Second Place for the season

Andy coached our u14 kiddos this season and that included Nathan. They finished out the season in Second place. Way to go Tigers!!

"A wise man is strong, and a knowledgeable man grows in strength" Proverbs 24:5

Game time

Recently, we played Risk with Connor and Grace.  Connor loves games of strategy and challenge.  He's very quick thinking and does well at these games.  Grace loves to have fun and giggle.  But she's also a very quick thinker so it's fun to watch her mind work.  She began learning to play Risk a few years ago and has become quite a challenging player!  

Connor won tonight, but only after Grace forfeited in order to go to bed after playing for over 2 1/2 hours!  We love having family time like this, it is such a blessing!

Lots of fun and laughter

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Lily recovery update

Lily had a good day today.  She slept well last night, seemed to have a lot less pain and finished her antibiotics.  She only had a couple of spells where we believe she was uncomfortable.  

She is so much quieter now.  In fact, she can even sneak up on us!  We give God glory for her healing and pray she continues to heal and grow.

Lily felt better today!!

"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise." Jeremiah 17:14

Lily in the hospital

This week Lily was scheduled to have a tonsillectomy, dental work & sedated hearing tests on Monday.  These were to be somewhat routine & the plan was for her to stay overnight in the hospital for observation.

Lily had enormous tonsils.  They were touching each other and almost completely covering her airway.  We could hear her breathing from another room.  They had been like this since before she came to us. This was interrupting her sleep, her well being, her growth and her quality of life.  Lily would wake up almost every night & be awake a couple hours before falling back asleep.  If she was sick, it was terrifying to lay her down to rest because she would stop breathing often.  A sleep study also revealed that Lily's brain would sometimes not signal her to breathe when she was sleeping.  This could have partly been caused by the constant obstruction in her throat. Lily also had some serious cavities on her molars.  Lastly, she needed a recent hearing test to see if there were any other options for her for hearing and speech.

Monday, we prepared for surgery.  Lily had not had any food or drink.  She was hungry and the doctors were delayed 2 hours.  Lily also had a slight temperature so there was debate about whether she should go through with it.

Lily waiting for surgery.

Hugs from Grandma while we waited.

The doctors agreed that since she was acting okay and since she desperately needed her tonsils out to create a better airway, they would continue with the operation.

The operation went as planned & Lily did well.  At one point, her breathing tube was accidentally pulled out but doctors assured us it was very quickly replaced.  However, when Lily came into recovery they were not able to stabilize her oxygen and breathing.  Lily needed to go to the PICU.  That night Lily stopped breathing & needed to be intubated.  It was a very frightful time-especially because we were not in the room when it happened so we do not know for how long she stopped breathing.

She remained sedated and intubated through Wednesday.  A respiratory culture showed the possible beginnings of pneumonia early in the week so she was also started on antibiotics.  

Wednesday, Andy decided to take the other 7 children home.  Before they left, nurses were bringing her out of sedation so everyone got to see her before heading home.

Lily beginning to wake up from sedation.

Lily was extubated Wednesday afternoon and did well through the night.  She was still struggling with pain & overstimulation.  Being deaf, she is very sensitive to light & motion.  She had a lot of trouble sleeping.  Finally, by Thursday morning, she was able to removed from all IVs.  She took oral pain meds and could eat by mouth.  We were even able to put on her favorite jammies!  (At home, it is very common for her to dig these jammies out of the drawer or hamper and find someone to ask their help in putting them on her-at any time of day!)

Lily in her favorite purple jammies.

Granny and Papa drove up to visit just in time to see her awake and happy.

Lily did well overnight Thursday night so doctors were ready to move her out of the PICU on Friday.  Because she was on sensory overload and because we assured physicians we'd be very cautious, we were able to be released to home on Friday instead of to another room.  

Yay! Lily was able to go home!

Lily is home and recovering.  She is still struggling with her pain but we are staying on top of it.  We are all exhausted, but she is very active!  We wonder if her oxygen levels are now able to remain high & steady without the obstruction, therefore giving her much more energy!  We are hoping that once the sensation of pain from her surgery is gone that she will return to a normal activity level.  Her voice has changed some and that will take some getting used to!  We are so thankful for God's protection this week (and always).  It was quite a scary situation but we know He was in it and was caring for our precious Lily and for us.

"Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth." Jeremiah 33:6

It's hot out there!

Grace has been trying to improve her vocabulary lately.  She's even looked at the 'word-a-day" sites to learn big words and then she tries to use them.  Sometimes, much to our entertainment, she gets it just a little bit off.  Today:

"Momma, it's so hot, I see the delusionals of water!"

"Let the words of my mouth.....be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord." Psalm 19:14a