Monday, August 4

What a joy it is to have many good reports to bring before you today! First of all, our little Suzie girl is no longer intubated. We attached a few pictures of her new ventilator. Be sure to check out her bracelet in the third picture...it's Kyle's wedding ring! While it certainly covers up a lot more of her face, it is so wonderful that she no longer has to have that tube down her throat. The nurse said that her vocal chords are still swollen because the tube was going right in between them for so long. So we have yet to hear any sounds from our little one. But what a joy it will be when we finally get to hear little squeaks and even cries come from her precious voice! Her oxygen has remained in the 20s even on the new ventilator which is so encouraging. She seems so much calmer now than she did a couple of days ago when they first took her off her pain drip. She still moves around quite a bit, but she seems a lot more comfortable. All that being said, it wouldn't be abnormal for her to return to the tube in her mouth, but we are praying for that not to be the case.Her feedings have increased as well. She is now receiving 8ccs, about a third of an ounce, every three hours. Hopefully she will continue to digest what they are giving her so they can continue to increase. Papa Bear was able to hold his little daughter for the first time last night! He only had her in his hand for a few minutes (we are kicking ourselves for not having our camera with us), but it was such a special time for him. She really isn't much bigger than his hand and it was the cutest thing ever to see him so tenderly hold our sweet Suzie.

The neurosurgeon finally came by to look at her sonogram today and decided that she needs to have the reservoirs placed in her brain within the next two to three days. We will certainly keep you posted when we have more info as we will be very grateful for you all to pray for her procedure.

Today we listened to a sermon from Kyle's pastor in Hutchinson on measuring our love for God. Kyle and I were both so convicted that we can so easily place things in this world above our Lord and desire temporal happiness more than we desire to please Him. We were reminded of how much more He loves us than we can even understand and humbled that this is such a wonderful opportunity for us to demonstrate that we love our God more than anything else in this world. Please pray that this would be true for us no matter what is to happen with our little girl.
I don't even know how we can possibly express how much your prayers and encouragement means to us. Suzie is now 18 days old and yet we continue to receive so many encouraging cards, emails, blog posts, phone calls and visits letting us know how many people are upholding us in prayer. We are truly blessed far more than we deserve.