Please don't cry.

Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts and encouraging words for Wyndham and all my family. I have come to depend on this idea of 'sharing your burdens with others' since our original trauma and it just is an amazing thing for us to know that God hears prayers, that He shows compassion, that He comforts and gives peace. Those of you who pray on our behalf, I thank you and want you to know I really, 100% believe that God answers those prayers. In whatever way He sees is for our good. Today those answered prayers have come in many ways.
I packed a few things yesterday as we prepared to come to the ER- not knowing what was going to happen, but knowing that I would want to 'talk it over' with God. No matter what. I made sure to bring one of my newer Bibles that I am growing quite fond of-which happens to be the Women's Devotional Bible (NIV Version). It not only is soft and leather {and pink and brown!} but it has a magnetic closure and so many wonderful details inside. It has short devotionals throughout the books, highlighted verses and much more. So, today when I flipped it open randomly, I let my eyes fall on the little box that pinpoints a specific verse, which just 'happened to be' Lamentations 3:22, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail." It is beautiful all by itself. But it is breath-taking to me when read in context of the chapter in which it falls, specifically verses 1-33. Verse 25 says, "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in the Lord." That is what strikes me at such a time- that God gives comfort and reassurances over and over through His promises. Your prayers help to remind us of that, along with His Word as well as with all the kind thoughts and deeds many of you have done for our family-that God IS good and He can be trusted. Tonight, Wyndham and I are in the hospital yet, as she will have an MRI tomorrow and we wait a few more test results. Today her EEG led us to explore some options and Chip and I are hopeful that this will all be just another brief encounter for us to have to live out our faith according to God's plans. Wyndham has been in good spirits all day. She has had a healthy appetite. She has made us smile and laugh and want to cry at just how well she deals with this sort of circumstance in life. She has loved the buttons on the side of her bed- and is feeling 'powerful', I think, as she raises and lowers it with her little fingers. Not to mention she called the nurse a few times too. =) She knows very quickly what people she "likes" and which she will pretend to be sleeping for when the prod or ask too many questions. But almost everyone of her caregivers has gotten a smile at least once- whether coming or leaving! For some she grins the whole time that it takes for them to walk out the door. It's just heart-warming to me, that she takes so much of this stressful situation in stride...and even makes a game out of parts of it. Her IV arm made the cutest 'tree' as she watched Charlie Brown's Christmas today. She kept signing tree because it was so tall and it's the one sign she can do with that arm. Kids are so adaptable and I give her so much credit, because she is the one who normally has such aversions to new environments and sensory issues. So this has just been one more visible evidence to me that all of the prayers that are said on her behalf are being heard. I thank God for that and give Him all the credit for the peace and calm and assuarnce that we feel in our hearts today.
I hope by this time tomorrow I can write that we are home and soaking up the love and attention that we are missing right now from Chip, Brock, Bella and Ava. I can't help but think that Teagan may have her eye on all of us this whole time too. So, I just have to end by saying, thanks for your prayers and please, I hope none of you shed tears for any of us out of sadness. We are doing so well and feeling such care from so many, that it only makes God more real to us. There is no reason to cry for that! Chip and I have talked about our futures a lot. We trust in the present, we have faith for tomorrow and Hope for eternity. We like to say, "1oo years from now none of the pain and trials and challenges will matter to us, except for those who have come to trust fully in God, as a result". That is the truth...and if you must know, it brings me to tears. Tears of joy.