God things (Alli update 10-11-08)

For anyone who doesn't know, our sweet little girl was in an accident Thur night. She fell from the 2nd story balcony and landed about 10 feet below. She was not awake when we got to her and we thought the worst. My husband cradled her limp body and blew into her mouth and a soft cry came from within her. We realized we had a chance and raced for the truck. The 9-1-1 operator instructed us to drive toward ER and the ambulance would meet us enroute.
Our 9-1-1 operator, Kim, whose name I will never forget, was blessed from above with each word she spoke. She prayed us through the horror we were living and now holds a special place in my heart forever. Our ambulance guys inserted her IV and she screamed. I shouted, "Thank you God, thank you she can feel it!" They may or may not have thought I was nuts.
ER was very emotional. We very quickly had so many praying people surrounding us that they got us a family room. The first report, vitals good. The second, one fractured rib. Still, not as bad as I expected. Next report, fractured skull...scary. They decided to send us to the Children's Hospital.
That drive seemed longer than it ever has to that area, but it gave me a good opportunity to talk to God, and my husband about what we'd just lived through. I was immediately filled with tons of God Moments from the night. I want to share some with you so we together can Glorify God.

• Hannah saw Alli fall and immediately got help.
• Hannah didn't panic and fall after her.
• None of us fell rushing to her.
• We heard her voice.
• We didn't wreck driving to meet the ambulance.
• Alli called my name.
• Alli could feel them stick her.
• Alli's vitals were good.

And so we arrived at the Children's Hospital. Another God Moment. They had removed the braces because her tests showed no spinal cord damage. So we settled in the room as best we could. She had been given a bit of morphine and did not rest well from the pain.

Friday she was either asleep, awake crying of pain, or vomitting. It took a while to get that under control, and at times now it can still be tough. We had more tests that showed she actual had a double skull fracture in a T formation and had separated some. She also had a hemotoma at that site. Friday evening they allowed me to hold her for the first time. What a blessed experience that was. That night she had a time where she was awake for about 2 hrs. and talked with us some. She seemed okay, but some of her speech was a little off. Then she rested well for the first time.

Today has been busy. More testing, a first out of bed to potty. She walked a few steps but was not happy about it at all. She cried for a very long time afterwards. We had some visitors, which was a little overwhelming for her. However, she very much enjoyed the sentiments of love they left behind.

Then this afternnon we received Blessed news. Recent testing showed the hemotoma had shrank so small they couldn't really tell where it was. There had been no more cranial separation. Provided she could perk up and keep something solid down, she may get to travel home tomorrow to continue recovery there.

We've kept down a popsickle, 2 hershey kisses, a Sprite, and some apple juice. And what fun, she's currently lathering her lips in her much loved "lip care" cuddled beside me as I type this update.

I haven't given every detail, like the prayers I could specifically feel pouring over us, like Leah in ER who spoke to my Spirit, like Tim the chaplain who nursed our whole family in ER, like Evie our nurse here who's much like an old friend of mine I don't get to see anymore, like the goodies from L.E. that have kept my sugar from dropping, or the cards from little children at my school who gathered together and called out her name in prayer, like my nephews who instead of sleeping were on their knees calling out on our behalf, like my sweet Fl friend who called just to say I love you (then we had to hang up b/c our sobbing prevented us from saying much else), like our parents, siblings, and my dear E who are caring for our other girls, like the swarm of calls and emails from church and "the chicken people".

My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing My God cannot do.

My Saviour lives, and because of Him, so does my baby. This is my valley, but just like the view from the hospital windows, the mountains I can see. And the God of the mountain is still God in the valley. When things go wrong, He'll make it right. And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times. The God of the day, is still God in the night. (Courtesy of the McKammeys)

I'll continue to update daily as we continue here and also when we get home and continue to recover there. They say her headaches will probably continue for some time, as well as the trouble with noise, lights, and over stimulating. But we can handle any trial because I am His and He is mine.

Update you tomorrow! We love you all more than you'd ever know! Keep praying! (Forgive any typos, we're pretty tired)