What is a name?
A name is "a word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed, or referred to."
So why did I choose Teal Heart Mama.
Well, I am a mom. Obviously 😂 Teal and Heart each have their own meanings to me. When I put them together, they sum up a powerful story of God's grace and his goodness. A story marked by joy in suffering. A life shattered into pieces only for God to come and glue each piece back together to make his own masterpiece.
Teal is the color of ovarian cancer. I didn't know that until 2015. That was the year that everything changed. In July of 2015, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Literally my worst nightmare became my reality. These were the darkest days of my life. Yet, they were filled with some of the holiest moments. Moments I was so desperate to be rid of cancer. When God allowed me to have cancer to change the trajectory of my life. He used cancer to show me how real he was. How powerful he was. How loving he was. And how at the end of the day, he is all that matters.
Heart. I have always been a passionate, empathetic and compassionate person. I have always loved people deeply. I gravitate to the broken and hurting. I learned how to love deeply from my parents and grandparents. They showed us how to love. We didn't grow up having much, but we did have each other. The best memories I have include times with family. As an adult I know now that you can buy many things, but you can't buy love.
When I was in nursing school, I fell in love with pediatric cardiology. My first job as a nurse was in the pediatric cardiac ICU. I was taking care of the littlest hearts alive. Now a nurse practitioner, I have been caring for kid's hearts for over 20 years.
My journey with cancer changed so many things. It changed how I looked at life and priorities we had as a family. God changed my heart. God forever changed the heart of our family on April 5, 2017 when we brought home Reid from the hospital to join our family. Reid was a patient of mine born with a serious heart condition. He was up for adoption and needed a forever home. When I found this out, God very cleared said "this is supposed to be your son."
Reid completed our family. He filled a void we never as there.
Had it not been for cancer, we would have never been open to the idea of adoption... much less adopting a child with a life threatening illness. But God!
He is good. He is in the business of restoring what is broken. He makes beauty from ashes. I deserved none of this, but in his mercy he provided in more ways than we could've ever asked.
Teal (cancer) came first... then Heart (adoption) came next.
So friends.... that's what's this name means to me... Teal Heart Mama. My story of redemption.
Jesus, it's all for You!