11/12/14

Psalm 66:3-5

Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!  So great is your power...All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name." Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. 

Things are going great! Nora was discharged from the hospital Saturday evening.  Sunday morning we packed up and moved to the Ronald McDonald house in Manhattan.  The remainder of the trip will be follow up appointments at the office in Manhattan.  It's not next door, like the RMH in Long Island, but it's only about a 15 minute walk away.  Evan left Sunday afternoon, so I had one night just Nora and me, and we did just fine:)  On Monday I walked to the doctor's office only to find out that the hospital hadn't scheduled the appointment like they said they had.  I scheduled it for the next day and got a nice little walk in-it was a beautiful day!  Kristen arrived and we decided to walk around the city since it was so nice.  Tuesday we saw the doctor and everything looked great!  We celebrated with a frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity, which is just a couple blocks from the office.  So delicious-I think we will make that a tradition:) On Friday, we will discuss the timeline of things/when the next surgery will be and what we do from here.  

We love having Aunt Kristen here!

Nora seems to feel better each day.  She isn't needing to be held constantly, and I only give her pain medication occasionally.  She is a tough little girl!  She loves waving at people and gives them a shy little smile. Her little smile is so contagious:) I think she likes being around all the people here. 

We are so grateful that we were able to come to NY and work with these doctors.  We feel like she is in the best possible place and praise God for getting us here.  I met a family from Switzerland who was here for their 17 year old son who also has a lymphatic malformation.  His is on his face just like Nora's.  He has had surgeries in Switzerland that did not go so well, but he's seen very good results since starting with Dr. Waner.  We can't thank God enough for the way he led us here and for the amazing way he has been providing for it all.  We can't thank you all enough for the overwhelming love and support and generosity you continue to pour out on us.  We are so grateful and humbled. We pray daily that you will be blessed as you have blessed us.  

We also can not thank everyone enough for your persistent prayers.  It means so much to know that our family is being covered in prayer.  Please continue to pray for healing, protection from infection and sickness, and restoration of facial movement.  She is able to move her mouth, but still doesn't have complete movement, specifically the bottom right side.  Please also pray for Lina and Belle as this time is kind of crazy for them too.  

For anyone in the Milwaukee area, Consider The Lilies floral designs is doing a fundraiser for Nora. The owner, Amanda, has created a design called the "Nora's smile" and will be donating all proceeds from that arrangement! For those of you on Facebook, there is a link on my page, or you can search "Consider The Lilies" on FB.  You can also visit her website  www.considertheliliesdesigns.com

Thank you Amanda!