Mary, Philly, Suffering and Smiles

The title of this blog seems a bit scattered, just trying to piece together all these thoughts and what God has placed on my heart. Mary Graham is doing really well, except for some stomach issues, she is really making strides. We are so grateful and I'm confident that she will keep improving. Please pray for her stomach issues to resolve, her appetite to improve and her incisions to stay clear of infection. They changed her dressings on her back last night and we were able to see her incisions for the first time...more on that later. MG has been doing so well today, they may just keep us one more night in ICU and then discharge us tomorrow. Pictures seem to be the best way to show how she's doing. The best thing about today, we have gotten lots of smiles today, even a little laugh.

Around here MG is known as "Mary." It has been rather funny to me, anytime I have tried to correct a nurse or doctor or whoever comes by that we actually call her Mary Graham, I get some very interesting looks and then I feel the need to say, "we are from the south, you know, lots of double names are used in the south, it's very common." This usually doesn't change much of the reaction, so I have given up, and just letting her be know as "Mary" up here in Philly :)

After having spent so much time in Philadelphia lately, I have come to really like this city and I will look forward to returning here in the years to come. The hospital and RMH are in a great university area, always lots of people around. Both of us really enjoy being able to walk everywhere. The city is very diverse and I have been thinking so much how it's so different from our home back in Birmingham. It has been so good for me to get outside of the "bubble" that we live in....so good for me to see a bigger part of our world and begin to see things differently. Especially the life of a big Children's hospital like CHOP, you see so much, so many different people with sick children, from all over, and all walks of life. God has really shown me how suffering and pain in this world is so very real, not just in looking at our dark days over the last several days, but looking around me....being able to look above my own sufferings. Right now they just moved a very sick 6 month old baby in our room and are working on her, about to intubate her. Yesterday our roomate was a 3 month old baby who had just undergone brain surgery. It's so much to comprehend at times. How does anyone go through this without faith? Many of you have reminded me of the verse in 2 Corinthians, "for just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." Jesus knows suffering, and when experiencing suffering, this makes his comfort and compassion that much greater. And he knows the pain of these little ones, and that has been a great source of comfort for me as I watch Mary Graham go through so much pain. As hard as this has been, God is using this time, this trial, to show me so much more......I believe great suffering produces a greater joy.

Always grateful for your continued prayers. God has poured out his blessings....now MG is babbling in her bed, think they will kick us out of here very soon.