So glad He got to be Her Dad!

This daddy sure does love this pickle! I could sit and watch them together forever. He leaves us at 4 tomorrow morning and we will both miss him so much. Today he spent his time rocking, rubbing, and relaxing with our Ashley Kate. He climbed into her crib and rubbed until his fingers went numb. I love the way he loves her. I love the way he loves them all.

My heart is so sad. Blake and Allie were both crying on the phone tonight. They are missing us terribly and they have been so strong for so long. My heart broke as I listened to them turn on each other and although I tried to help them repair the hurt feelings its just not the same when mom is 700 miles away. I wish we could all be at home together. Allie is so emotional and Blake is trying so hard with her, but like he said,"I'm sad too, Mom." He may be 12, but he is still a kid and their hearts are hurting. I pray Ashley Kate will recover soon.

I wonder how there doing it? I don't think I could hold myself together as much as they do. Thankfully they have wonderful grandparents who are giving so much time and energy filling in for me while I'm away. We try so hard to keep life as normal as possible for the kids. We know that our sweet Ashley will always be sick and there will always be periods of time that require her to be hospitalized. Dave and I firmly believe that Blake and Al should not have to give up their talents, their activities, their friends, and their normalcy. They love Ash and I know they would do anything for her, but that doesn't require them to have to give everything up. Blake will be playing in the Regional soccer tournament tomorrow and more than likely his team will play in the championship game. How I wish I could be there to cheer him on. The Tarheels will then travel to Texarkana for a baseball tournament this weekend. Allie will play soccer on Saturday and has promised to kick another goal for me. Ash is sick and we are away, but life goes on at home. I miss my kids so very much.

Ash looks pretty good tonight. She is a little fussy and irritable because of her big tummy, but overall I think its been a good day. Her kidneys continue to struggle and we continue to push albumin, plasma, blood, platelets, and replacement fluids trying to keep up with the fluids she is losing. We need her kidneys to wake up and decide to do their job again and do it well. She is barely hanging on at the lower end of the spectrum(and it doesn't make our team very happy).
She had low fevers a few times today, but currently she does not. We went back to CT today to see if anything had changed in the areas everyone is so concerned about, but we have not heard the results. Its a long road back and if we do indeed have surgery then the road becomes even longer.

Tonight I'll be lifting up my children in prayer. Each of them hurt even though some hurts are physical and some are not. I just want to be their mom and take all the heartaches away. I would love to climb up next to them on their beds and rub their feet until they grew tired and drift off to sleep. Thats exactly what I'm going to do on our first night back home. I hope they know how very much they are loved as they lay there tonight.

Thank you for your prayers for our family. I thank God for each of you and pray He blesses your homes. I look forward to meeting with this group of believers on the other side and seeing the ones He has called to stand with us. I love you guys. Trish