Home, Sweet HOME!!

Unbelievable isn't it??  Yet, with God, with Gracie's life--completely believable!!  What a work He has done once again in her sweet body.  Don't get me wrong--I completely give credit to her terrific surgeon and medical staff---they have worked so hard, they have poured in so much...all into this little girl's life, into her heart.  God has gifted everyone with something--I'm so grateful for the physicians, for the researchers, for the caregivers--such a team of people who have been given such great purpose.  As Gracie's surgeon entered her room yesterday, without even giving it a thought, my arms were hugging this man tightly--I am so indebted to this individual.  Not once, not twice, but several times he has had his hands on my little girls very broken heart and God has used those hands to insert tiny devices, to move miniscule arteries--it completely blows my mind when I think of what that must be like.  I thank God for this man and so many others.

It has been busy!!  Life has been crazy!  If I was a betting girl, I would so have placed my bet on spending at least 3 weeks in the hospital--in a million years, I wouldn't have dreamed of bringing Gracie home in just one week.  Going into this surgery, we knew the risks, we knew the potential disasters that could arise, we knew the chances of complications were quite high.  SHE BREEZED THROUGH IT!!  Right now, if you walked into my home, you would likely hear something like this.  "Gracie, stop running, you might fall down.  Gracie, maybe you should eat a little slower so you don't throw up.  Gracie, stop running.  Gracie, slow down.  Gracie, try to rest a bit."  This girl is fixed!!  She is playing hard, she is talking non-stop with lots of great ideas, she is eating lots.  You would never guess that one week ago she had an extremely high risk open heart surgery.  AMAZING, completely amazing.

Yesterday, we visited with several of the cardiologists who know her history, several who were not in favor of this surgery.  All were in agreement that she looks terrific.  They are continuing to watch several of the things that could still be issues in her future.  She does have some fluid on the right side of her heart--we will have her checked out at Mayo until this is gone.  Her pulmonary artery to the right lung is still very, very small.  Her right side would be comparable to our left sides, meaning it is the lung that is larger.  This could still be a potential problem, but I have to say, I'm really not one bit worried.  I still believe that God knows her days--He knows her heart and He continues to prove Himself so faithful!!  I also had the opportunity to visit with the transplant coordinator.  From day one, Gracie has not been eligible to make any sort of transplant list because her chances of survival were small.  That also has changed with this operation.  She may qualify for a transplant after all--we are hoping this will be a long time from now, but are grateful to have this hope for a future.  This all just shows us that we know nothing here on this earth.  It is God who gives life, sustains life, and takes life away here on this earth.  Through knowing Him, claiming Him, we are given a life everlasting--that is it. 

In Gracie's mind, fixing her heart meant getting rid of her many scars.  She was very sad when the tape and bandages came off yesterday and her chest not only had her scars from before, but a bunch of new ones.  She cried and cried.  Heartbreaking.  She came home and our kids were telling her how cool her chest looked.  Curtis and Connor even had her take a red Sharpie and draw scars on their chests last night--it all seems better today.  She knows she is beautiful. 

I do have a sweet little story to share.  A couple of weeks ago at Bullfrogs and Butterflies (Gracie's church program), they learned the verse, CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, OH GOD.  Yesterday, Gracie told me she was going to make me a picture of her clean heart.  She said it over and over again.  Instead of a fixed heart, she had a clean heart.  She believes that is what happened with this operation.  She got a clean heart.  It's actually quite profound when you think about it.  We go through so much to have a clean heart, to get rid of all our junk--we try to cover it up, we try to put ourselves down, dwelling on what we have done.  I think of Gracie and her chest being opened, the coughing, the endless coughing, trying to walk again, the struggle, the pain.  We don't have to go through all of that to have a clean heart.  God just cleans it up--Jesus went through the blood, the suffering, the trying to walk again, the pain, being opened up on the cross--He took it all for us--He gave everything for us to have a clean heart.  What we do is rather simple--just ask.  That's it.   Gracie may not understand it all, but she certainly has been teaching me through her sweet life.  She has been poked and prodded, bled, suffered.  Yet, she is now being given life.  What a picture!!

If this makes no sense, I'm still really tired--it's just sleep--no big deal.  I just want to share my heart a bit.  Life is good, oh...so good!!

Love,

Gayle