Going Home Eve

I know it's only October but it really feels like Christmas is tomorrow.  Maybe it was the cinnamon spice coffee Jonathan made today, maybe its all the hustle and bustle of preparation, or maybe it's the hope that I am going to get what I want most in the whole world!

Penelope is scheduled to come home tomorrow sometime after one oclock.  Now, hospital time works a little bit like Chinese time, Deaf time, ADD time...whatever you want to call it.  The point is, I'm trying not to get my hopes set on being home by dinner.  I have to be honest though.  If we don't get to bring her home tomorrow I'm going to be disappointed.  Some people have warned me not to set myself up, but I'd rather feel all of this excitement at the risk of disappointment than to miss it all together! I wouldn't trade this excitement for anything!

What we will be experiencing with Penny at home is something I can barely wrap my head around.  We will all be together, and by we I mean Jonathan, Lydia, Penelope, Eliza, and our Nurse.  It will definitely be interesting trying to adjust to not only one new person in the house but two!  We will have 24 hour nursing care for the first 2 weeks and then it's supposed to go down to 16 but I imagine we'll be appealing that and asking for the 24 back.  Then again we may be happy to have some "just us time" as a family. Who knows!  I know I don't.  People keep asking what they can do to help and I have no idea what to tell them because I really have no idea what things will be like.   There is one thing that I do know.  I know that God is so good.

This time last year Jonathan and I were being told that any day now our little Penny (who we knew as baby A at the time) stood little to no chance of survival and that we should prepare ourselves for the worst outcome for our pregnancy.  Looking back at that time, I always knew that we would end up on the other side.  I had no idea it would be this difficult, this wonderful, this exhausting, this fulfilling.  I didn't think I could trust God any more than I did, love Jonathan any more than I did, or feel loved and supported any more than I did at that time.  I was wrong.  Now our sweet "baby A" is spending her last night in the hospital (for the foreseeable future) and is on her way home to a place where she's loved more than we could ever have imagined loving someone.  She is such a joy and such a tough little cookie!  She's loving and feisty, small and mighty, has so many obstacles and is so full of potential.  I can't wait to see what other amazing things the Lord has to reveal to us through the experience of raising these girls.  What an honor.

As I write this, Jonathan is spending some time alone with Penny at the hospital.  He sent me this picture of her room in it's "Going Home Eve" state.  This room has become a second home to us and we will miss the wonderful friends that we've made at Lebonheur.  Of course we will see them again, but we will miss them dearly.  The appreciation we feel for them is so hard to express.  It's difficult as a mom to only spend a few hours a day with your child and to feel like your child is being cheated out of love.  This has not been the case with Penelope.  She has to be one of the most loved little girls I know!  All because the wonderful people who work at Lebonheur don't just come to work to do a job and get a check.  They go above and beyond to make sure that their patients receive the best possible care for all of their needs not just the medical ones.  They've spoiled Penelope rotten by holding her and playing with her so much(even when she wasn't their patient!), but what a wonderful problem to have!  When we get home and she's demanding attention, I will smile because I know that it's a blessing that she was loved on so well by those taking care of her.