She’s okay.  She’s coming home.

[see my protected post for more]

once again, a request for prayer.
mom and dad just took Gracie to the hospital.
she got fussy again yesterday, and had a really rough night.
we’ve noticed that she doesn’t like to turn her head much
and mom said today she turns her whole body to look at someone.
since a stiff neck can often be a symptom of meningitis mom really doesn’t want to take any chances.
so they’re headed to Texas Children’s. 
they woke me up from a nap to tell me and the emotions hit so hard so fast.
i couldn’t even say goodbye to her when
they put her in the car because i didn’t want to upset her.
in a way i’m less upset about her being seriously ill than i am about her having to go through a hospital stay.
silly. i somehow believe that God is sovereign over the health of her body but not over the decisions being made?
if God’s sovereign He’s sovereign.  end of story.
i need to act like i believe what i say i do.
i need to trust.
some time in prayer since they left has calmed me
and a call from my aunt has encouraged me to stay positive and to fight against the sin of worry.
but it’s not over yet and i need the strength to do whatever is necessary for the rest of the family.
pray, friends.  please, please pray for all of us.

Gracie is doing much better.  She played for about two hours
yesterday before drooping like a tired little flower and getting a little fussy.  She slept
in her own bed last night for about six hours straight, and this
morning was cheerful again.  Blood count is back down, not quite
where it should be but good enough that the doctor didn’t even look at
her throat again (which she hates).  She was so sweet and so
brave, everyone wanted to talk to her and they love it when she get’s
mixed up with “How are you?” and “How old are you?”  It seems no
matter what they ask her she holds up three fingers.  It’s so
cute!  One of the nurses came in just to talk to her while the guy
drew her blood.  We don’t have to go back until after she’s
finished the antibiotic, and then it’s just to the lab to do more blood
work.  I don’t mind so much now that I’ve seen how well she
handles it.  Poor baby…three “pokes” in three days.  And
she still smiled at them and said hi.  Of course, she was eager to
tell everyone bye-bye as we walked out, too.

But, anyway…she’s much better.  Praise God!  And we’re
doing better.  I’m a little wiped out still, but everyone else
seems to be doing well, so the household is still functioning. 
Thank you all so much for your prayers.  It’s such a blessing to
have so many friends on here.

I don’t even know what to put here.  Pray, pray, pray. 

Gracie’s not feeling well, still.  The doctor is worried about the
high level of her blood count, and since it’s not her usual doctor…I
don’t know, it just seems harder for Mom to work with him.  We
went ahead with the antibiotic, even though we generally try to avoid
those.  But if her white blood cell count is not down by tomorrow
morning they will probably “make” us go to the emergency room like they
almost did today.  (I suppose Mom could refuse, but I’m sure that
wouldn’t look good, especially to a doctor who doesn’t know our
family.)  They don’t even know what she has, except that her
tonsils were pretty swollen last night (better this morning). 
They ruled out walking pneumonia yesterday, and strep, too, I
think.  Obviously she’s fighting something, but I think they would
rather err on the side of caution.  I really, really, really don’t
want her to have to go to the hospital…she’s been so brave and she’s
gonna have to go back to the doctor’s tomorrow (she didn’t want to get
out of the car this morning when we went…I didn’t know she’d
recognize it after one trip).  And they’ll just pump her full of
drugs “just in case.”  I know hospitals can be good, and if she
does have something really serious I’ll be grateful for it.  But
what if it’s not necessary and we end up stuck with it anyway?

I know I’m over-emotional….I’m exhausted from playing nurse all night
so Mom and Dad could get their sleep.  And nearly being sent to
the emergency room today had me in tears at the doctor’s.  (Glad
it’s not my child…I’m just along for the ride.)

Pray that she feels better (for the moment she’s feeling well enough to
make a brother play tea with her new tea set, but most of the time
she’s fussy and clinging), and pray that the rest of us hold up. 
(Pray that I get some real sleep tonight…a two-hour nap with her this
afternoon was almost enough, but not quite.)   Pray that God
will give the doctor and my parents wisdom at her appointment tomorrow
morning.  Pray that the antibiotic works enough to keep her out of
the hospital.  And pray that God heals her. 

Pray hard,
friends, pray hard.

::Edit::
She’s been more cheerful for the last forty minutes or so.  The tea set really motivated her, but I think she must just be feeling better, because it wasn’t temporary.  She’s playing the piano right now.  She’s been walking around, pretty shaky at first, but she seems determined to do “normal” things.  (Not used to having to chase down a sick baby!)  Fever is still there, but hopefully this is an indication of improvement.  Praise God!!!

Friends, pray for my baby sister.  She’s got the flu or something
and she’s really feeling miserable.  Yesterday she was
constipated, but we managed to get that taken care of even though Mom
was out of town.  It was a rough day.  Today I think she’s
just achy, and maybe her head hurts.  It’s hard to tell on a baby
(or toddler, I guess) what’s really wrong.  I think she’ll be
okay, but it’s hard to see her hurting.  Prayers for the rest of
us would be appreciated as well…I think most of us are fighting
colds.  (Yeah, it’s that time of year again.)  And prayers
for the ones who need to take care of all the sickies.

Do you suppose, if I delight myself in the Lord
like it says in Psalm 37, He will not only
give me the desires of my heart,
He’ll help me figure out what they are?

I’ve been realizing that I have very little to complain about.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

We sang that hymn in church yesterday.  I hadn’t heard it in years.  I’m learning a lot about God’s faithfulness lately.

My sister and I got up at 6:30 yesterday, thinking it was 7:30.  She had to go to work before church and I needed to get my hair washed.  I was already done with my shower when she came back and said she’d gone too early and the animals couldn’t be walked yet (she works at the vet’s).  I had wondered why my phone alarm hadn’t gone off.  It was nice for me…I got to go back to bed for an hour (which always makes my hair dry curlier), but she had to go to work still.  Poor dear.  We always do something weird this time of year.

That’s not as bad as our pastor.  They live on the other side of town so he gets up really early anyway, but yesterday he wanted to get up extra early to do some more praying and preparation.  So he set his alarm for 4am…and forgot to change his clocks.  Three o’clock…ouch!

Dontcha just love daylight savings changes.

P.S.  Cowboys won yesterday.  Go Romo!

*It’s my sister’s birthday today.  Mom’s was yesterday.

*It’s scary when your “little” sister turns twenty-seven.  It should be illegal.

*When we got her flowers today (I was called down to arrange them), I
complained that I never get flowers on my birthday–which I later
remembered is not true.  My 25-year-old sister said “You’ve had
too many birthdays to remember them all properly.”  I just had to laugh.

*I wrote a piano piece on the spot for a recording a few years ago, and
wasn’t sure I could ever play it again.  I tried tonight, and I
can’t.  Maybe someday I will discover a computer program that
reads CD’s and prints out the music.  I would love be able to play
my own work.  :-Þ

*Rainy days mean cold fronts coming.  I can’t wait.

*The zoo was amazing.  Some friends who work there got us in free,
and then since it was his day off he showed us around everywhere; and
on her lunch break she joined us for a picnic and then took us back to
the nature area where she works.  She got in the bat cage/cave to
turn the light on for a spider cage and then fed the bats (they were
pretty small) some fruit so we could see them eat.  Then she
brought out a python for us to pet and then a short-tailed
opossum.  They both shared a great deal and answered
questions.  He had all sorts of random tidbits about animals to
share with us.  As in, those monkeys are kind of mean…when they
kept a smaller animal in there for a while–I missed exactly what–they
ended up throwing it one day and breaking it’s leg.  And the mama
orangutan keeps her baby away from the male because he’s grumpy. 
One time she caught her baby’s leg just in time and yanked him
backwards.  We got to see all kinds feedings and trainings, all
because our guide knew the workers and what was planned (or
unplanned).  Then at the end he took us to the “authorized
personnel only” area and showed us the conissary (food
prep) where he works.  And we all got to step into a cooler that
they keep at about -5 degrees for storing fish, etc.  I think they
spoiled me rotten.  I may never want to go without a
guide again.  It’s too much fun having friends in high places.

*I keep feeling like I’ve forgotten something I was supposed to get done.  Laundry? 
Was I supposed to call someone about something?  Who knows.

*I’m living with a sense of waiting for something big coming up.  But my calender is blank for the rest of the month.

---

::Edit::
My seventeen-year-old brother just called me “chick.”  What the monkey?
Went something like this–I walked into the room and saw him home from
drama and said, “Hey, bud.”  And he said, “Hey, chick.” 
Dude.  And then he decided he should call me “weed” so we would be
speaking the same language.  And now he’s discussing football with
me while I type.  I’m very talented at multitasking.  And if
the name Tony Romo slips in here…oops.

off to the zoo with my baby sister,
and the rest of my family…  *smiles* 
some of them have never been.

favorite thing I read today:  (part of verse 23 in Acts 27)

“…the God to whom I belong and whom I serve…”