The Latest

Lizzie has had a good day - she was able to get her MRI earlier than scheduled - thank goodness for that because she hated and fought having a breathing tube in. It was heart wrenching to see her little face scrunched up and trying to cry, but she couldn't because of the tube.

The MRI went well - they said that her brain is very swollen, but normal looking for someone who had brain surgery.

The sad part is that she doesn't seem to move the left side of her body as readily as her right side. The left side of her face has a droop and we are not sure yet is this is a permanent paralysis or something temporary - we have requested to speak with the neurosurgeon, but haven't got that far yet. Your continued prayers specifically for her to heal and regain full control over her body and facial features are so appreciated.

The happy news is that Lizzie in all her sass is officially back among us. Once she got the tube out and woke up from her sedation we asked her if she wanted to see some of the prizes that people had given her. She was happy to see the fun things, but then asked, "where is the candy?" The stuffed animals have really brought her a lot of comfort and she is excited to use the art supplies that have come when she feels better.

She was able to drink some Sprite tonight and she was trying to grab her cup and she kind of dropped it a little and let out the cutest little giggle - those of you that know her know how contagious her little laugh is - we all started laughing and she has already charmed the nurses. She is eating dinner right now (her first food since Friday), she had a very firm request for some Mac&Cheese - we have to leave the room every morning from 7-8 and every night from 7-8 so it gives us time to update the blog and return phone calls. This blog is a blessing because we both feel so full of emotion and information and it is so good to be able to decompress and share information without having to be away from Lizzie except when we have to.

She is still in the ICU and will be for a couple more days at least. They are still regulating all of her medicines and things she will be taking for the rest of her life. It was comforting tonight to speak with the endocrinologist about her medications and the effect that the tumor had on her little body, it explained so much. This year has been a hard one and not just for health reasons. Lizzie's tumor pushed on the gland that controls her growth - she hasn't grown in height for over a year and even before that she was shorter for her age. Her weight was always high in comparison to her height and she had kids at school call her fat - it was heartbreaking as a parent because we didn't know what to do. She is our smallest eater and actually preferred eating healthy foods, but she never felt good enough to run around like other kids do...she did sometimes, but not often. We are just so grateful to know the reasons why she wasn't growing and was sick all the time. You blame yourself as parents when your kids have issues so it's nice to know that there is an explanation for all of our concerns.

We continue to remain calm and peaceful - I am baffled still about this calmness and keep thinking something is wrong with me because of how okay I feel. We both feel this way and attribute it to all the prayers that have been offered in our behalf.

I would like to share a small miracle that happened today:

Lizzie was so uncomfortable this morning, so restless and trying to cry. She was pulling on her wires and would not stop trying to tug things out. I didn't know what to do - I was openly weeping because of how helpless I felt. She had a 104 fever so she couldn't have her blankie to comfort her. I felt I should get the blanket out that the dear women in our church brought for her and I folded it and laid it under her legs and feet. She immediately calmed down and kept rubbing her legs and feet back and forth on her this blanket for comfort. We didn't have any more problems the entire day with her being restless - I consider this a great blessing.

We have had many miracles like this that have happened before and since Lizzie's diagnosis, we're just now seeing how we have been prepared for this - we seriously considered canceling our health insurance for this year b/c of how expensive it is each month. We both thought it over and both felt very uneasy about it and so we bit the bullet and signed up for coverage - what a blessing our insurance will be in the coming weeks - we felt like the Lord was preparing us for this by letting us know what to do.

Thank you for your friendship. You always know you have friends, but when you have 3 kids you just don't have much of a social life with your friends and so you lose touch with some friends and don't think you have many friends (does that make any sense) - I am blown away at the love, the absolute outpouring of love we have felt - I can't describe it - we just feel like we're in this coccoon and we are protected from feelings of sadness, fear, despair and all things negative.

We are thankful for the prayers, the food, the gifts, the fasting, the thoughts, and everything we have received - it has been truly humbling to be on the receiving end of so very much. Thank you sincerely from all of us.

One last note: Spencer (our son) is having a very hard time with all this, he was here tonight and is struggling - we would love your specific prayers for him as well - thank you so very much.