What a blessed day!

Well, as expected, the prayers, GOD, are working! She had another wonderful day today. I, Laura, spent the night with her last night. I slept from 11:30pm-2:30am, then from 5am-6am, and 7am-about 9am. She wasn't in pain or crying, just wanting to be held. I hadn't been there all day so I didn't mind. I've always wanted to see what the 4:30am newscast is like anyways.

As I said, God is faithful. She is not in need of her oxygen tube. In fact, yesterday she ripped both her feeding tube and oxygen tube off of her face, neither of which were being used anyways. That's my girl! Fightin' back!

Tomorrow she goes off of all of the antibiotics! Her blood numbers continue to climb, although slowly...she's getting 3 hours of blood transfusions tonight.  Her liver has shrunk but she is planned for a liver biopsy next week. She is not back on feeds and I'm not sure when they will start again.  She hasn't had any fevers lately or high blood pressure, so she's not needed the BP meds lately.  She did need Lasix today however.

Now that business is finished, let me share with you some of the joys from today. First we started the day off with my little dark sister Layla who is quite professional in soothing and pacifying babies. She held Bela for about two hours and they both fell in love with each other. Of course, Layla and I got to catch up and I really have missed her! It was great to have some "girlfriend" time too.

Later her Physical Therapist came for the first time. She's been holding her head up by herself so I did some "tummy time" with her before the PT arrived. She of course was very nice and friendly and great with Bela. She brought some toys, did more tummy time with her, did some neck strengthening exercises and had her sitting up, with a little help. At the same time "Granty" Romaine came!  "Granty" is the term for my aunts who are more like grandmas to Bela. One of the nurses made it up, I believe, and it's stuck.  Bela was very happy to see her, of course.

Bela was all smiles and relaxed for all the doctors that stopped by to see her today, all 6 of them, though not all at the same time. They are all happy  with her progress and are just looking forward to waiting for her counts to climb this week so that she can get her biopsies next week.  Please pray also that her liver biopsy will give us the answer to why it's so big. It's the last resort. And pray that her Bone Marrow biopsy shows NO LEUKEMIA CELLS OR BLASTS!

Around lunch time Beto and Santi made a surprise visit. Santi's not been in about a month because he's had a cough that just won't quit. After our visit Beto invited us to Jack in the Box for shakes.  Then my mom sat with her for a few hours. And tonight one of our dear friends is spending the night with her. I know Bela's in good hands. She was already laying her hands on Bela in prayer within the first 5 minutes of arriving and was able to soothe Bela quickly by singing to her and rocking her in the chair. She said that she and Bela were going to have a good time talking to the Lord Jesus tonight. We are so very grateful to this family for their sacrifice. It  is such a blessing to us and to Bela! Thank you! You know who you are!

"Layla: The Baby Whisperer" 

Tummy time!

Tummy Time with the PT

Looking at Granty Romy

Sucker for the camara

Granty Romaine forcing the pacifier down her throat while shouting "Be quiet!"       Just kidding.

Just one finger on the paci is all it takes.

Holding on to her new toy

Loving play time

She tried to grab it with her right foot

Santi, always the entertainer

"Pinky promise" to go home healthy!

"See Bela? This is how you run fast!" - Santi

"No more literature! Please!"

"Applause for Bela!"

That's better