Amazing!!

Yesterday has come and gone and with great relief it past without a hitch! We are so thankful to the LORD for granting to us what we needed: a co-operative girl. And really, should we be surprised that He hears our prayers?! Not at all! For He hears ALL of them. He may not answer them according to our will, but that is a good thing as He knows best. Yesterday, it was His will for things to go very smoothly, with the procedure only taking 10 minutes or so and then we were done! So hopefully I will be able to sleep better the next time, resting in the full knowledge and trust that no matter what happens, He is there. Aargh. I am such a slow learner!!

I will let the pictures tell the story of yesterday. There is a picture or two of the actual procedure so if you find those things queasy, I suggest you skip quickly over those. It also looks like there is blood, but it is the iodine. There was only a trickle of blood from the needle prick.

Here goes:

On the way to the hospital, showing her sassy self:

My brown-eyed beauty:

With the numbing cream on:

Walking with daddy and her froggy bag, full of activities to keep her busy

She is so thankful for these activities from her friends:

Ha! Can you tell he has a daughter?! He is SUCH a good daddy!!!

Teaching mommy how to play Angry Birds:

Laying ever so still, as the expander on her forehead is being filled. The cheek expander received 10 cc's of saline and the forehead expander had 15 cc's. I could see them expand!

And again. She was so brave!! Max and Ruby helped as a distraction as well. Many have asked whether it hurts her. No, it does not hurt. As it gets larger, he will be putting in more at a time and then for about 24 hours, it'll feel tight, but not painful. Phew!!

All done!!

Six timbits later :o) we were on our way back home:

Back at home, playing and carrying on like nothing happened. The following pictures will give you a bit of an idea of what she looks like. Not too much of a change but that's probably because we are getting used to what she looks like, and it's gradual.

Okay, mom. I know I am beautiful, but honestly, another picture?!

Sometimes we think they are hardly noticeable, and other times we are amazed that they are this big already, and we have 3 more months of weekly trips to go yet. So it'll definitely be quite large by the time it's all done. All of May is booked and we will be going in every Wednesday at 9. We'll see what June and July will be. Dr. Zuker is aiming for the next surgery to be late July or early August. Her birthday is August 6th; it could be a birthday she'll never forget!!

Just a side note on Dr. Zuker. He will be gone most of May, but not on holidays. He is heading with a team to India, the group known as Operation Smile. You may of heard of this team before. They perform surgery on those who have cleft lips/palates at no cost. Amazing, eh? And that is the kind of doctor we are dealing with, one who gives of his time to help those in need. He is fantastic!!

Oh, and not to be forgotten, here is Lincoln telling me all about his stay with his friend, Jasper: