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Showing posts from September, 2025

My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2025

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Before getting to my Top 10 Blog Posts of 2025, I want to say how amazed I am that this blog continues to get the views that it does, especially since so many people say that blogging is becoming outdated. (This year alone my blog received over 81,000 views!) Videos and podcasts are all the rage these days, but I have always been a bit old school.  One reason I keep up with my blog is that it offers a creative outlet and doing it helps me feel less stressed. It also reminds me that this is one project that I started and have continued. (I love to start new projects but have a hard time keeping them going or finishing them. I will try to work on that this year!)  Yet one more reason is because I want to give God glory for all that He has done in my life and use the gift that He has given me to hopefully be a blessing and an encouragement to others.  In 2025, here were my most-viewed blogs:  10. Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month: Reflecting On Our Journey So Far  Fai...

Faith's 73-Day NICU Stay

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September is  NICU Awareness Month . For those who don't know, NICU is an acronym for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. According to  World Metrics  50,000 premature babies in the United States receive care each year in the NICU.  The average NICU stay for a preemie is 25 days. Honestly, that number surprises me, as I thought it would be much higher than that. Along with preemies, full-term babies born with certain health issues, such as respiratory distress, jaundice, and other kinds of infections receive care in the NICU.  Tiny Faith in her isolette at Mayo  But for Faith, whose untimely birth consisted of an emergency C-section 11 weeks early, it took 73 days before she was discharged. Those 73 days were a major emotional rollercoaster! And for many reasons, one of which was being nearly 600 miles from home as Faith was born at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. (You can read what led up to that on my post,  October 4, 2003: A Day I'll Ne...