Wonderful Day 1

Today was a lovely day spent together as a family. It had been 4 weeks since I'd seen my kids and we really missed each other. So Mike brought the kids up this morning and we met at the hospital. Everyone had just gotten over colds, so we decided to play it safe and did not have anyone visit Hope except for me. But we did show the kids the hospital and they thought those sky-walks were really cool. Then we went out to the cars and had apple fritters that I'd picked up this morning. We stopped by the granny flat and then headed out to Green Bluff. The kids love to visit Siemers and go through the corn maze. This year they also added a slide and pedal cars. There was a guy juggling while riding a unicycle. But that wasn't his only trick - he also does face-painting. We all had a blast out there. Then we came back to the granny flat and Mary napped while the boys played outside. We ended our day by heading out to Madelaine's for some yummy pastries. During dessert Mary started crying. Then Mike and I got involved in a serious discussion. Long story short, Mike and the kids wound up spending the night up here. (Thank you, Carla, for taking care of the dog and making that possible.)

So about Hope.....she is doing great. I was able to give her a bottle this morning and she took it all. (Okay, so it was 3 ml.) I talked to her nurse tonight and she said she's having a good night. She is up to 4 ml feeds and is still on low oxygen. She is up to 1915 grams, or 4 lbs 3.5 oz. Good girl!

Thanks to all of you for praying for us. Please don't stop. Specifically, would you pray for strength for Mike as he is having to work really hard. Also pray that we won't have to go long between visits again. It is really getting hard to be apart. And of course, pray that Hope continues to thrive. Thanks!