I feel so blessed today. Thank you to anyone that has been praying for us, I can feel the prayers. The days of remembering Emma’s surgery and recovery went well, it was actually the days leading up to it that were the hardest. In the actual remembering there were many good things. Here are a few:

I was reminded of the amazing ability that God has given children to heal. Can you imagine going home after only 7 days of recovery after open-heart surgery?

I was reminded of many nurses that cared for Emma in the heart ward at Children’s. Emma’s first nurse in the hours directly following her heart surgery was so good at giving us any and all details we asked for. She would explain any beeps on the machines or any medication she was giving. One of Emma’s later nurses as Emma came off the ventilator and some of the meds also made a big impression on us. She taught me many things in caring for Emma and let me do simple things like changing her diaper. She tied Emma’s head wrap (which was to keep the central iv line out of Emma’s face) in a bow in the hopes of improving the look of it. She also took great care to cover Emma’s face when she was under a heat lamp, or put socks on her feet if they were cold. When I complained about Emma not being herself and not smiling at me, etc. she gave me a mini-lecture about how if I had just had heart surgery I would still be begging for the morphine, which Emma had been weaned from already.

I was reminded of good days. Days of recovery, when Emma was doing well. The day I first got to hold her after surgery, the day I first got to feed her again, the first diaper I changed after surgery. All wonderful things! I remember giving Emma a bath in the hospital! That was wonderful too! It is so easy to breeze over these little everyday things, forgetting how much they meant to me at the time.

I was reminded of how the hospital viewed John and I as valued members of their team. They trusted us with our daughter, giving us the confidence to care for her as we should.

Thank you God for such wonderful memories. Thank you for what you have filled me with–peace and joy and memory. Though I would rather have the reality than the memories, at least I do have so many of those. Life is good, You are good. Your blessings abound!