Nine Weeks Yesterday

We came home from the Hospice yesterday to a clean house, flowers on the table and.....our fridge stocked with salads, fruits and veggies and a freezer filled with ready made meals! And the flower beds had been weeded, there was a new dishrack. Even the windowsills were cleaned!!! (that hasn't been done since we moved in here)  Did I miss anything? WOW - I keep going to look at the fridge again and again in amazement!  (I keep noticing more things each time I look) Thank-you to everyone involved in that - what a beautiful gift!!! We also received some very thoughtful cards in the mail.  Thank-you!

Rachel is still plugging along. We weighed Rachel yesterday before we left and she has continued to put on weight! She is now 5 lbs and 8 ounces.  Rachel has been fussy and very awake during the nights again.  And we are back on night duty.  I think she slept two - one hour stretches last night. (she actually did a 5 hour stretch for the nurses though and we're waiting for a repeat) But we're going into this next week feeling fairly well rested and the Hospice has space for us to go back on August 2nd  - which is only a week and a bit away! What a wonderful place.  At the same time, it is really good to be home again too.  I think Ethan really missed his train set.

We got to go out as a family of four a couple times while we were at the Hospice.  First to the Cross Iron Mills Mall (there is some cool stuff there for the kids) and to the Duck pond.  It felt so strange to be without Rachel - I kept looking around for her.  I wonder when she's gone, how long will it feel like a part of us is missing?   

Dave worked from the Hospice this week and that worked out well.  I took all three kids to the duck pond and to the playground in the mornings and in the evenings, Dave and I took turns going for a run/walk.  It was good to be getting some exercise again.  And it was good to get to know some of the other moms who come to the Flames House with their kids.  I am glad for their honesty and open-ness.  Lots of tough questions that are still turning around in my mind.          

On our last day at the Hospice, a chaplain and friend, played his mandolin for Rachel and us.  It was so beautiful.  What a valuable ministry he has.  We are so thankful for all these people that we are getting to know because of Rachel.       
 
"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:  Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. " Lamentations 3:19-24