Hard to be a Texan...

Today it is hard to be a Texan in Nebraska! Can you believe we are in the middle of CornHuskers Territory on the day of the big game? We are rooting against all of the nurses and doctors on our floor as we watch the game in Ashley's room. Praise God that we are not alone! There is another family from Texas across the hall from us. A lot of the nurses are wearing University of Nebraska scrubs today. Unbelievable. This is definately college football country.

The doctors have ordered abdominal x-rays for Ash this morning to see if the placement of her G-tube is o.k. No one has any answers about why she is vomitting so much. If they can't find a problem with the placement then they would like to schedule surgery early next week to place a G-J tube down into the intestine to by pass her stomach and start feeding the new bowel. For today they have decided to give her a fluid bolus and raise the amount of TPN. I will be so thankful when those three letters have disappeared from our vocablulary! Please pray that our sweet girl will begin to feel better today and be able to eat soon. She is losing weight and this is not what we want to happen.

How painful it is to watch as the cycle of life and death must go on here in PICU. They have already moved a new little one into precious baby Jeremiah's room. I could not work in this place. God has not equipped me with the strength to do what these amazing nurses do. I am so thankful they are here and they are called to do this job for us. My heart is with Christine and Calvin this morning as they make the necessary but painful decisions they must make today. Father please give them strength and comfort for the upcoming days. As I hugged his mommy's neck last night and told her how very much I loved her she was clinging onto Jeremiah's teddy bear. How empty her arms must have felt and this tiny toy was all she had to hold onto. I will never understand.

Aunt Rachael is preparing to leave and fly back to Oklahoma today. She is expecting their third baby and she is not feeling very well this morning. We think she is just nervous about the flight. She has been an absolute blessing to us this past week. She has learned so much about Ashley's care. She can do dressing changes, ostomy bags, silence the alarms, and so much more. She has the most tender heart but she is made of steel. God has given her a strength deep inside that not too many of us have. Her heart is sad to think that it may be a very long time before she sees our Ashley again. Her and Ash have become great friends this week. All of my family prays that Ash will recover and become strong enough to one day visit everyone back in Oklahoma, and that all of her cousins will get to hold her and see her again.

We love you guys and we apreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Our Ashley is so blessed to have such a huge "family" who loves her enough to take her to the Father everyday in prayer. We look forward to meeting you all one day, but until then we will just thank God for your kindness towards our daughter and will continue to thank Him for bringing you all to Ashley's Story. Take Care.