(This morning's episode is brought to you by Shannon, the letter "J", and the number "7".)

Grampy stayed at the hospital with Emily last night (he insisted harder than anyone else, so he won the right!) We called just a few minutes ago and got a great report. Emily's worst problem last night was either the nurse coming in and waking her up to take her vital signs every 4 hours, OR the fact that she kept trying to roll over to sleep on her tummy but got tangled in all the tubes and wires. Grampy reported that she "looked like a Christmas tree with a bad light job."

She has made significant improvement in the past 24 hours. Grampy thought he might have heard her pass gas this morning, meaning that her plumbing is "waking up" after the surgery. The surgeon thinks we might even be able to get rid of the tube in her nose later today! If we do that, then we can probably also get rid of the arm restraints that prevent her from bending her arms. That would definitely make Emily a much happier little girl! We had to put the restraints on her because, in the morphine-induced itching frenzy of Tuesday night, she managed to give herself a black eye and busted up her nose a bit. Her daddy says, "She looks like Rocky!"

We are so thankful to have such an awesome God! Even through the nightmare of this past week, we feel so lucky. We know that we have a long way to go to bring Emily back to full health, but it really is amazing how much worse things COULD be at this point than they are. It is so wonderful to know that we can go to the Author and Creator of life to plead for the life of our little girl. Everything we've needed to take care of Emily -- doctors, nurses, medication, equipment, family support, and the prayers of so many people -- has been provided by our Lord Jesus. All praise to His glorious Name!!

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