought I would be begging God to bless us by allowing Noah to only have one genetic “disorder”. I never thought I’d be praying for things like one ounce for my son. I have learned a lot the last few days about life, and about myself. One of the most important things is that the small prayers are much more important then the “big” ones. Things that “really” mattered to me, matter no more. I don’t think about where my son is going to college as much today, as much as I think about how I hope God allows me to get to see Him walk, or allows me to get to know my son. Again, I could be worrying for nothing (although I know that all worrying is actually for “nothing”), the test results could very well come back negative. He could not have GA-1, and simply have down syndrome only. I have no idea. Only God knows. But I will keep praying for the “little” things, and ask that you would please join in prayer with me.
Thank you in advance for loving my family, and my son.
In Christ,
Rick
“My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” -Psalm 62:1-2″
Merry Christmas from Rick, Abbie, and Noah
We are thankful this Christmas to celebrate both the Birth of our Savior, Jesus The Christ, and our son, Noah. To say this has been a very unique Christmas for our family would be an understatement. We are more in love with our God this year then ever before..! He is way to good to us. We will rejoice in every circumstance, because we know that Noah is in God’s hands – and Gods’ hands are the best place to be. So we continue to praise, trust, and worship our God!
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3:15-17″
Baby Noah Christmas Eve Update
(Spoiler Alert – If you watch the entire video you’ll see a Noah cameo at the end!) 
I am 150% drained, so I apologize for the rambling in this video. I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on our son, and ask you to pray with us for some very specific items. If you are in a rush, or don’t want to watch the entire video, feel free to skip to 9:53 in the video to hear some very specific prayer requests. It would be an honor to us if you would join us in praying for these things.
This is a very scary time for us, and I’ll be honest, I’m more scared and anxious then I have been in my entire life. I’m not even really sure what I’m scared about, but I trust God. We keep reminding ourself that this is no surprise to God, and no matter what the test results end up being, Noah is Noah. He has always been the son we have now. From the moment he was conceived he has been the son we have now. It’s his DNA. If you are anything like me then you don’t know much about what a genetic “disorder” is. But the quick version is – 1) Noah is not contiguous. 2) Noah didn’t “catch” anything. 3) Noah isn’t sick. These issues we are talking about concern Noah’s DNA. It is his make up. It is the very core of who he is. Don’t get me wrong – it’s extremely serious (especially the new genetic issue they are testing for. We would just really love for Noah to be have down syndrome, and that’s it. (In fact the odds of Noah having both of these genetic issues would be astronomical, so much so that doctors would write about him in research studies. (We prefer that not to happen though!) So really we are just learning more about the awesome son God blessed us with. I can’t wait to see how God unfolds all of this.
I want to think you for all the encouragement, and prayers. It means more then you know. Above all, thank you for praying for our son. Please keep praying. I’m serious. Praying is life changing.
-Trusting,
Rick and Abbie
Update on baby Noah – and some major prayer requests
First, Abbie and I want to thank you so much for the many kind words, phone calls, text messages, emails, and everything else we have received since the birth of our son Noah. Above all of this, we especially appreciate the many prayers on Noah’s behalf. Abbie and I are convinced that prayers and petitions to the Triune God can and do cause things to happen which are unexplainable to anyone. (If you don’t believe me check out this amazing story that happened to our new friend, Seth.) With that in find we wanted to update you on our son Noah, and ask you to pray with us for some very specific things.
First, Abbie and I both received a phone call from Noah’s pediatrician this afternoon asking us to come into her office today to discuss some test results that came back for our son. Of course, this isn’t a call that anyone enjoys receiving, and doesn’t help to relax you at all. We went to her office and were told that one of Noah’s newborn screening test came back positive for an extremely rare metabolic disease (Abbie won’t tell me what it is, because she doesn’t want me, and everyone else, googling it right now!) The doctors told us, and my wife, (who is a pediatrician), confirmed their remarks, that these newborn screen tests show false positives “all the time” and that there is no need to worry. Our pediatrician said that Noah isn’t showing any of the other symptoms that go along with this, and that she is fairly certain it doesn’t, and not to worry (easier said that done.) Noah has to undergo a series of tests in the coming weeks, including another newborn prescreen that he did today (which you can see below that he didn’t really enjoy.) There are a lot of things that go into ruling out this metabolic disease, and we won’t have a definite answer for a few months until the results of a skin biopsy comes back. So we have LOTS OF TIME to pray, and ask you to please join in prayer with us. Noah’s chromosome test also came back today, and it confirmed that he does indeed have trisomy 21 (down syndrome), which is ok in our books! God has truly prepared our hearts over the last seven days for this.
My wife said that if he had this metabolic disease, and also down syndrome that we hit the “genetic jackpot” with Noah! Still, we worry. (Or at least I do, my wife’s faith is crazy, amazing!) The emotions we are experiencing are intense. We ask, “Why us?” They we ask, “Why not us?” Then we cry. Then we laugh. They we praise God. Then we do it all over again. What a roller coaster the last 7 days have been. (Today is Noah’s 1 week birthday, in fact as I write this, I remember that Noah was born about 40 minutes ago this time last week! Praise God!) We have some specific prayer requests that we would BEG for you to pray for as often as they come to your mind (and if you’d like to post a post it note in your car, on your desk, around the house, etc. so you’ll be reminded to pray for Noah more often; that’s ok to!)
1. Pray that Noah would come back negative for anything other then what we already know; especially for this metabolic disease. We are BEGGING GOD for a negative, and that that the results we go today were a false positive!
2. Pray for Noah’s heart, and the two issues he has with it would heal quickly, and without any sort of surgery.
3. Pray that Noah would eat, and eat well. It is VERY important that Noah doesn’t drop any wight, and in fact, he needs to gain wait. This is even more important as we wait the results of this next round of testing. We has to eat, and eat well!
4. Pray that every little cell in Noah’s body would develop at an extraordinary rate, and that he would blow the doctors away!
5. Pray for me as I lead our family well, and that I am a constant reminder to them that God is our strong tower. If you know me well, then you know I am prone to worry, and anxiety; so this is a huge thing prayer request for me. I want to set an example of trust in God, not one of worry and panic. (Plus I really do know better then to worry about stuff we have no control over!)
6. My sweet, sweet wife, Abbie. If you don’t know her personally, let me tell you there is no one like her. No one. She is crazy, amazing, and the strongest women I have ever meet. She is loving, gentle, caring, giving, patience, and so much more; all of the things I want to be, and all the things I desire for our son, Noah to be. Please ask God to give her a special peace, the peace that suppresses all understanding. The peace that only those who go through something like this learn. A peace that few have. Her smile is amazing, and seeing her smile makes all thing better to me. I can see Christ in her smile. It’s awesome. I’m truly blessed, and thankful to God for giving me someone like her to go through life with. Please ask God to wrap her in His arms.
8. Pray that we would not waste time! It would be very easy to worry our time away, instead of enjoying it! We want to enjoy Christmas, and having our sweet son home with us. Not worry all the way through it. Ask God to give us an amazing peace, and that we can really enjoy all of our time together, and not constantly think about all the “what ifs.”
9. Finally, pray for all of the mommies who are getting news every day that there child will be born with down syndrome. 9 out of 10 children with down syndrome are aborted before they are ever given a shot at life. This shatters my life. Please ask God to touch those moms ever day, and that they would be surrounded by people who encourage them, and remind them that through Christ, they really can do this. Those precious, little babies want a mommy and dadddy.
There is much more, but I’ll leave you with that for now. I’ll be honest, I’m scared. Scared like never before. I worry. I”m anxious. I go back and forth (and no, I’m not bi-polar) between every emotion you have ever had; and ones I didn’t even know existed. However, I have also NEVER been closer to God, EVER, then now. I have NEVER been closer to my wife, EVER, then now. I thought we had the best marriage ever before all of this, but now it’s at a whole different level! I know God will see us through this. We will walk through this. We are not alone. Again, we BEG you to pray for Noah EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I will keep you updated. I promise!
(Oh, one more thing. Please don’t say “I’m so sorry for you” or anything like that in the comments. We don’t want to be felt sorry for, or pitted. It doesn’t help us. If you feel that, please kindly keep it to yourself. God is doing something crazy awesome. I’m not sure what it is yet, but it’s going to be interesting to see it unfold. Even if the very worst thing happens, we will trust God. As hard as it is to see sometimes, He knows what He is doing!)
I cling to Psalms 28:7 –
“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.”
-In Grace, and Truth
Rick, Abbie, and Noah
