Missing Her

This morning "her" chair is empty, her books are all on the shelf, and her giggle is absent from the house. The kids and I are missing her sweet face. I wish she were coming back home today, but she's not. ( I love this picture of her. Not the best photograph, but that messy hair at the end of the day just melts my heart. This is her favorite place to read.)

I'm not feeling well this morning and Dave is at the hospital with Ashley Kate. They're sleeping in and catching up on some overdue rest. I've called up a couple of times to discover that they weren't quite awake. I'm so thankful the nurses are allowing them this time. It means so much to us have that privacy when were inpatient. Later this afternoon we will switch places again.

Yesterday Ash was so very sad. She was asking to go home and just waved bye bye all day long as she pointed to the door. It breaks my heart that she is there and not here, but as Dave and I were saying goodnight last night we once again found ourselves so grateful to only be separated by a few blocks rather than hundreds of miles. What a blessing that is to us.

No news has come back on an identification of what bug we are battling. Until we know something we can't make plans to bring her home. They have to figure out what it is and what it is sensitive to before they can order IV meds to be administered at home. I'm not sure why its taking so long, but it is. Ash wants to go outside. She wants go home. Hospital rooms are dark and dreary and not very homey. She has books, puzzles, crayons, and toys but its not as fun when your stuck in the bed. She feels pretty good and still has had no fevers with this infection. That is really puzzling. Usually a high fever is the first "alarm" to go off when you have an infection like this, but she's had none. She continues vomiting, but no more shaking or trembling has occurred since early Friday morning. If you saw her today other than the sad look in her eyes from missing home you wouldn't know she was sick. She looks normal. Again Dave and I discussed our gratefulness for that as well. How sad we are that she's not well, but how thankful we are she's not in the position we have known her to be in before. Our Ashley has had some really awful days in her life and this is a mere bump along the way. God willing she'll be home soon and sitting in that chair of "hers" and reading all about her caterpillars, butterflies, lady bugs, and spiders. For some reason she's really into little critters right now. She has a spider and a lady bug that she holds onto all day long and chooses over all other toys. It makes us giggle to see our little girl cuddling a spider.

The sun is shining here outside our little yellow house this morning and we are praying to bring our Ashley home to it very soon. Its just not home without her in it. We sure are missing her.