Macayla is Eight!

Macayla turned eight on Friday. She started the day feeling bad, unfortunately. She was having a cluster of small seizures and a lot of reflux and mucus. Not fun. But around midday she perked up and we took her to school where she had a party with her friends. She has not seen her class in a while and they were excited, especially about the cake! She smiled and interacted. She lit up when they sang "Happy Birthday" and she appeared to feel better overall. It was also field day at school and Jacob was participating. It was a beautiful day and everyone had fun. Macayla unfortunately had another cluster of seizures that evening but she was able to smile some and drift off to sleep. 

Last week, Jacob asked Jennifer if Macayla will be with us much longer. Jennifer asked what "much longer" meant to Jacob. He asked if she would live to be ten years old. Jennifer answered honestly that she did not think so, but that our neurologist has always thought she would live to be ten. Jennifer told Jacob that most kids with Macayla's type of Battens live around 6 to 8 years. Jacob said, "Macayla's already made that!" He went back to playing. We have had two funerals this week for children and it has made us think afresh of how short time can be seem. Eight years with Macayla and half of those have been with seizures. Half of those have been with medications, doctors, hospital stays, surgeries, and needles galore. But all of those years have been with her and in spite of the pain, they are precious. Some of our fondest memories have even take place in the hospital or doctor's office. All of those years have been a blessing to us and even to other people as well. She and the other children like her show us that every life, no matter how short or afflicted, has purpose. Everyone of us has an impact that goes far beyond ourselves. 

We do not know how many more birthdays Macayla has to celebrate with us, but we are thankful and amazed at the eight we have been through. We look forward to what God will continue to do through her, however long that may be.