She smiled

Saturday the Lord gave us a little (actually huge) blessing. During Grace's bath, she suddenly snapped out of her lethargic, expressionless state and gave me a smile. I called for Michelle to come in right away and for about the next 5 minutes, our little girl was back. Amidst our tears of gratefulness and joy, Grace made good eye contact, splashed around in her tub and smiled in response to us playing with her. For a brief moment it was like the good ol' days and Grace was "there". I hadn't seen her smile since Tuesday and as Michelle mentioned, it's like we had forgotten what it looked like.

We know this was a merciful gift from the Lord for us to enjoy and sensed it was also meant as a foreshadow of her healing. We were greatly encouraged. I can't wait to get her back--for good!

-Derek

PS: Here are some recent pics (Blogspot's not the most user friendly when it comes to pictures, so things are not in the order I wanted, and you'll see one particular picture 3 times. Oh well.)

During Grace's hospital stay, geting hooked up to the EEG

Trying to break out of her crib at home

Sweet potatoes! Michelle makes homemade baby food,
saving us tons of money.

Michelle and Grace love laying out together on the driveway,
under the shade of our trees.

Grace loves "hugging" the armrest, curling her toes,
while enjoying some fresh milk.

Notice Grace is ready for her next bite.

A little acorn squash.

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Grace loves books. She can actually already read! (As long as there's pictures.)

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Grace voted in last weeks runoff election. Never too early...
In the picture above this one, you can see how big Grace is getting.
She's eating ALL the time, because of the steroid.
(Incidentaly, we've had a few professional athletes email us about
using a dose every now and then.)