Tuesday, July 22

Hello Dear Friends,

Today has been another full day of joys and trials. The biggest trial we faced today was talking to the neurosurgeon this evening about the condition of the hemorrhage in Suzie's brain. He informed us that there is no fluid in her brain that needs to be drained and no surgery that needs to be done. However, the bleeding is rather extensive in in her brain and he let us know that this has most likely caused a moderate to severe amount of brain damage. The consequences could be both a mental and/or physical handicap, but at this point there is no way to tell exactly what her disabilities may be. They will continue to do weekly sonograms on her brain to see if the bleeding gets any worse and in time will do an MRI to see if they can get more details about the extent of the damage. As grievous as it is to think of our precious little girl having any sort of brain damage, the joy that came from this was that the hemorrhage does not affect her survival in any way. This whole time we had been under the impression that this bleeding was endangering her life, but in fact it is not. This was a joy in the midst of this great sorrow. Kyle and I spent a lot of time in prayer immediately after speaking with the doctor and were encouraged by the fact that God can certainly surprise the doctors by defying their suspicions. But even if little Suzie has a severe disability, she is truly a gift from God and we are so grateful to be entrusted with her little life for as long as the Lord allows us to care for her. We love her so much and no disability will lessen that love in any way!

Some joys were once again having many visitors come to encourage us! Also, Suzie is doing much better with her breathing. The duct in her lungs still has a small hole, but it doesn't seem to be affecting her in any way. They will continue to monitor her and hope that the hole will close up. She was able to be taken off of the medicine that paralyzes her and has a less severe sedation at this point. She started moving around a little and even opening her eyes. They really don't see any manifestations of the brain damage at this point as she is moving very normally for a preemie, is breathing very well, and is not experiencing any seizures, so this is also encouraging. One of the greatest joys for me was to be able to "comfort" her by putting one hand on her legs and the other on her head. The nurse said that she finds a lot of comfort in that and it made me feel like a mom for once!

My husband has been tremendous through all of this! Everyday I witness him tell the doctors how much he appreciates them and yet how no matter what happens we will trust in the Lord Jesus Christ because He is in control of everything. Everyday he cries with me, prays with me, reads Scripture with me, and takes such tender care of me. Everyday he challenges me to put my faith in our good God and yet tells me it's okay for me to be scared. I have come to love and appreciate Kyle more in these past few days and I am so thankful the Lord has given him to me!

We thank you so much for caring for us. We thank you for praying for Suzie. We praise God for what He is doing through this huge trial in our lives and pray that He would continue to refine us and keep us focused on His glory.

Much love,

Kyle and Steph

Psalm 31:24, "Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD."