Wednesday, January 13, 2010

12/26/09 Letter From William and Audrey

Dear Family and Friends,

We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the love and support we have received as we have been hit with this very unexpected trial. The Lord has sustained us and your faith and prayers have called down the powers of heaven on our behalf in ways that have taken our breath away and strengthened our testimony that God lives and knows us and has infinite power to help us through our trials while teaching us lessons that could come in no other way.

We have never been through something like this and already feel the awkwardness of not knowing what to say or how best to respond to the overwhelming outpouring of love and support. We apologize for not being able to update everyone personally each day. Please forgive us. We are sleep deprived and not always tracking so well. We are now trying to give updates to just a handful of people who are uniquely positioned to pass along the updates effectively. We love each of you and pray that none of you will ever feel slighted or left out for not hearing from one of us personally.

Having said this, we are acutely aware that we need each of you to get through this huge test in one piece. This is one of those trials that may be with us for a while and we are trying to adjust to this reality. And, we still don’t know what we don’t know and don’t have answers for the majority of the questions we are receiving. The most common question is, “what can we do to help”. Unfortunately 99% of the time, we don’t know what we need yet.

Unlike when one of our children was born, this experience requires more support that gratefully receiving the well wishes at the hospital and the delicious meals while getting adjusted to a newborn. Think of it like being thirsty. When you are really thirsty, you really need a drink. But when you’ve had a good long drink, you’re no longer thirsty and being constantly given more to drink goes from being overwhelming to annoying. But if everyone stops offering water because we didn’t need it at the moment it was offered, what will we do when we need water tomorrow or the next day? This is our dilemma. If only there was a way to store the outpouring in a big tank and then draw from it as needed. But right now it feels more like a fire hose—too much pressure to do much with.

Please, please, please don’t give up on us. Please keep praying for us, the Lord knows how to manage that “fire hose” and is lovingly producing a gentle flow of miracles from your faith, prayers, and fasting that is amazing and constant.

One of the many flows of miracles has been that so far, Talitha has avoided the need for a back-to-back operations. She has gone from being unresponsive to now she is drinking liquids and even able to eat a little. There was a need for lots of stimulation and now that the neurological responses are improving, we are being advised that she needs more rest and lest stimulation. We need to see her sodium levels increase from the low to mid 130s up to 140+. This will help with the swelling in the head that is causing the lethargy and other challenges to recovery. Please pray that Talitha’s body will respond to treatments she is receiving and be able to quickly get out of ICU. We have both been able to hold Talitha and she is responding more and more and has even said a few words which was another miracle.

We apologize that the visits over the next few days will have to be kept to a minimum. We are being advised that visitors to Talitha’s Pediatric ICU room will need to be extremely limited. We are trying to take pictures along the way and hopefully, will be able to post these and other messages to a blog.

We love you. Thank you for helping us bear our burdens that now would be too heavy to carry alone.

William and Audrey

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