Mama San
Administrator
A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in
Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital
room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from
surgery.
Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced
themselves for the latest news.
That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had
forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an
emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter,
Dana Lu Blessing.
At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine
ounces, they already knew she was perilously
premature.
Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.
"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as
kindly as he could.
"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live
through the night, and even then, if by some slim
chance she does make it, her future could be a very
cruel one"
Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the
doctor described the devastating problems Dana would
likely face if she survived.
She would never walk, she would never talk, she
would probably be blind, and she would certainly be
prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral
palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.
"No! No!" was all Diana could say.
She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had
long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter
to become a family of four.
Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was
slipping away
But as those first days passed, a new agony set in
for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped
nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest
kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so
they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl
against their chests to offer the strength of their
love.
All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath
the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and
wires, was to pray that God would stay close to
their precious little girl.
There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew
stronger.
But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an
ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.
At last, when Dana turned two months old. her
parents were able to hold her in their arms for the
very first time.
And two months later, though doctors continued to
gently but grimly warn that her chances of
surviving, much less living any kind of normal life,
were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital,
just as her mother had predicted.
Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty
young girl with glittering gray eyes and an
unquenchable zest for life.
She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or
physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a
little girl can be and more. But that happy ending
is far from the end of her story.
One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near
her home in Irving , Texas , Dana was sitting in her
mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park
where her brother Dustin's baseball team was
practicing.
As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her
mother and several other adults sitting nearby when
she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across
her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a
thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like
rain."
Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell
that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're
about to get wet. It smells like rain."
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head,
patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and
loudly announced,
"No, it smells like Him.
It smells like God when you lay your head on His
chest."
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped
down to play with the other children.
Before the rains came, her daughter's words
confirmed what Diana and all the members of the
extended Blessing family had known, at least in
their hearts, all along.
During those long days and nights of her first two
months of her life, when her nerves were too
sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding
Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that
she remembers so well.
"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me."
This morning when the Lord opened a window to
Heaven, He saw me, and He asked: "My child, what is
your greatest wish for today?" I responded:
"Lord please, take care of the person who is reading
this message, their family and their special
friends. They deserve it and I love them very much"
The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its
beginning, but not its end.
ANGELS EXIST but some times, since they don't all
have wings, we call them FRIENDS.
God bless,
Mama san/Casey
Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital
room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from
surgery.
Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced
themselves for the latest news.
That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had
forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an
emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter,
Dana Lu Blessing.
At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine
ounces, they already knew she was perilously
premature.
Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.
"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as
kindly as he could.
"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live
through the night, and even then, if by some slim
chance she does make it, her future could be a very
cruel one"
Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the
doctor described the devastating problems Dana would
likely face if she survived.
She would never walk, she would never talk, she
would probably be blind, and she would certainly be
prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral
palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.
"No! No!" was all Diana could say.
She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had
long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter
to become a family of four.
Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was
slipping away
But as those first days passed, a new agony set in
for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped
nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest
kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so
they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl
against their chests to offer the strength of their
love.
All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath
the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and
wires, was to pray that God would stay close to
their precious little girl.
There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew
stronger.
But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an
ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.
At last, when Dana turned two months old. her
parents were able to hold her in their arms for the
very first time.
And two months later, though doctors continued to
gently but grimly warn that her chances of
surviving, much less living any kind of normal life,
were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital,
just as her mother had predicted.
Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty
young girl with glittering gray eyes and an
unquenchable zest for life.
She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or
physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a
little girl can be and more. But that happy ending
is far from the end of her story.
One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near
her home in Irving , Texas , Dana was sitting in her
mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park
where her brother Dustin's baseball team was
practicing.
As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her
mother and several other adults sitting nearby when
she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across
her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a
thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like
rain."
Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell
that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're
about to get wet. It smells like rain."
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head,
patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and
loudly announced,
"No, it smells like Him.
It smells like God when you lay your head on His
chest."
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped
down to play with the other children.
Before the rains came, her daughter's words
confirmed what Diana and all the members of the
extended Blessing family had known, at least in
their hearts, all along.
During those long days and nights of her first two
months of her life, when her nerves were too
sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding
Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that
she remembers so well.
"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me."
This morning when the Lord opened a window to
Heaven, He saw me, and He asked: "My child, what is
your greatest wish for today?" I responded:
"Lord please, take care of the person who is reading
this message, their family and their special
friends. They deserve it and I love them very much"
The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its
beginning, but not its end.
ANGELS EXIST but some times, since they don't all
have wings, we call them FRIENDS.
God bless,
Mama san/Casey
