Thankful To Be Home

I really should be sleeping at this hour, but I can’t seem to shut my mind down.

I’ve never been more thankful to see the twinkling lights of our small town in the distance through our bedroom window. And I’ve never been so thankful to be home.

This has been quite the ordeal with Ali being so sick. Her sickness came out of nowhere. Tests couldn’t pinpoint what caused her inflamed colon, but by the pictures, even I with an untrained eye, could tell it was inflamed. I heard a nurse describe her colon to look like “hamburger.” It didn’t look like that to me, but again, I’ll accept the fact that I have an untrained eye for such things. (I guess that’s a good thing!)

I find it interesting that with it being so inflamed, doctors couldn’t diagnose it and said by Saturday afternoon, her body was healing on it’s own. We believe God healed her. With as many people who were lifting her up in prayer, and interceding on our behalf, I am confident God answered those prayers. (Some may roll their eyes at this, including my brother, but it’s truly what we see here.) 🙂

We spent four nights in the hospital, and were released yesterday afternoon. I think we both felt like we were freed from prison! The sun was shining on us, the fresh air smelled amazing, and it felt like I hadn’t been outside for weeks! Ali was craving crab rangoons and Donutland donuts. We picked up both, then picked up her pain medicine from the pharmacy. We drove home, talking all the way there.

I will cherish those four nights in the hospital with Ali. We laughed. We cried. We talked…even in the wee hours of the morning as she was getting poked, prodded, and getting her “vitals” taken. We spent uninterrupted time with each other. We watched Disney movies together. (By the way, my new favorite Disney movie is Tangled…very cute!)

Ali was a trooper. She was strong, courageous, and kind. I watched her interact with her nurses, the doctors, her visitors, and how she handled everything that was thrown at her…even a colonoscopy. She was amazing. And even though she hadn’t eaten for three days, and couldn’t because of her colon, she encouraged us to bring our meals in the room, and eat there and be with her. I’m not sure I could have done that…smelling the food that I couldn’t eat.

I also watched how she handled missing her first day of college classes on Monday. She didn’t fret or worry, and hasn’t been anxious at all. We hope she’s feeling up to going tomorrow. Her professors have been very understanding and encouraging!

We figured out this was Ali’s seventh trip to this hospital in ten months! She’s had mono, was in a car accident, received a concussion, and now this…all in less than a year!

On another note, Zach drove to school for the first time on his own today. My heart sank as he backed out of our driveway, on to our road, waved to me standing in the door, and slowly drove away. I whispered, “Lord, please protect him.” My little guy has grown up. I’m so proud of him.

I have so much to be thankful for. God has been so good to us. We all have many blessings in our lives. It’s good to count them each day. It’s getting late, and I need to get up early tomorrow. Hopefully now, my mind will shut off and I will be able to rest. I certainly need it!

Blessings to you! Good night!