Be Courageous...Choose Love

" You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."- We Bought a Zoo

For Josh, that twenty seconds occured the day he chose to fill out the form just to see if he would be a candidate to give Sweet Maggie her kidney. Honestly, it took him about 20 seconds, maybe less, to say, "let's do this" when I asked him if he wanted to give it a try.

Fast forward a couple of months, close to 50 vials of blood, several needle sticks, many doctors appointments and a major surgery and here we are today. Josh is downstairs recovering. Still in a lot of pain, but so happy that Jaggie is doing it's job in sweet little Maggie.

He says he doesn't feel different, but I think he means that he can't tell that his kidney isn't there. How in the world could you possibly not feel different when a week ago you walked into a hospital Josh Graham, ok dude and several hours later, your kidney was working beautifully in a sweet baby giving her a second chance at a normal life?

Obviously, he is still in a lot of physical pain. We knew that was par for the course when we signed him up for this great big adventure. Our boys are having a hard time with the schedule change. They aren't used to Daddy not being able to do things with/for them. They aren't used to him being at home all the time. They weren't used to him being away for a week. That is the longest Biscuit has been away from us in his entire life.

Is it worth it??? Yes.

Would he do it again- knowing then, what he knows now??? In a heart beat.

This was an amazing experience. Sitting in that waiting room. Surrounded by people wearing their Maggie shirts, knowing that they were there for one common goal, was an amazing, awe inspiring experience. Too many times people focus their attention and energy on a cause out of hate. They hate something so they want to block it, stop it or protest it. Sometimes, they know it is a lost cause, but they choose to spend their resources hating it anyway. Rarely, is that attention paid to something out of love.

On June 25th, I witnessed love. I saw love for that little girl in its truest, most pure form. Love like that is rarely seen. It is like a lunar eclipse (how many of you are about to google the number of lunar eclipses per year...fess up.)

So, be courageous. Choose love. It sounds all soft and sugary sweet, but it is true. I know that it is a whole lot easier said that done, but,  I promise, it won't hurt you to try.

Oh and just in case you missed it... or didn't know it existed. Here is the link to their latest news coverage.

Maggie and Josh's 15 minutes gets a little longer :)