6/5 update

We made the first trip back to Texas Children's for an appointment with the hematologist today. Carissa's numbers were down some but she did not have to have either an rbc or a platelet transfusion. We go back Tuesday to make sure the platelet numbers don't drop to a dangerous level before that is realized. We are praying that Carissa's platelet numbers start to improve so that they don't have to consider doing rougher tests on her in a month or two.

It is a challenge coordinating an infant on oxygen and a pulse-ox meter at the house and especially when traveling to an appointment. What is great is that it is a much bigger blessing to be dealing with the tanks, tubes, and monitors since that means Carissa is home with us.

• Please thank God for Carissa's progress and for her not needing a transfusion today.
• Please pray that Carissa's body improves in manufacturing and coordinating all the different blood cells needed to function well, expecially platelets.
• Please pray that Carissa's lungs and breathing continue to mature and work toward not needing any oxygen support.
• Please thank God for her eating and sleeping going well and that Carissa will be able to nurse more and more.
• Please pray that God will get the glory for Carissa's progress and that people will realize His power to heal through her story.

It is funny how we now do not really know how much Carissa is eating since she is nursing some as well as bottle feeding at least to finish up at each feeding. Things you've taken for granted in the past now become a leap of faith as we transition from everything being precisely measured and timed to a little less regular and only partially measured so that you know a minimum of what was consumed but not the actual total. It has really reminded me that many normal things we do in life require faith but we develop faith in objects or schedules or systems or people and just trust them without thinking about it. Doesn't it make a lot of sense to have that attitude toward our Heavenly Father? At the start of Joshua, God told Joshua in chapter 1 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." In the last chapter of Joshua, Joshua says "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." May we respond the same.

Yours and His

Terry