On Our Way "Up!"

It's the wee hours of the morning, and I can't sleep. I think I'm about to witness an amazing sunrise as a reward for my insomnia - the view out our hospital window cannot be beat. From where I sit, I can see the water just beyond the city's downtown buildings. And at the edge of the bay, there's a little airport that's busy with small planes and helicopters. Drew's going to love that in a day or so.

The boy is doing really well. I am amazed at how comfortable he seems. Each time the nurse asks about his pain (they use the smiley face chart... I'm sure you're familiar), he points to the little guy right next to the smiling one. "Just a little bit" is the only amount of pain he's reporting. Now, they have him hooked up to the best medicine in the world, but hey - it's working!!

I'm pleased to report that Drew is finally wearing pants again. "Phineas & Ferb" pajama bottoms if you must know. He's very proud of them, and I'm glad he feels a bit less exposed these days.

It's very quiet in his room, and he slept soundly from 9pm last night until about 2 o'clock this morning. With a good five hour nap, though, he woke us both up so we could "watch some movies!"

I curled up in his bed with him and we watched "UP". I had never seen it before, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. After the movie was over, I convinced him to go back to sleep... but for some inexplicable reason, I'm still "UP".

But that's ok. The still, dark quiet of this room has been a great place for some reflection this morning. And most of my thoughts are steeped in gratitude. Gratitude to God for being so good to us. Gratitude that He loves Andrew even more than I do. Gratitude for my amazing family and friends. Gratitude that we are floating somewhere in the middle of the covering of God's protection and the safety net of your prayers and love.

So, thanks for keeping us "UP!"

I'm off to either catch a sunrise or a little shut eye.

(I put these on my Facebook page yesterday, but in case you didn't see them, I wanted to include them here as well):

When we arrived, Drew was very upset and anxious...


Then, the nurse gave him something called "Happy Juice". Ahh... much better!


During the procedure, his daddy and I killed time by checking emails and responding to the sweetest messages of love and prayers.


Post-op and in his room


Less than 2 hours after surgery, he manages to play a quick video game on the t.v. mounted on his wall. Very cool!