Every day is so different!

Hi all!

So, after the craziness of last week, I have so enjoyed this week... It has held sad things, and frustrating things, but over all of that have been the really great things. The overarching feeling for this week has been thankfulness for the people I am surrounded by here. God really has put together such an amazing community for me over here! Beth arrived on Tuesday (one of the friends I worked with in our office in the States - she's here to stay too! YAY!) and has just added to the amazing people I get to work with every day. They bring so much laughter as we tell stories about the kids and make fun of each other mercilessly... definitely the BEST way to relieve stress!! I love that so many of the people I work with are not afraid to be ridiculously funny. :o) This week has held so many great conversations with friends over lunches, dinners, and car rides that I am just feeling so blessed.
The hardest aspect of the week has been that the second attempt to take the baby off of the ventilator failed as well. After being told some wrong information by a nurse I was afraid we were just dragging out the inevitable fact of loosing him and walked into his doctor's office with tears streaming down my face feeling like we were just torturing this little boy. Thankfully, she assured me that the nurse was wrong and that there is no physiological reason for why he shouldn't be breathing on his own. Of course, this is still concerning, but it is good to know that all of the operations have been successful and that he now has a perfect airway that (once he realizes he can't depend on a machine) should work well! Tomorrow they will put in a "peg" where we will have to inject his food directly into his stomach for the next 6 months. The misinformation that the nurse had given me was saying that he would never be able to eat again, which, being his FAVORITE thing, made me feel like we were taking away everything that brought him the most joy. The truth is that the doctors don't WANT him to swallow for about 6 months because they are afraid that he will choke while the airway is healing. Six months is definitely better than FOREVER! So, please pray that when they make a third attempt at getting him to breathe on his own next week that it works!!!
Funny kid story of the week: One of our four year old little girls was too sick when she was two to actually go through the "terrible twos" and has always just been a little angel. Now that she is healthy however, she seems to be making up for lost time!!! Ever since her 4th birthday in July, she has been quite a handful. This week, she found a pair of scissors in the backpack of one of her big sisters and really went to town on cutting her own hair. Mind you, this is the third time in a month, but DEFINITELY caused the most damage! As a result of our little hair stylist's creativity, her whole head had to be shaved! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen to see her walking around bald telling people "I cut my hair!" with her little speech impediment (HIV has caused near-continuous ear infections that have destroyed her eardrums. Now that she is healthier, she will be having eardrum grafts this month and getting hearing aids, but as a result of 4 years of not being able to hear, she can be a little hard to understand at times!)
So... that's all for now and I am going to head off to bed!