Elijah Joel Diacogiannis

Elijah, E, Monkey, 'lij.. These are just a few of the nick names we have for our youngest family member! and i'm sure more that i am forgetting. When i think about Elijah I think of a lot of great stories. The time when i lost him for over half an hour and was in hysterics; We found him hiding under the futon. Not funny. I think of his 2 missing teeth that give him the cutest little lisp. I remember all the fun times we have at Lynden City Park. I hear his little voice in the sea of people at my track meets.

The biggest memory is one that anyone who knows it will never soon forget....

It was August 2005. Hot, sweaty August. E was 3 years old and the spunkiest, most energetic 3 year old there ever was. He had a normal saturday, playing outside with his partner in crime and big brother Josiah. That night however was no normal night. I remember waking up at 2am to blood-curling screams. I awoke with a start, and was FREEZING cold. It's august people.... cold doesn't happen, even at night. I could hear Elijah crying. I thought it was probably a bad dream. I grabbed my covers and tried to sleep... about half an hour later i woke again... this time i was having the bad dream! I was in a pool of my own sweat and tears. All i could do to calm down was pray. Sunday morning finally came and life seemed fairly normal. Elijah, however had a fever and was complaining of a stomach ache. As the day went on he was either awake and crying or asleep and moaning. The next 10 days flew by... the details are clear in my head; Seattle. Children's Hospital. Bacterial Menengitas. Doctors. Nurses. Kidney Dialysis. Tubes. Medications. It was Elijah's body, but where was our little guy? Where was the laugh? Sometimes we wished we could hear a cry. After 10 days in ICU. He came through it all.

2 months later, my mom and the kiddos were driving through Seattle and my mom mentioned that the hospital was down "that way". Elijah piped up from his car seat and said, "yeah, i was at the Hospital with Jesus." And though we always knew that we felt the presence of God those crazy 3 weeks at Children's we now wondered what Elijah could mean.

Over a year later Josiah and Elijah were discussing death... Yes we have very deep thinkers for a 7 and 5 year old =) Elijah mentioned "casually" that he had died twice, gone to Heaven, Talked to Jesus, and Jesus had told him that it was ok and that it was time for him to "go home to Dad and Mom". when we asked Elijah what Jesus looked like he very plainly told us, "He was bright and shiney."

I have no idea what God has planned for this little Treasure, but i know it's big. Elijah is our miracle brother. He has seen Jesus. He faced death. Today he is back to our very energetic 6 year old who loves GI Joes, Lego.com, and anything related to computers! He loves to play outside, ride his bike... play football. His laugh is amazing. His smile melts everyones heart. The scars from the Menengitas are the only things remaining from that hot August sickness. The stories of how God moved go on and on. The stories of his healing will never be forgotten.

Elijah Joel, God's plan for you are so huge. I'm excited to see them unfold.