{"id":16,"date":"2022-01-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cota1.wpengine.com\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/2022\/01\/05\/guest-blogger-auntie-meets-benjamin\/"},"modified":"2022-01-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T00:00:00","slug":"guest-blogger-auntie-meets-benjamin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/2022\/01\/05\/guest-blogger-auntie-meets-benjamin\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger | Auntie Meets Benjamin!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"imgCenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/uploads\/2410\/images\/IMG_3373.jpeg\" alt=\"Auntie and Benjamin\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Lastweek, I had the privilege of meeting my beautiful nephew, Benjamin, in Gainesville. While this experience in itself was surreal and a happy dream, I was also struck by a few realities that were not previously on my radar. First, Benjamin&rsquo;s medical team is marked by kindness, rapport with one another, and passion for Benjamin&rsquo;s care. I loved hearing his physician tenderly refer to him as &ldquo;papa&rdquo; as he assessed him. I am grateful to know that in the many hours Benjamin is there, he is in an environment not only of expertise but of compassion. Secondly, though, I was struck by the impossibility of and anguish of my sister and brother-in-law placing him back into his hospital bed when&nbsp;they leave at the end of the day. While snuggling this sweet baby, you can pretend, even if for a second, that all is well. But saying &ldquo;goodbye&rdquo; and leaving and waiting and waiting some more for his hero heart is another category of pain I was not prepared for. After this sweet visit, I am renewed in my prayers for Benjamin to remain healthy and strong while he awaits his hero heart, and I am renewed in my heart to pray this hero heart comes swiftly. The impossibility of this prayer is not lost on me either, but it is all I know to offer up to God, trusting that he can sort it all out. And I close my mind and whisper this back to the only one able to heal and bring Benjamin home, &ldquo;Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.&rdquo; Psalm 73:25&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lastweek, I had the privilege of meeting my beautiful nephew, Benjamin, in Gainesville. While this experience in itself was surreal and a happy dream, I was also struck by a few realities that were not previously on my radar. First, Benjamin&rsquo;s medical team is marked by kindness, rapport with one another, and passion for Benjamin&rsquo;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforbenjaminshope\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}