Going Home!

Last night, around 10:30pm, we pulled into the driveway at our house in North Chicago's Great Lakes Navy Housing. We were tired, but happy. Samantha got to reacquaint herself with all of her stuffed animals and sleep in her own bed for the first time in 13 nights. When she woke up this morning, she did her breathing treatments and vest therapy and went to school. This one is in the books. It's over. No more PICC line, no more midnight and 4:00 AM treatments. At least until the next time she's in the hospital.

Hopefully, we've learned a lot about how to take care of Sam (we feel we do) and how to handle her going into the hospital. We've also learned how a hospital staff operates and while I don't completely understand the chain of command, I've learned how to get things accomplished most of the time. In the coming days, as we get settled back in to life here at Smithica, I'll write more about it.

Anyway, we came home last night to a wonderful surprise. Samantha's best friend Savannah and her family (as well as another neighborhood kid) decorated our front door and garage for Sam. Here are some pics of what we came home to:

Please forgive the trash can picture. Anyway, I thought it was really nice to come home to those decorations, and I'm grateful for them. Sam got a real kick out of seeing the house done up like that.

One of the things I will actually miss from the hospital stay is the view we got from the room. It was wonderful for contemplation and for seeing God's handiwork (ok, and humanity's handiwork as well).

Pretty soon I'll be going back to writing about issues affecting the military and Christianity, but for today I'm just going to be happy we're all home again under the same roof. Thank you all for your prayers and your help. We needed you and you came through.