Showers of blessing

This is James, resting very comfortably in his crib. He has already seen all of his doctors this morning and had a nice nursing :*). We are working at lowering his morphine dose and still keeping him safe and comfortable. Every one of his doctors was duly impressed with how well he is doing. His oncologist commented that it is hard to believe he was only about 13 hours post-op. Someone else mentioned that he certainly wasn't doing this well 13 hours before hand! All were pleased with how well he handled everything during the night. I think they fully expected James to have spend the night in the ICU.

We attribute James' great progress to lots of prayers and God's great mercy. Please continue to pray that James will progress, improve, heal and be spared from infection in such a great way that God gets the glory.

There is still some hope that we will be able to fly from Minnesota to Georgia during the first or maybe second week of April. We will need to stay here with James through the 28th or 29th of March for certain. It would be a tremendous birthday gift to Carrie if we could somehow make it for her fourth birthday on March 30th!

With all the blessings of special times and safe-keeping yesterday, you wouldn't think it could get any better, but the Lord sent our evening nurse, Crista, at just the right time to be the icing on the cake of the day yesterday. She was new to us, but knew about us and immediately locked in to our desire for community and Christian fellowship in moving to Georgia. She and her family desire the same thing and we found we are truly 'kindred spirits', as Anne Shirley would say. She will be our nurse for the evenings during the weekend and we are grateful for the fellowship.

Vern, Katie, Owen, Becca and Carrie (along with Kitty and Dixie) made it to Wisconsin Dells last night. They were on the road bright and early this morning and hoping to make it to Paducah, Kentucky tonight. Grandpa John drove on ahead and made it to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. He was planning to avoid the mountains in Tennessee and take the longer way (about 90 miles more) through Birmingham, Alabama. I do know that Vern said he was hoping to be able to enjoy the trip together as a sort of break between two hard pushes. Katie told me this morning that Kitty, who is free to roam around the van while they are underway, has been a great diversion as she wanders around giving and getting attention.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We are blessed, almost beyond words ;*). Please continue to pray for James' protection from infection and quick and complete healing as well as for safe and uneventful travels for Vern and the family and Grandpa John as they travel to Georgia.

Love, Stephanie