Happy Thanksgiving!

Surgery was one week ago today. The leaps and bounds that Bailey has made is nearly unbelievable to me. I caught myself just now staring at her while she sits on the edge of the bed coloring. Her hair's up in a messy bun, the color of her skin is just gorgeous, her arms and legs are a bit on the skinny side, and her belly is . . . well, what belly?! Truly a different person. Incredible. She walked two laps around the heart center today and didn't even get out of breath. She hasn't been able to walk any distance at all without getting out of breath in 6 months. I am so grateful that Dr. D and Dr. T joined forces again to get Bailey where she is today. There were no promises - just clarification of the risks. Bailey has such a complex heart condition that there were/are no certainties. Relying on faith really is the only way. I wonder at which point I would have become unable to function if I didn't have my faith. I just thank God that we have Him to carry us through this.

Bailey has had an incredible day. We still live day to day, but with each day that passes I feel like I can breathe a little easier. It was sad not to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our extended family today, but we were very content to be where we are. People keep commenting on how we must be tired of this place and ready to bust out of here, but truly that is not the case. This place has provided us with peace, love, and hope - how could we be ready to bust out of here?

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from beginning to end today. That was fun! And we were delivered two plates of homemade Thanksgiving dinner. How wonderful! And mom even made Bailey some low-sodium stuffing. It was wonderful!

It's been a very low-key and restful day today. Bailey took one nice nap, but has been awake and perky all day. So, so, so nice to have her back. Dr. T came in a couple times to check on her today and he asked me how I thought she was really doing, because since she never complains about anything, it's kind of hard to get a feel for how she's feeling. I told him that two nights ago we were watching TV and she, out of the blue, said, "I'm so happy, I just wanna cry." He was happy to hear that, but then went off on a tangent about what's wrong with women -- they cry when they're happy and they cry when they're sad, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Ha! He seems to be very happy with where Bailey is right now. He's just an incredible surgeon. I really wish there was a way for us to accurately express our gratitude to him, but I really don't believe it's even humanly possible to do that. There aren't words in the English language extreme enough to get the job done. One of these days, and probably sooner than later, I am going to fall on my knees and break down. Given about 90 seconds of letting my guard down, it will happen.

I hope you all are enjoying your time with your families on this Thanksgiving day. I hope that you can be grateful not only for the wonderful things in life, but also for the challenges because they are what build our faith and shape our character.

I love you all out there - family, friends and strangers - for all your prayers - past, present and future - and for hanging in there with us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Catch you tomorrow.

Angie