Fast Sunday

     Last Sunday was fast Sunday and it reminded me about the fast Sunday we experienced in August which was a significantly more meaningful experience for our children.  So I thought I would write about it so we could always remember it.
     My little brother, Jonathan, has a son with a heart condition.  His name is Tyler and he was born March 6, 2009.  That was the year before I started blogging so I'm not sure that I ever mentioned it.  Tyler was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.  Because of this, he had to have his first open-heart surgery when he was only a few days old.  I believe he was about 4 months old when he had his second, and then about 2 when he had his 3rd.  The "fix" (I use parentheses because it's not a perfect cure and he will still most likely need a transplant eventually) for his heart is this series of 3 surgeries, but he has some other procedures to try to help him as well.  I'm sure I'm not getting everything exactly right.  I know he sleeps with oxygen at night to give his heart a much-needed rest.
     Well, in July, Jon and Jamie were very concerned with how Tyler was doing.  He had just had a procedure that was supposed to help but they said he actually seemed worse after it.  They took him to the doctor and the doctor was concerned as well, so he ordered some tests.  Jon and Jamie were worried that Tyler was in the early stages of heart failure.  The next Sunday was fast Sunday and his tests were scheduled for a few days after that.  So we all fasted for Tyler.
     Usually, this is what I hear from the kids on fast Sunday (and only our 2 baptized children even try to fast): "I'm starving!" "Do I have to fast?" "I've decided I'm not fasting today." etc...  The Sunday we fasted for Tyler was completely different.  Not only did the children not complain, but Mackenzie decided that she wanted to fast too.  We only have the kids fast for breakfast at this point, but that's a big sacrifice for Mackenzie.  She usually eats breakfast and still gets hungry during Sacrament meeting an hour later.  Not only did they all get through church just fine, but I knew they felt good about sacrificing something to help their little cousin.
     We remembered Tyler in all our prayers that day, and continued to pray for him over the next few days until his tests.  We were SO happy when Jon gave us the news of the test results.  On facebook he posted, "Doctor says Tyler's heart function looks great! Thank you for all your prayers and support. We feel truly blessed."  When I told the kids, they cheered and their faces were just beaming.  I knew they felt like their fasting had made a difference, and I was so happy for them to gain a testimony of that.
     This last fast Sunday, I noticed that things were kind of back to the usual complaints.  We hadn't thought of a purpose to fast for and I know that made a huge difference.  But it reminded me of the sweet experience we had last month so that I could write it down and also hopefully do a better job of making each fast Sunday a special one for our family.