Daddy's Girl #1

It was not a good time. Darla had been having some issues and so I went with her to the Dr. in Evansville on a Wednesday in 1996. We had been married for a little over a year and had talked about having a child and made preparations for that to happen soon. Evidently soon was now because her issues were due to the fact that we were expecting our first child! We were elated to say the least and couldn't wait to tell the world!

Hannah Lin (named after Darla’s sister, Johnna’s middle name) was born at 11:17am on August 2, 1997 and it was definitely love at first sight! When the nurse at St. Mary’s hospital in Evansville laid her in my arms I was so overcome with emotion…it was beautiful, scary, love all at once.

We were attached from the beginning. I remember taking Hannah to the sporting events of the kids in our youth group and I loved just the two of us hanging out on my day off. We had so much fun together…and still do! My favorite times were the times we would take naps together…she would lay on my chest in my recliner and I would fall asleep too and sometimes our drool spots would join together!! Must be love!

When Hannah was two months old she was not tracking objects so at the advice of our pediatrician we went to an eye specialist in Evansville. The news was sobering to say the least. We were told that Hannah would never be able to see, that we needed to check into schools for the blind, etc… because Hannah had an eye disorder called “coloboma” which basically means that there is a part of her retina or optic nerve did not fully develop. We were crushed to say the least. We spent hours praying, asking our church at Little Prairie to pray (which they did on a Sunday night in one of the most wonderful prayer services I have ever been a part of), and asking our friends to pray.

We moved from Albion to Centralia in the summer of 2001 where we met a friend from our church, Lori Edson, who worked for an eye doctor and she gave us a name of a doctor who she met at a seminar in St. Louis. Dr. Oscar Cruz works for Cardinal Glennon Children’s hospital in St. Louis and we met with him and Hannah had eye surgery to correct her nystagmus (eye jiggling) in 2002.

During that eye surgery the doctor came in to tell us some news that would literally change my life. We were told that while he had Hannah out he got to look closely at Hannah’s eyes and could not believe what he saw! We were informed that her coloboma was so bad that he could literally not detect an optic nerve in her eyes! There is no medial or scientific reason why Hannah has sight!! The doctor informed us that if we told him that all Hannah could see what light that he would believe it, anything more than that he would not believe it! We have a walking miracle in our midst!

We got to see pictures of Hannah’s eyes yesterday and it is just amazing to look and see her eyes compared to what a “normal” eye should look like. Over half of her eye on each side is totally covered by scar tissue or not developed!

Why do I write this? I write this for a couple reasons…

1) So you can know that God truly does answer prayers – We prayed for healing, that is true, but we also prayed for God to help us deal with whatever setbacks that this eye condition will have on Hannah. She does have some limitations with visual field and depth perception and we are not sure how she will be affected as she grows up and learns to drive or other adult activities as she matures. All we know is that we have a 13 year old that is not supposed to be able to see but can do pretty much anything else that a teenager can do visually! One cannot look at her eyes and not give glory to her Creator for working His touch on her!

2) So you can know that God is real – God is still working today! God cares about you and your situation. I know of so many people who have given up on God and tossed him aside for the sake of convenience or priorities, God is so real and wants a relationship with you and a chance to show himself to you if you will just let him! God is real and good and faithful!

3) So God can be glorified by helping someone else -- He gets all the honor and glory forever for his work in Hannah's life. My sharing this story is to tell God's story to help someone who may be struggling with their relationship with God to help them know that our God is still living and active!

I do not write this to brag about anything…because I, nor any other human, did anything. I write so you can know that God is still working today and wants to work in your life too. I realize He doesn’t answer all of our prayers the way we want him to, but that does not change his faithfulness and love for you. Give him a shot…you will so not be disappointed!

Thanks for reading and listening!