It was a jour­ney that most par­ents would hope to avoid: a son born with a con­gen­i­tal heart defect, a fate­ful deci­sion to take a fam­i­ly trip abroad, and an emer­gency hos­pi­tal­iza­tion that left them strand­ed on the oth­er side of the world with no obvi­ous way home.

Despite these dif­fi­cult cir­cum­stances, More Than We Expect­ed is not a tragedy. Instead, it offers valu­able lessons about what it means to con­front the world’s mys­ter­ies: the awe-inspir­ing ways in which the body forms and grows, giv­ing life; how we find the faith to live with our deci­sions, even if the con­se­quences are beyond our con­trol; and our extra­or­di­nary capac­i­ty — when some­thing goes wrong — to com­pen­sate and heal.

This mem­oir reveals how one fam­i­ly, cra­dled by Jew­ish faith and tra­di­tion, man­aged to find strength in the most unex­pect­ed places. Our children’s eyes are a win­dow to a life full of won­der. Like them, this book is a vivid reminder of what it means to be human — a mirac­u­lous, inex­plic­a­ble gift, how­ev­er fleeting.