Rest & Recovery

Friends, she’s out of surgery, and recovering in the PICU. We are blown away by God’s mercy.  Everything went so smoothly! The precious gift liver was a perfect match. They had to do some work-arounds, and as a result she has a “temporary closure”, which will be replaced in a week or so once the swelling goes down. But everyone is really happy with how the day has gone. 

I’m going to put my phone down for a while, but I must tell you how faithful our God is.  Yesterday, in the early hours of the day I was reading my bible and reflecting that in Acts 12, scripture says that Peter was sleeping in prison, chained between guards and likely aware that he could die the next day. Meanwhile “the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” I recognized the trust required for Peter to sleep and leave the outcome of the next day in God's hands. But after more reflection I realized how Peter was *resting* and it was the church who was doing the work. Peter wasn’t the one interceding for himself, he wasn’t *acting out* his faith. He was resting.  

Yesterday, when the hope of transplant was still a month away, God gave me the grace to believe HE &; YOU, our friends and family, would do the work. We could rest and receive His care. 

All through the day there were little nudges that made us see that God was working. Matt ran into our surgeon on the train and he let Matt know E was at the top of the list in the region. This didn’t guarantee her anything of course, but after weeks of not seeing any possibilities, we felt hopeful again.

Later in the morning we had an orthodontist appointment and I followed my gut and we removed her braces.  This was a sweet moment of celebration and makes her oral hygiene so much easier in the hospital! It also meant she had pizza as her last meal before we had to stop her food and drink. 

As I mentioned before, we had weekend childcare in place, so the race to the hospital was offset by a fun night for Hannah & Ruby. The Chandlers brought their A Game and hosted both a cupcake bake-off and a building competition today. To have Ruby and Hannah loved so well is just priceless.

While waiting in the ER to be called for surgery at 4am was so painful, once we got upstairs, Matt and I were able to crash in an unused pre-op room. The sweet nurse wheeled in two gurnies, and we got a couple of hours to sleep!  

After the shift change a new nurse  brought us to a room with a door! #itsthelittlethings and we were able to wait there for the whole day. Lunch & dinner from a friend, so many texts and calls and prayers and offers of support from all of you made such a hard day, so much easier. 

Elizabeth came out of the ICU with amazing stats. In real time she’s miserable (she deserves to feel awful), but on paper, she’s doing an A+ job of being a transplant recipient! My mom hopped on a plane and will be here for the next few weeks. Friends, we are so very thankful. We’re exhausted, overwhelmed, amazed and humbled by the mercy and grace we’re experiencing. Thank you for continuing to do the work while our family rests in such beautiful provision.