"Did You Know?!"

(Shyla here with the update - yes Shyla! Hard to believe...I know!)  We have been amiss at updating the blog and we are so sorry!!!  We had no idea that we had so many faithful followers.  It is easy to blog when you are stuck in a hospital room and nothing else much to do...it is quite another task to be home and running the family schedule and the household.  We have been so blessed with answered prayers that we want to give God all the glory.  Brooke is home and doing progressively well each day.  I cannot even begin to tell you how thankful we are to God.  Our life verse for Brooke at her baby dedication was

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 

plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

To recap:  Monday night Brooke spiked a fever of 101.5 and so we headed to the ER to just check everything out...amazing how quickly you blow past all 50+ people in the waiting room when you present a 2 yr old with no spleen... with a 101.5 fever.... who is just 6 days post op from major heart surgery.  Whooosh...those magic doors opened right up...and a doctor immediately is there to see us...and within 30 minutes we were right back on the "clean floor" from where we had been just 2 days before!  Never had that experience in an ER before (ask Larry about his ER experience with his kidney stone - ouch! He didn't get quite the star treatment that Miss Brooke had!)

Of course, since she has no speen, as SOON as we were admitted, the doctors began to treat immediately with the big time antibiotics until the cultures returned showing no bacterial infection...Dr Nikaidoh and Dr. Barth were very caring and wanted to assure us we made the right decision...her heart and chest X-rays checked out fine and said she had caught a virus most likely and after 2 long days back in the hospital...they sent us home on Wed!!!! 

Finally sleeping in her OWN bed!!!

Brooke was really not quite back to herself spunky self until Saturday...she had not been walking since surgery so it was pure joy for me to see her toddling down the hall to find her sisters!! It brought me to tears the first time I saw her follow Erica down the hallway again!!

Finally getting some spunk back...we are SO SO SO excited :)

Unfortunately, poor Meredith managed to get a brown recluse spider bite Monday night -- we were scrambling a bit when she broke out in a full body rash and the internet (WebMD will convince you that you are dying, ya'll) said this could be a sign of a systemic infection...so we spent a few minutes attempting to figure out if she could managing waiting in the ER by herself as Dad was flying and I had to stay with Brooke in HER hospital room!!  Since ER again had 50+ people and knowing the doors would not magicallly whoosh open for her as they had for Brooke...she opted to spend the night in the hospital with me and take her chances in the morning...and we are pleased to say that Meredith did indeed make it through the night...(and subsequent nights afterward) and her  bloodwork all came back fine and that bite site has not gotten any worse so far! Praise God!! 

We have been showered with love and attention and wonderful meals...thank you each who visited us, sent texts, notes, emails, brought treats and gifts, watched our other children, kept laughter flowing and stress relieved...and thank you for your prayers.  It is beautiful to see the body of Christ enfold each other and bear one another's burdens. 

Throughout this entire heart journey with Brooke, so many professionals and strangers and have asked,  "DID YOU KNOW she was this complicated before you adopted her?"  .....  We smile and say "yes, we chose her and we love her, just as she is...with her beautiful GOD-GIVEN heart, as her surgeon, Dr. Nikaidoh calls it." ...  We claim Jeremiah 29:11 for Brooke, as we know that we too are pretty complicted in our own sinful heart condition and yet God in His mercy adopted us ... "to give us a hope and a future". Brooke has brought joy to so many, and her story has been a testimony of God's faithfulness to all we encountered in that hospital. Different nurses and doctors would come in to visit her...to meet our precious girl...and would turn to us to exclaim "SHE'S the girl we've heard about! She is the one your daughter found in China, and then you all were able to bring her home! Brooke's story is incredible!" All we can do is smile at them in response...and share with them the story of how God moved in incredible ways to bring our girl home. 

Acting like our little diva again...now we KNOW she's got to be feeling better.. :)

Before bringing Brooke home, Meredith took the time to write out the beginning of Brooke's story...how she met her and fell absolutely head over heels in love with her...and then how God paved the way for us to bring her home to become our new daughter. I've been meaning to sit down and write a "Part 4" of the series, if you will- a journal of the incredible way God moved and worked in Larry and I's hearts to confirm that Brooke was our daughter. Check back soon for Part 4 of Brooke's story...and we know that it is only just beginning! We cannot wait to see the plan God has in store for Brooke's life continue to unfold...for her hope, and for her future!