Today has been a day of great improvement for Evangeline!

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. ~Isaiah 58:8

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The physical therapists were able to get her out of bed for a while. She sat up in the wheel chair for about an hour while I fixed her hair.

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She is moving her right leg and wiggling her toes!

Praise Jesus!

She even stood and put some weight on her right leg!

Everyone is so much more optimistic and hopeful now that she is making such great strides only days after surgery.

It seems that she has retained all the feeling she had previous to surgery. The strength and movement seems to have been affected, but now doctors are more confident that the damage will be temporary.

That just makes my heart soar.

Her pain has not really reduced much yet, but we are hoping that begins to improve soon.

The toughest thing for us right now is the long hospital stay we are all facing.

Today or Tomorrow, we may be moved out of the PICU to the surgical floor where we will wait for a bed to open in rehab. They are thinking she may get to rehab by Wednesday. Then, they are expecting a two to three week stay in rehab.

The rehab is right here in Children’s Hospital.

Evangeline seems panic stricken about me leaving for even a few hours.

With a hospital stay that long, I’ll have to go home sometimes.

When it comes up, she immediately loses control and cries, “No, you won’t come back! You won’t!”

There’s a temptation for people outside the adoption community to think that being fourteen and spending so much time in an orphanage, she would be fine here for a while without us. But the reality is, she isn’t a healthy fourteen year old. She’s already had a mom who left and didn’t come back.

Somewhere deep inside, she remembers that day she was four years old and cried in the train station for a mommy who didn’t come back.

The unthinkable for us is her reality.

My leaving and not coming back is a very real scenario for Evangeline.

Even so, we have Eliza who has lived the same reality and is home waiting and many other little ones and big ones who need me too.

That’s the toughest part.

We’ll just have to take one day at a time.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~Matthew 6:34

We are so thankful for the wonderful progress she is making!

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13 Comments on Today She Shines

  1. Praise God ! I so happy that things are looking up today ! Just email me if you think she would like another distraction.

  2. So glad to hear she is improving. I have been praying for her and your family. Am praying for a solution for you during that long hospital stay as well. Does she have an Iphone or something she could “facetime” you with? Maybe if she could see you? Hospitals are a scary place, especially for children, but poor Evangeline has already been through so much! My thoughts are with you and know you’ll find a way to get through this time.
    Ashley recently posted..What the Pho?My Profile

  3. Diane, it is very true that early trauma affects us well into adulthood. You are wise to recognize this.

    My father died when I was 8. Mom never remarried. It is always a concern of mine that I too could be a widow with kids because I witnessed it firsthand! Adults who have been through a parents divorce as children have the same fear. It is natural for Evangeline to believe that she would be abandoned again. You are doing a great job and God is obviously sustaining you and Mark and we will keep lifting you up in prayer.

  4. So glad to hear she is on the mend after such a scary prognosis. I imagine that being left alone would create much panic for her. It does show that she has really connected with you though. Although Eliza is missing you too, you are with the child in most need right now. Maybe when you are though this some one on one time can be carved out for Eliza. It sounds like Mark (although he struggles to be as good as you) is holding down the fort. Many prayers for you all. God won’t lead you to it without seeing you through it.

  5. Children really do retain those traumatic moments. My daughter was just 2 when my husband broke his back. She still has a memory of him crawling out of the barn crying and telling her to go get mommy.
    I know God will give you wisdom on how to handle this.

  6. Amazing, fabulous, so so so wonderful!!! 🙂

    I can imagine the difficult choices that will come up as far as staying/going and I commend you for recognizing how real and first hand her fear is. I hear something along the lines of “you won’t leave me, right?” almost daily from my kids, and they came home as infants. My heart breaks for Evangeline’s past trauma, yet it sours that she is now healing and surrounded by love and support. You’re doing a wonderful job.

  7. How little Evangeline’s story is touching so many hearts for Jesus. He loves her so much, and He is hearing our prayers for her, and for you, too, Diane and family. Your trust in the Lord is such a blessing to read about because HE is always faithful and always gives only good and perfect gifts. Tonight I got caught up on many days of reading about Evangeline’s surgery and sweet little Eliza. Praying for both of them and all of your wonderful children. Our God is to be praised for what He has done and is doing~!!!

    In Jesus love,
    Diane B.
    Diane Boring recently posted..THEY COULD NOT~!!!!!My Profile

  8. It is great to see her smile again. She is so strongwilled! And so vulnerable… Is rehab only possible as intern? No way she could come home for a day a week, for instance? It must be hard on all of you… the family at home misses you, you miss them, and Evangeline cannot do without you. She is so lucky that you understand and appreciate her past. You would never leave her. You are her forever mum. Now all she needs is gain the confidence that that is really so… Will she ever?
    Happy Sunday, warm regards, Claudia

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