Small Victories Are Great Victories Too!

I would say today was a pretty good day. I ventured off to work for half a day. Boy, it was hard leaving Bailey here. I knew she was safe here with Tom and I could be home in 15 minutes, if need be. But it was tough leaving her, but I thought it needed to be done . . . for all our sakes. I knew I was stressed when, on the way in to work this morning, a white Plymouth Voyager cut me off in traffic and I started crying! Ha!! I guess a much needed and long-awaited stress reliever for me. It was nice to get back to work and give my mind a chance to think about something else for a few hours. And Bailey did fine. Her appetite has been better today than it has for many, many days. She still can't eat a whole meal at once, but she's eating several snacks a day. And! Best part, is that she thinks she's down half a pound from yesterday. We have scales with a dial, but it does seem to be pretty accurate. So that's certainly a victory. And she is definitely getting around more here at home than she did in the hospital. She ventured outside in the backyard with me while I pulled some weeds from the garden that sprung up while we were in the hospital. (Cool thing about that, though, is that I found 3 monarch butterfly caterpillars for Marissa to take into her class and watch them turn into butterflies. They've been studying monarchs. We researched it and set them up with a nice little habitat that we are hopeful is just what they need to survive and change into butterflies. She's SO excited!) And that is definitely a victory. She still has quite a ways to go before she's back to some semblence of normalcy, but it is such a relief to see progress in that direction.

The American Heart Association's Heart Walk is this Saturday. Bailey still wants to go but she doesn't think she'll be able to walk 3 miles. Well, of course not! She has trouble with the stairs at home. So, we're borrowing a wheelchair from Grandma and Grandpa Wooten's church so she can make it to the Heart Walk. She really is an incredible little lady.

I so enjoyed my afternoon and evening spent working in the yard today. Nature is my therapy - even mowing the grass. I have my best devotionals while mowing the grass. I was just thinking today about God not giving us more than we can handle. I think we can handle a lot more when we rely on Him to carry us through. There are a lot of my friends out there who are getting hit pretty hard by life right now. We can get through it, you guys. I love each and every one of you and you are all in my prayers.

Good night everyone!
Angie

P.S. Bailey's documentary ("Heart to Heart") is going to be in the Heartland Film Festival here in Indy in October. I will get info together for you on the time(s) and place(s) it will be shown. I understand it's up for an "Audience Favorite" award, so be sure you attend and vote! This could be great exposure for the advancement of pediatric medicine in our country.

And, the documentary (or at least portions of it) is very close to being nationally televised -- it looks like maybe the last week of September. Yes - this month! I will keep you posted as to the time and station for that too. I'll let you know when I know!