We are back in the Cardiac Progressive Care Unit and attempting to adjust. Little seemed to turn a corner on Saturday and glimpses of her “old self” dominated the day. There was laughter and smiles and sweet conversation over puzzles. It was a joy to see her feeling better and enjoying the events of the day – a mercy.

Monica and Debbie cleaned my house AND left food in the freezer. They picked up medication, played games with the kids, and Debbie even took KB shopping for the shorts she so desperately needed! SUCH a blessing. Friday is Jeremy’s day off so he stayed in FoCo with the kids and sent my friends down for the day.  We went out to lunch and sat and chatted into the night.  Again …. SUCH A BLESSING. His mercy.

The big news for the second half of this week is that Little and I will be living at the hospital until she gets a new heart or goes to be with Jesus. The doctor’s have come to appreciate the nuances of Little’s care and the speed with which her health can deteriorate and so they are uncomfortable with sending her home. As long as we remain in the hospital she can remain a 1A and be monitored in order to minimize surprises. While we would both rather be home with our family it is obvious that this is the best option; the next step He has directed us toward.  Speed and safety =  mercy.

I pressed the doctor and finally got a commitment to this plan on Thursday and with this news came a slowly growing panic about what to do with our other two children. I found myself awake at 1AM typing an email to my brother.  He had mentioned that my sister-in-law and niece were eager to come out and help and so I asked how soon they could arrive. My phone rang during the 7 o’clock hour and Andy and Brooke smiled at me through the screen while offering to come get our children and drive them to Birmingham for a few weeks. That began a 24 hour conversation that ended with plane tickets being bought last night and my children heading to Alabama on Thursday for the month of July!!! A mercy.

There have been a couple great spiritual lessons and conversations that have come out of this crazy week. It seem that last week at youth group KB asked everyone to pray that she and Bubba would get to go to Birmingham this summer.  Bubba responded that he wasn’t even going to pray that because he knew it would never happen.  When I told the kids about the trip on Friday, KB squealed and clapped and said, “I prayed and asked God to please let us go!!” Bubba raised he hands and said, with awe in his voice, “It’s actually happening.” What a joy to see their eyes opened to the power of prayer and their faith encouraged in this way. A mercy.

Another encouraging conversation happened today: there had been multiple comments made about things we haven’t done this summer and I found myself answering, “I had planned for us to do that but Lily’s heart situation took a turn.” After the third or fourth time this came up I realized my tone had taken on a whining flavor and I stopped to regroup and remind us all of what we knew was true. I reminded them of all the times we had talked about us making our plans BUT…  and KB finished, “the Lord directs our steps.” My heart soared and we talked a bit about all the plans we had for this summer and the steps the Lord had chosen for us instead. KB was thrilled that the Lord planned for them to walk all over Alabama this summer and Bubba said, “We can just plan to try to do these other things in 2019.” His mercy.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning, new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord.
Great is thy faithfulness.”

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