Peace about the plan...

We are still waiting for the "official" word of which direction we are going to go with Gracie Doo... extubate and see how she does or go back to the OR for a valve replacement (for real this time).  Grace's surgeon has always been more inclined to try to extubate her and move her along (see how she does) despite there being crazy high left atrial pressures.  Yesterday, he wasn't convinced that the numbers on the monitor were accurate, so he tinkered with things to try and impact that LA number, with not a whole lot of luck.  At that point, after some questioning and expression of concern from David and I, the plan became to hold off on pulling the LA line (it has to come out before the drainage tubes and extubation can happen) and extubating, so that they could try to medically manage all of her other controllable numbers (heart rate, blood pressure, squeeze of the heart, getting as much fluid off of her as possible, etc) to make everything as "optimal" as possible in order to see how it impacts the LA pressure.  We have beein praying hard for wisdom for Gracie's surgeon, as to what the next step should be, and that not even the tiniest amount of ego would play into that decision (it probably doesn't look great to have to go back to the OR again to work on the same valve, even though we know that theses valves can be very tricky and that is always a risk).  God answered those prayers today because the surgeon chose to continue "optimizing" Grace's hemodynamics (all the numbers I mentioned previously) and hold off on pulling any lines or tubes until they have more time to assess the situation.  David and I (along with Gracie's nurse whom we love and trust) feel like what needs to happen is a MV replacement because we have full confidence that Grace, in all of her toughness, can handle being extubated, but we fear that those high pressures over time (whether that means days, weeks, or months) will catch up with her (especially since we can't "optomize" her at home, there is only so much you can manage outside of the ICU) and she will get sick again in Texas and then....  you know the story :-/.  Lord willing, we should have a plan on Monday.  Will you please pray that God prepares our surgeon's heart and mind over the weekend for what is best for Gracie by God's standards because we know that it is God's will that will prevail?  Please also pray for my flight home tomorrow at 8:00 am EST and that our family would thrive despite all of the uncertainty and heartache of being separated.  As always, THANK YOU, SWEET VILLAGE!!!

Abby and Andrew are having a great time with my Sister in Love this weekend and she (along with my Mother in Love) have done a great job of keeping us posted on how they are doing and all of their funny antics.  During the toughest of times, text messages with "Abby and Andrew antics" always make us laugh out loud and praise God for their tender hearts and joyful spirit.  Here is a little taste of what I'm talking about...

-At their cousin Joe's soccer game, they were walking through some trails and Andrew said that he was going to look for a fox to find out what they say.

-As my MIL was driving past Splash Town (a water park that apparently has a giant blue and yellow sign) yesterday, the kids some how decided that it must be a water park for Downsy Doo's because their sign has Down's Syndrome colors and they were excited about that.

-Andrew LOVES the banana bread that Aunt Becca (my SIL) makes, so they made a loaf of it today to eat for breakfast tomorrow.  In an effort to have enough for breakfast they had to try and keep Andrew from consuming it all today, so Andrew tried to say that he would only eat 10 pieces and Aunt Becca told him that he could only have two.  This is such a serious business transaction that Abby and Andrew made a contract to solidify their commitment...

Notice the 10 that is crossed out and replaced with a 2?  Clearly Aunt Becca's banana bread is serious business :-).  LOVE THESE TWO!!!