Sarah Shust: A Mother's Faith and Overcoming the Impossible

Faith requires unconditional trust. It means embracing that all things work together for the good of those who love God. Our “Get to Know Us” segment continues with an incredible lifelong story of surrendering to the will of God and how that journey has blessed one family immeasurably. Hosted by Dr. Brad Schultz and Amanda Price, this …. is Mustangs Unbridled.

Learn more about Lipscomb Academy and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X!

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;31;01
Speaker 1
Faith requires unconditional trust. It means embracing that all things work together for the good of those who love God. Our Get to Know a segment continues with an incredible life long story of surrendering to the will of God and how that journey has blessed one family. Hosted by Dr. Brad Schultz, Enemy in the prize. Yes, his Mustang's unbridled.

00;00;31;04 - 00;00;50;08
Speaker 2
As I practice his first line, two songs came to mind. See if they come to yours. God, God walks with us on our earthly journey, and his fingertips are evident to those whose faith is strong. Lamentations 323 reminds us God's blessings are new every morning, and He remains steadfast in his love for us.

00;00;50;10 - 00;00;52;01
Speaker 1
But I didn't hear you sing them.

00;00;52;03 - 00;00;53;06
Speaker 2
I did earlier.

00;00;53;08 - 00;00;55;06
Speaker 3
With beautiful vibrato.

00;00;55;08 - 00;01;13;26
Speaker 1
With that is Sarah Schuster, assistant manager of the Mustang Marketplace, has worked at Lipscomb Academy for two years. She radiates joy with all those who interact with her and has forged a special bond with the students who find themselves sitting on the couch in the marketplace. Her story is one of love and perseverance. Welcome, Sarah.

00;01;14;00 - 00;01;16;06
Speaker 3
Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

00;01;16;09 - 00;01;39;19
Speaker 1
So I think all of us are around the same age, Generation X, and we had a very different childhood from Generation Y and Alpha and millennials and all that. And so I want to ask you, what were your jobs as a teenager? Like what? What did you do? What did you do? Well, I.

00;01;39;21 - 00;01;41;28
Speaker 3
Was a latchkey kid. Were you a latchkey kid? Yes.

00;01;41;28 - 00;01;44;03
Speaker 1
And I think, Brad, you said you also were one.

00;01;44;05 - 00;01;44;29
Speaker 2
I mean, abandonment.

00;01;45;06 - 00;01;48;14
Speaker 1
No surprise was one. You. Yes.

00;01;48;16 - 00;02;10;19
Speaker 3
It means you know it. What it means is that you held a whole lot of responsibility from a very young age, which just. You don't find that as much today, I don't think. But you went. What it actually means is that you. You opened your own door. You got home from school and you had a key, and you unlocked that house and you were there and you had to fend for yourself a little bit.

00;02;10;22 - 00;02;32;25
Speaker 3
And it wasn't a result of bad parenting. It was just what the culture dictated. Everybody did it. It seemed. But as far as jobs go, boy, I was born a worker bee, and I started working at a very young age like a mom helper. By the time I was ten, and by the time I was 12 or 13, I was a ranch hand.

00;02;32;27 - 00;02;54;04
Speaker 3
And I lived out in the boondocks in Florida, about an hour south of Tampa, Sarasota. Beautiful beaches for sure, but also the vast farmlands out towards, you know, east of the interstate many miles. And there are a lot of horse ranches out there. And that was I was the ranch hand.

00;02;54;06 - 00;02;55;22
Speaker 1
Well, what did you do?

00;02;55;24 - 00;03;29;04
Speaker 3
Oh, my goodness. I did everything from cleaning stalls to setting out horses in the morning. I would get up before school and because we lived so far out, our bus didn't come like it came at 10 to 6 in the morning. And so I had to. It's dark in the middle of nowhere. I had to get up. I had to get on my bike and I had to get to the ranch to let the horses out, turn the horses out, you know, said I was just a very normal part of my morning.

00;03;29;04 - 00;03;42;17
Speaker 3
It was just what I did. And I would come home all of the all of the things that you're responsible for on a ranch, I feel like I did. And it was it was wonderful as a beautiful part of my childhood. I loved it.

00;03;42;20 - 00;03;51;16
Speaker 1
Did you have a banana seat bike with a basket that you. Of course I did. And did you put a like, a flashlight in your basket or did you have a headlamp or.

00;03;51;16 - 00;04;03;26
Speaker 3
Did you know there was no headlamp? There was when I first started doing it, I had I had a flashlight that I held. Then I lost the flashlight. I don't know what happened to it, but I just I made my way.

00;04;03;27 - 00;04;04;18
Speaker 1
You would just ride.

00;04;04;18 - 00;04;08;08
Speaker 3
In the back? I would just ride in the dark. Yeah. Your eyes adjust. I just wrote in the dark.

00;04;08;10 - 00;04;10;18
Speaker 1
So, Brad, when your. How old were you?

00;04;10;25 - 00;04;12;01
Speaker 3
Oh, 12.

00;04;12;01 - 00;04;20;04
Speaker 1
13. When you were 12 year old Brad at 4 a.m., would he have gone on his banana bike with no light and traveled how many miles?

00;04;20;05 - 00;04;25;02
Speaker 3
It wasn't far, but it was. It was far enough that I had to ride a bike and not walk a mile.

00;04;25;02 - 00;04;27;19
Speaker 1
Let's say A mile? Sure would. 12 year old Brad have done that?

00;04;27;21 - 00;04;31;07
Speaker 2
Not at that time of the day. We did ride bikes everywhere.

00;04;31;09 - 00;04;32;21
Speaker 1
When it's dark outside.

00;04;32;22 - 00;04;37;26
Speaker 2
An evening and coming home less than you're supposed to. Yes, but not in the morning. No, that's great. Now, I was a ranch hand.

00;04;37;27 - 00;04;40;14
Speaker 1
Were you really a horse race? Yes. No way.

00;04;40;14 - 00;04;54;27
Speaker 2
For a whole summer. So I don't exaggerate like you're. This was your life. This was like a summer gig for me. But it was great for me because I would get there, like at 430. And then I was done by 1030 or 11, and I had the rest of the summer day to myself.

00;04;54;27 - 00;04;56;11
Speaker 3
So it's hard work.

00;04;56;11 - 00;04;57;19
Speaker 2
It was hard work.

00;04;57;21 - 00;05;00;21
Speaker 1
For both you all. Then. Did you all learn how to ride horses?

00;05;00;24 - 00;05;01;25
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah.

00;05;01;27 - 00;05;03;12
Speaker 1
Are you all good at it?

00;05;03;14 - 00;05;04;20
Speaker 3
I would say that's.

00;05;04;20 - 00;05;05;20
Speaker 2
Been a long time.

00;05;05;22 - 00;05;12;04
Speaker 3
I mean, it's been a minute, but I mean, it's. If I had. If I had to, it's like falling off a bike. Yeah, it's not. Oh, no.

00;05;12;08 - 00;05;17;07
Speaker 2
It's the other way. It's like getting back on a bike. It's not. It's not, at this point, Worse than falling off a bike.

00;05;17;08 - 00;05;18;07
Speaker 3
It's worse.

00;05;18;10 - 00;05;27;19
Speaker 1
Okay, So when you get close to retirement, when you and your house request retirement, do you see yourself going back to being a ranch hand, owning a farm or ranch?

00;05;27;21 - 00;05;46;27
Speaker 3
Oh, we dream about it all the time. A Seriously? Yeah. Aaron Actually, he's like, We need we need to get you some horses. One day we'll have a ranch again. I think he knows. It's just I just love it. I just. I love Ready for this? I love the smell of a barn. Like it just. It feels. It feels like home to me in some ways.

00;05;46;27 - 00;05;48;22
Speaker 3
I know it sounds crazy and people are like that.

00;05;48;22 - 00;05;52;19
Speaker 1
So I'm going to bring some mildew strength and a sprinkling the marketplace.

00;05;52;23 - 00;05;57;09
Speaker 2
It's heavy. The lime on top of that in the store.

00;05;57;10 - 00;06;04;06
Speaker 3
I'm not saying the foul parts, but like you open the door to a saddle room and it is.

00;06;04;07 - 00;06;06;05
Speaker 1
That's leather. That's a different smell. I know.

00;06;06;05 - 00;06;15;07
Speaker 3
But it's all kind of mixed in. That's part of the process. It's the feed, it's the hay, it's the it's the leather. It's. It's all of it.

00;06;15;09 - 00;06;19;13
Speaker 1
I will take baths and body work, smell. They probably.

00;06;19;15 - 00;06;20;00
Speaker 3
Bar unless.

00;06;20;05 - 00;06;30;17
Speaker 2
You say that, but no. Well, say I went to Bath Body Works a few years ago and there was one called like a smoke like, like a campfire.

00;06;30;20 - 00;06;31;09
Speaker 3
And it smelled.

00;06;31;09 - 00;06;50;07
Speaker 2
They smelled like smoke. And that's what my dad smelled like a lot of the time because he liked to go out and do like in have little fires outside. He wasn't an arsonist or anything, but he would have little fires and stuff outside and. Yeah, yeah, well, he would just burn little brush. Yeah, exactly. And we live in the country, too, but he always smell it.

00;06;50;07 - 00;06;55;00
Speaker 2
So I sent my mom. Does she like the smell of it?

00;06;55;02 - 00;06;55;26
Speaker 3
Smells like natives.

00;06;55;27 - 00;06;56;29
Speaker 2
Smell like that.

00;06;57;02 - 00;06;59;03
Speaker 1
Oh, no, I don't like that.

00;06;59;08 - 00;07;02;06
Speaker 2
I don't like that one.

00;07;02;08 - 00;07;03;03
Speaker 3
That's funny.

00;07;03;10 - 00;07;08;22
Speaker 2
All right, Amanda, you did start off saying we're all the same age, and I don't feel like this is true.

00;07;08;25 - 00;07;09;17
Speaker 1
We are real.

00;07;09;17 - 00;07;10;07
Speaker 3
About the same age.

00;07;10;08 - 00;07;13;06
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, Amanda, and then you probably.

00;07;13;12 - 00;07;16;10
Speaker 1
Always say that, but we were born the exact same year.

00;07;16;16 - 00;07;19;10
Speaker 2
But like, at the ends, at.

00;07;19;10 - 00;07;23;24
Speaker 1
The same time. No, no. I think I'm six months older than you. And that is it. We are the same age.

00;07;24;01 - 00;07;28;25
Speaker 2
Yeah. So there's Amanda, and then there's. There's, there's me. And then you've got to be much younger than that.

00;07;28;25 - 00;07;30;14
Speaker 3
Not much. Thank you for saying that.

00;07;30;14 - 00;07;34;26
Speaker 2
Different. I know she's an ex, but what letter codes for them.

00;07;35;01 - 00;07;36;18
Speaker 3
No, I am. I'm.

00;07;36;19 - 00;07;37;20
Speaker 2
It is the best generation.

00;07;37;20 - 00;07;40;14
Speaker 1
Y is after X. Well windows y start.

00;07;40;16 - 00;07;42;15
Speaker 2
Or.

00;07;42;18 - 00;07;45;27
Speaker 3
No isn't it. Isn't it millennial.

00;07;45;29 - 00;07;47;01
Speaker 1
She's calling it millennial.

00;07;47;08 - 00;07;48;18
Speaker 3
No it is because.

00;07;48;18 - 00;07;50;06
Speaker 1
Okay so what years Millennial.

00;07;50;09 - 00;07;52;22
Speaker 3
Well, okay, so technically.

00;07;52;26 - 00;07;53;23
Speaker 1
Oh, you're a millennial.

00;07;53;23 - 00;07;54;13
Speaker 3
Okay, well, hold on.

00;07;54;15 - 00;07;55;23
Speaker 2
SNL. Oh.

00;07;55;25 - 00;07;58;23
Speaker 1
I feel like you're an old soul and in a positive way.

00;07;58;23 - 00;08;04;11
Speaker 3
In a positive way. So technically I'm on the cut off some. I was I made.

00;08;04;15 - 00;08;08;20
Speaker 2
One man is on the cut off, too. But for the boomers.

00;08;08;23 - 00;08;11;00
Speaker 1
Other boomers, it.

00;08;11;00 - 00;08;14;13
Speaker 3
Feels it feels. It feels like I'm gay.

00;08;14;16 - 00;08;15;09
Speaker 2
Well, adopt you.

00;08;15;14 - 00;08;17;27
Speaker 3
Thank you. Thank you.

00;08;18;00 - 00;08;34;18
Speaker 2
So each of us has a different faith, walk and experience. And your husband, Aaron, is a contemporary Christian recording artist, and he knew from a very early age what he wanted to do. He did. Your faith, your path, your face was slightly different than Aaron. So when did you realize that Jesus was with you?

00;08;34;20 - 00;09;03;03
Speaker 3
Oh, man, I. I feel like I, I don't have the answer that most people are like, I know on this day, this is the day that I surrendered my life to Jesus. And I don't have that story. I have more of the story of feeling like I've always known, even though I, you know, I couldn't have pointed to a particular doctrine or theology or like I didn't have all the jargon of Christianity.

00;09;03;06 - 00;09;25;25
Speaker 3
But what I knew that I knew that I knew that there was a God who saw me and loved me. And I. I learned about his son, Jesus, and I learned more about his work on the cross. But it was it was kind of like a building for me. It was it was one one layer at a time.

00;09;25;25 - 00;09;47;07
Speaker 3
And I had a grandmother that took me to church. I begged her to go to church and she went to this old, old Methodist church that was one of those maybe on the best Sunday of everyone squeezed in. There could be 100 people, maybe, but that never happened. She and I would drive out to this tiny little church and we would go to church.

00;09;47;07 - 00;10;11;15
Speaker 3
And I sat in Sunday school desperate to learn, desperate to know who Jesus was. And it's where my faith really blossomed as I was a very little girl. And I fell in love with Jesus, a man I really didn't know. But I knew. He knew. He knew me. And that was enough. There's enough. So.

00;10;11;17 - 00;10;16;21
Speaker 1
Okay, so you and Aaron have been together for 25 years. Oh.

00;10;16;23 - 00;10;18;26
Speaker 3
Yeah. August will be 25 years.

00;10;19;01 - 00;10;22;09
Speaker 1
So Brad loves a meet. Cute story.

00;10;22;11 - 00;10;23;06
Speaker 3
Oh, man.

00;10;23;06 - 00;10;25;28
Speaker 1
So can you share with us your meet? Cute.

00;10;26;00 - 00;10;27;19
Speaker 3
Why is it meet cute?

00;10;27;21 - 00;10;29;21
Speaker 1
Oh, you know, that's what they call it nowadays.

00;10;29;23 - 00;10;30;25
Speaker 3
That's what they call it.

00;10;30;27 - 00;10;32;15
Speaker 2
Oh, cute meeting.

00;10;32;18 - 00;10;33;13
Speaker 3
Oh, yes.

00;10;33;15 - 00;10;33;28
Speaker 2
You know.

00;10;34;00 - 00;10;43;15
Speaker 1
It's like a Hallmark movie. Oh, you drop your coffee, you spill your coffee on the table, and here comes your forever after, like. Oh, sorry.

00;10;43;18 - 00;10;46;06
Speaker 3
That's. That's. Darling, I'm not sure.

00;10;46;10 - 00;10;49;05
Speaker 1
Oh, yours is, is it? Is it okay.

00;10;49;08 - 00;10;55;20
Speaker 3
Well, and he went to a college in northeast.

00;10;55;20 - 00;10;56;25
Speaker 1
Georgia.

00;10;56;27 - 00;11;13;11
Speaker 3
Called Taco Falls College, and he went at the same time. My sister did. And we were traveling as a family up to the college to see my sister. And there was a band on campus. I was.

00;11;13;13 - 00;11;14;27
Speaker 1
14.

00;11;14;29 - 00;11;16;21
Speaker 2
Ish.

00;11;16;23 - 00;11;43;01
Speaker 3
Ish, and there was a band and I saw him in the band and I was desperate to meet him because he was so cute. Not because of anything other than everyone had talked about this guy and Aaron Shoes, who is this guy? And I wanted to meet the guy that everyone talked about. And so I tried to meet him and it did not work.

00;11;43;04 - 00;12;05;00
Speaker 3
I mean, you were 14. I was 14. I see. Oh, older. He's six years older than I am. So it wasn't it was it just wasn't the right time. And so then fast forward, my sister was marrying one of Aaron's very good friends, and Aaron was asked to be in the wedding and he showed up at our house.

00;12;05;00 - 00;12;35;19
Speaker 3
Fast forward to me being a senior in high school. I'm 70 years old and he knocked on the front door and I answer it and I'm like, Here he is. Well, hello. And he comes in. We spend the weekend, the bridal party. Everyone's there the night, the night before the wedding. So, like I wake up the morning of the wedding, morning of my sister's wedding, and I wake up having had a dream that I married him.

00;12;35;22 - 00;13;00;06
Speaker 3
And I'm like, Oh, my goodness, this is wild. And also, I love this idea. So wedding happens. The bridal party goes bowling. And I said to him on the way home and it's like 2:00 in the morning. And he was leaving the very next morning because he had he had a concert somewhere. I said, Hey, when we get back back home, back to my parents house, can we just talk for a minute?

00;13;00;06 - 00;13;22;18
Speaker 3
And he's like, Yeah, sure. And we did it. We sat down on the floor. Nobody else was there and I just said, Hey, I had a dream that we got married. I think we should keep in touch. And he, he just kind of stared at me and blinked and was like, okay. And it wasn't weird. We exchanged information.

00;13;22;18 - 00;13;26;10
Speaker 3
I look at that now and I'm like, I cannot believe that I did that.

00;13;26;12 - 00;13;28;08
Speaker 1
I told you this is a Hallmark story.

00;13;28;11 - 00;13;57;07
Speaker 3
And we exchanged information and we kept in touch. We a couple of days later I called him, he lived north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I called him and his mom answered the phone. I asked for him. We talked for like 45 minutes. We actually prayed together. It was a really sweet conversation. And he he gets off the phone and his mom's his mom's like, who was that?

00;13;57;07 - 00;14;04;01
Speaker 3
And he said, My wife and that and that. The meet cute And that's that.

00;14;04;04 - 00;14;05;18
Speaker 2
Was getting a 16 candles vibe.

00;14;05;24 - 00;14;07;25
Speaker 1
You Oh it is You know there's a.

00;14;08;01 - 00;14;09;12
Speaker 2
Scene in there where Molly.

00;14;09;12 - 00;14;11;26
Speaker 1
Ringwald seen it I know that.

00;14;11;28 - 00;14;26;11
Speaker 2
There's a scene that they were Molly Ringwald trying to figure out how to talk to him. And in one of her things, she goes, I had a dream about you. And she even does like that right there. And so that was going to be her opening line to him to go have this conversation.

00;14;26;17 - 00;14;29;08
Speaker 3
You know who now, it's funny.

00;14;29;11 - 00;14;31;23
Speaker 2
He's a senior and she's a freshman. So that's what made them.

00;14;31;23 - 00;14;41;01
Speaker 3
He had graduated from college already and I was a senior in high school, so it was a little bit of an age gap.

00;14;41;03 - 00;14;44;17
Speaker 1
So the first time Brad's harmonica, he did the exact same thing.

00;14;44;19 - 00;14;45;17
Speaker 2
With what.

00;14;45;20 - 00;14;48;11
Speaker 1
You were googly eyes. And I had a dream about, you.

00;14;48;13 - 00;14;58;19
Speaker 2
Know, I, I was googly, but that was not my line. We were at an event and I told her that it was $5.

00;14;58;22 - 00;15;00;03
Speaker 1
To make her pay.

00;15;00;05 - 00;15;05;24
Speaker 2
Not with money. I made her go on a date with me. So I was like, She's like, You have any money for her? You know?

00;15;05;28 - 00;15;06;22
Speaker 3
You bartered for a.

00;15;06;22 - 00;15;08;09
Speaker 2
Daughter for a date.

00;15;08;11 - 00;15;09;27
Speaker 3
Wow. Smooth, right?

00;15;09;28 - 00;15;15;22
Speaker 1
You use destiny for your day. I did. That's true. True, true.

00;15;15;24 - 00;15;17;05
Speaker 2
So you've got three boys.

00;15;17;05 - 00;15;18;01
Speaker 1
Three boys.

00;15;18;01 - 00;15;19;16
Speaker 2
Daniel and know. We know.

00;15;19;22 - 00;15;38;00
Speaker 3
I know. Daniel is a senior here at Lipscomb, and then I have Nikki. Nick, you guys, he changed his name from Nikki to Nick about a year and a half ago, and it hurts my feelings. I'm not going to lie. And I'm like, I've got maternal rights here, buddy. I can call you Nikki, but for the sake of the podcast, we can call him Nick.

00;15;38;00 - 00;16;00;06
Speaker 3
It's fine. So there's Nick. He is 16 years old and he was at Lipscomb and loved it, and it was a very tearful departure. He's over at Ravenswood now. They have a ROTC program. He is also military bound. I say also because Daniel's headed towards the Air Force and Nikki wants to be a marine. Nick, you guys so hard.

00;16;00;09 - 00;16;22;14
Speaker 3
So he joined the Roxy program over at Raven Wood and is doing well there. And then we have Michael Sweet. Michael, who is categorically the family favorite. He is a doll baby. He is 13 years old and at Edmondson Elementary, he's in fifth grade over there.

00;16;22;17 - 00;16;25;03
Speaker 2
Baby is always the sweetest.

00;16;25;07 - 00;16;45;27
Speaker 3
He is he and and listen, I didn't make the deciding the deciding point that he's the family favorite. It was actually the boys Daniel and Nikki did. And Daniel came to me this is years ago. But he came to me and he was like, I think he felt like he needed to confess it. Like, I think he felt like he needed to say it.

00;16;45;29 - 00;17;06;27
Speaker 3
And I could tell he had something on his heart. And I'm like, What is it, buddy? And he said, I just like, I feel like I just want to say like, you know, that I love you. And I said, Yes, of course I do. And he said, But Michael and I just knew like I just felt like he needed to say that he loved Michael more, like there was some measure or something.

00;17;06;27 - 00;17;17;05
Speaker 3
And I said, Buddy, I get it. It's okay. Like, I know, I know that you love Michael a lot, and that's okay. I think he just feels a sense of both of his brothers, a sense of protection for him. He's a special boy.

00;17;17;07 - 00;17;20;17
Speaker 2
So Daniel is going to he is going to the Air Force.

00;17;20;17 - 00;17;27;18
Speaker 3
Well, his that's the hope we should hear. Hopefully in the next six weeks. He's got his sights set on the Air Force Academy.

00;17;27;25 - 00;17;28;29
Speaker 2
It'll be wonderful.

00;17;29;01 - 00;17;35;03
Speaker 3
Oh, he it's it's been a long it's been a long on ramp. It's it's been a journey to get there.

00;17;35;06 - 00;17;44;21
Speaker 2
So having three boys is going to be a little bit of a challenge. So tell us some how that gone. Interesting stories of the coming challenges, having those. What's the journey been like?

00;17;44;21 - 00;18;31;05
Speaker 3
You know what, I will start by telling you that Aaron and I actually he he jumped on the road not long after we got married. He signed a record deal and was going to hit the road and we I was doing road management and business management and just artist management is it's a lot. And I'm not saying that because he's my husband and managing him as long as there's a lot to the road life and I wanted to travel with him and so we had decided not to have children and just to love our nieces and nephews and really just, you know, let that let that be for us.

00;18;31;05 - 00;18;52;10
Speaker 3
And I was actually expecting during that conversation and didn't know it. And along came Daniel. We traveled with Daniel for a little while, and he actually took his first steps on a bus, on a tour bus, and walked a little bit more in in Central Park in New York. And it was just it was a really it's a beautiful memory.

00;18;52;13 - 00;19;27;28
Speaker 3
It's just it was a lot on the road, though. And so Daniel and I went home and Aaron continued to travel and it wasn't long before we thought he needs a brother. And so we two years later, along came Nikki and Jack, and he born typical in every way, but born, not breathing. And the fight for him in the minutes following his birth was very, very real.

00;19;27;28 - 00;19;57;23
Speaker 3
And Aaron, if he were here, he would tell you there there were many minutes where they were. They were working really hard on Nikki to bring him back. And Aaron said, I in that moment, I just thought it was going to be a family of three again. Like we were just we were really fighting for this boy. And then he let out the loudest cry and there was some concern neurologically, and he he was fine.

00;19;57;25 - 00;20;28;20
Speaker 3
He really came through that. And in the first 14 months of his life were perfect. Just having two boys in the Aaron was traveling all the time. And it was it just it felt really sweet. And then he was 14 months old and things changed. It felt like everything changed. And he got sick and it wasn't like it wasn't anything more than what you would think a cold would be or a flu.

00;20;28;20 - 00;20;46;28
Speaker 3
He was just coughing and then he would cough and he would gag and he would throw up. He would vomit and and it was going on for a week. And then I'd call the doctor and they're like, Oh, he's got this kid, put him on this med. And then he just didn't get better. And I went back to the doctor.

00;20;46;28 - 00;21;08;28
Speaker 3
We saw a specialist. Nobody could identify what was going on with him. And then I had a doctor say, I want you to go see this particular doctor. And we went to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, and this doctor said, I think this could be what's called eosinophilic esophagitis. And at the time I had never heard of that before.

00;21;08;28 - 00;21;30;10
Speaker 3
I'm like, I'm going to need you to write that down. And he said, I want you to go home. We're running some tests. Nikki was getting sicker every day. He couldn't keep anything down. He was it was it was a terrible thing to behold. And then the morning came that he couldn't keep down water. I mean, there was nothing.

00;21;30;12 - 00;21;50;14
Speaker 3
And he'd been vomiting now for six weeks or more. And I, I took Daniel to a dear friend and I said, I'm taking Nikki to the hospital and I'm not leaving. And they said, they're in it. They're going to have a problem with that. And I said, I know, but I can't leave the hospital if I can't care for my child at home.

00;21;50;17 - 00;22;07;26
Speaker 3
Like we're we're to the point where this baby is so sick. And so we went to the hospital and that's exactly what happened. They said this is a stomach bug. I said, this is not a stomach bug. Something else is going on. And they called the doctor who said, I think this is yes, in the field, because I've Jairus called that doctor and that doctor at home.

00;22;07;26 - 00;22;29;28
Speaker 3
It was like crazy o'clock at night by this point. And that doctor said, you need to admit that little boy, we don't know what's going on, but he's really sick. And it turns out this chronic and incurable disease, which they now call Easy, is is what Nikki had. And he was the first in the country to have this kind of diagnosis.

00;22;29;28 - 00;22;53;24
Speaker 3
What it is, it's an abundance of white cells in the esophagus. But he had it down his esophagus into his stomach through his small intestines. His body was rejecting every thing, everything. He couldn't consume water without vomiting. And he he was fighting for his life. And it was awful. And there was nothing we could do. And and at that time, there was no literature on it.

00;22;53;24 - 00;23;16;07
Speaker 3
Doctors just didn't know what to do other than to hook him up to an I.V. and try to hydrate him as much as possible. There's a nutrient called TPN that they can do just through the IV, which is essentially nutrients for the individual. Even a feeding tube wouldn't help because it was just he would vomit everything. And that's what they did.

00;23;16;07 - 00;23;49;13
Speaker 3
We just lived in the hospital for months and months and in one procedure after the other, just taxed his body, attacks his body, and he ended up with he he he turned septic and we didn't know it. We we begged to be discharged from the hospital to go say goodbye to Aaron's grandmother and who was dying in Georgia.

00;23;49;15 - 00;24;14;13
Speaker 3
And on our way while we were there, Nikki got really sick and they the doctor said, if he gets a fever, you need to come home. And if he hits 104, you have to find the closest hospital and he started to get a fever. I called his doctor in Pittsburgh while we were in Georgia, and the doctor said, Get home immediately, pack everything up and come home.

00;24;14;16 - 00;24;34;09
Speaker 3
And we started driving. And I was just praying over this boy that his fever would not hit 104, and it was climbing 100 and to 100 and to three, 100. You just climbed and climbed It hit 103. And I'm giving him Tylenol. I'm trying to rotate Motrin. I'm doing everything I need to do. Cold compresses and he was miserable.

00;24;34;09 - 00;24;55;09
Speaker 3
And at one point it hit it hit 104. And I was like, I was like, baby, go find the hospital. And he I said, Just find it. Find it. And at this point, it was like we were using the garment cell. And he said, I'll find a hospital. And I said, Just give me a few minutes to pray over him.

00;24;55;12 - 00;25;19;06
Speaker 3
And I started praying and I pushed another round of meds and just pleading that the Lord would call his body off. And and it dropped. It was it was one, two, three, five. And I'm I keep driving. Don't stop. But I wanted to get home to his doctors in his hospital. We drove all night through the worst snowstorm imaginable.

00;25;19;06 - 00;25;44;20
Speaker 3
On my word, we made it. And when we got to the hospital, they knew we were coming. The Russian right back and he was septic. And they took him immediately to the pediatric ICU. And it was very soon that they moved him to the bereavement wing of the ICU. And this baby was dying and there was nothing they could do, nothing.

00;25;44;20 - 00;26;26;02
Speaker 3
His body was just shutting down. And I remember so clearly the night that was like, if he makes it through the night, Aaron was home with Daniel and I was at Nicky's bedside and I his chest, his, his, his chest was just going up and down right at my level. And I just prayed. I just prayed and declared life over my baby, declared breath in his lungs in the name of Jesus all night long in rounds came at 6 a.m. and doctors came in and he was still alive.

00;26;26;02 - 00;26;47;10
Speaker 3
And I will tell you, it felt like I had battled all night. And it it was it was a glorious morning. We weren't out of the woods, but he was alive. And I just said, we're going to keep we're going to keep praying. And the doctor just said, I don't know, but you made it to the morning, so keep doing what you're doing.

00;26;47;10 - 00;27;19;12
Speaker 3
I'm like, I'm praying. That's that's that's all I had. There wasn't there wasn't anything to be done at that point other than let's see if his body does what it's created to do. Can can it heal? And it did. So we eventually made it down to floor seven eight. It was a long time, but he made it down there and the nurses who knew him by name and nicknamed him the Million Dollar Baby, because we lived there and had a wing, practically seven eight was our way.

00;27;19;13 - 00;27;42;13
Speaker 3
We always we always went seven, eight. We loved those nurses and they took really good care of him and he made it. And he has battled EOC a long time. He's stable and strong and doing well, and if you saw him today, you would never know it. He had a feeding tube for years and years and years. He's doing really well.

00;27;42;16 - 00;28;20;16
Speaker 3
It was just a long journey. So was Nicky. He he came out of that season, albeit we we were able to support him and get him stabilized with meds, a feeding tube and very particular foods. And we all of those things aligned and we rebuilt his gut and we were able to he was on steroids like trying to just get the white cells down.

00;28;20;19 - 00;28;48;26
Speaker 3
He felt like some normalcy had returned. Like we had this typical boy again. Brothers would play and they'd rustle and they would get into mischief as they do. And everything seemed right. Is running again. Like that season that was really hard had passed even though we were managing all the things, it seemed like it was done and we we just felt like we wanted another baby.

00;28;48;26 - 00;29;08;20
Speaker 3
We just felt like we wanted to add to our family. And it's crazy how you can sum up a couple of years in a couple sentences, right? And you find yourself, you find yourself listening to something like this. You're like, Why on earth would you have another baby? Because because time had passed and healing had happened and joy had returned in a new way.

00;29;08;20 - 00;29;39;29
Speaker 3
And we just saw the Lord show up again and again and again. And we had an amazing community and we were really happy. And so we had another baby. And it was it was completely it was completely perfect. Everything was perfect about this pregnancy. I remember going to the doctor for that big 20 week ultrasound and then doing all the measurements and then saying, Your baby is perfect.

00;29;39;29 - 00;29;46;25
Speaker 3
And, you know, they do everything from, you know, measuring the cranium and measuring the abdomen and looking at the heart. And they're like, one, two, three.

00;29;46;25 - 00;29;48;04
Speaker 1
Four, all four chambers are.

00;29;48;04 - 00;30;20;16
Speaker 3
There. And you just celebrate these little things that you expect, right? And these ultrasounds and then and then I went into labor. I just I felt like something wasn't right and I was full term about I just I got this very real sense, like the Lord is saying, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. And it was just on repeat.

00;30;20;18 - 00;30;44;10
Speaker 3
I'm here, I'm here. And I said to Aaron, I think we need to go to the hospital and we got the boys situated with a friend and we went, we got there and they said, Is everything is everything okay? And I'm like, you know, they say everything's fine, but, you know, I'm in labor and I need to be seen.

00;30;44;12 - 00;31;03;05
Speaker 3
And so they take us up to a room and I still am getting this echo that just won't stop. I just felt like I'm here. I'm here. It just it felt like the spirit of God was just echoing in my chest. There was no audible voice. It was just, I'm here, I'm here. And at one point it has it had happened so many times.

00;31;03;05 - 00;31;34;16
Speaker 3
I said out loud, Lord, I know. I know that you're here. Why are you making yourself so evident to me? It just it was. It was all I could do. It was it felt like the only prayer I could offer at that point. Like, I know I'm certain. I'm confident that you're here. And then I labored all night and I had I had this beautiful delivery and I had felt early on that I wasn't supposed to have meds.

00;31;34;16 - 00;32;06;09
Speaker 3
And Aaron's like, Are you crazy? And I'm I said, I don't know why. I just I feel like I'm not supposed to. And so I didn't. And it's a good thing that I didn't. The doctor told me later this would have been a very different story had you had you been medicated. Michael was born with Down's syndrome and half of a heart and his heart would have never tolerated meds.

00;32;06;11 - 00;32;25;10
Speaker 3
And, you know, sometimes we get those feelings, like, why do I. Why do I have this? We have this gut about this thing. And I think we need to lean into that. Sometimes you just don't know how the Lord informs things. This most the most beautiful baby you've ever seen. I mean, he was just he was perfect in every way.

00;32;25;10 - 00;32;53;11
Speaker 3
And that I remember I remember the doctor coming to one side and another doctor coming to the other. And I'm holding Michael and I'm looking at these beautiful almond shaped eyes and the doctor saying, We think he has Down syndrome. And I said, Why? Why do you think that? And she said, Well, there are some things. And she and she talked through the things and and she said, But you have options.

00;32;53;13 - 00;33;16;26
Speaker 3
And I'm holding him. He's in my arms. And I, I was confused by I was confused by the statement. So I just said, I'm like, I'm not interested in any options. But boy, I am so curious what my options are at this point. And she said, You could leave him here. So the hospital, she said, Yeah, you can surrender him.

00;33;16;28 - 00;33;43;21
Speaker 3
I said, Oh, we're not going to do that. He's mine. He has two brothers that love him. We are his family. We're going to we're going to keep him, She said. People do it all the time, not us. He's a she's, she said, but he's very sick to hug him and love him. The likelihood that he would survive wasn't good, and we knew it.

00;33;43;24 - 01;09;37;11
Speaker 3
And so I just held him. And that little boy kept living. His half of a heart kept beating and we we consulted the surgeon and the surgeon said he would never survive heart surgery. At this point, we need to get him as big as possible if we do this in as old as possible, in order for him to increase the chances in order to increase chances of survival.