Elena's Victory

NOBLE'S REPORT Nov 6

1. Today around 3pm, the docs deemed our little CFVHWP (Cape Fear Valley Hospital Warrior Princess) healthy & stable enough to be “downgraded” to a normal hospital room! Thank You, Lord!

2.2. Now…Elena “only” has two remaining tubes! Her feeding tube that’s routed up through her nose & down her throat and an IV line going into one of the veins in her leg! God-willing the feeding tube is coming out tomorrow (Fri, 11.6.09)! Anyone ever have something stuck up their nose and enjoyed it?!? Just the thought of all those little teeny incredibly sensitive nose hairs violated by some mean, cold, plastic, non-caring feeding tube just makes me shiver. Every time she moves, it moves. Yeah, so she’s not really down with it a whole lot. That’s why Elena and her parents are so jacked that it’s coming out tomorrow.

3.3. Elena had a really good day today. Overall, she’s still pretty mellow. She did say a few very softly spoken words throughout the day. She smiled a few times and even got a couple little giggles out of her. Those are all very good things, of course. And, yes, she still has her “prejudice” of medical-looking people. If they look medical, she gets really quite, really quick. And, again…the closer they get, the more that ‘quiet’ turns into a multi-tiered expose’ of aqua-emotions. First…the silent whimper…then the transition to the whimpering whimper…then with a few hefty inhalations of plenty of O2 in the large O2 storage bags in the chest, it eventually crescendos into a good all-out sob (& I don’t mean the car!).

4.4. She ate some solid food today, too! Well…if you consider warm mushy oatmeal ‘solid’. Anyway…we do! It’s sure better than that white, room temperature, liquid, meal-in-a-bag that hangs so intimidatingly above her head on the gizmo coat rack thing by her bird-cage crib. She also let me feed her tiny pieces of bread, too. She’s able to chew very slowly & thoroughly. We just wanted to make sure she’s able to open, chew & swallow food down the correct pipe before we take her off the feeding tube. So, according to her very medically savvy father, Dr. Gibbens…I say she’s good to go!

5.5. We attempted to get her to stand on her own, today, too. That looked more like a little sack of potatoes balancing ever so delicately between a 2-foot pair of wooden stilts…she was a little wobbly, but we know that will come along w/time & practice.

6.6. Abuela (“Grandma” for you Gringos) did a great job at activating the small lymph node in her body known as the “giggle box”. She had Elena doing the ever-so-slightest giggles that she could muster in her toddler frame. I swear that sound is better than Bach or Beethoven ever was…there’s just something magical in a child’s giggle. It’s almost like a child’s giggle is the stuff DNA is made out of. Like if you could capture the essence of a ‘giggle’ in a test tube and injected it into anything dead, it would immediately cause the dead thing to come alive & start to pulse & surge with life! A giggle is almost like an emotional steroid shot to the brain. There’s power in a ‘giggle’. Moms…can I get a witness out there?!? You know what I’m talking about!

7.7. Kath, on the other hand, had Elena back in the blue jumbo bumbo physical therapy seat & was getting her back into great mental shape! Kath is such an awesome teacher. She is one of the few people who can actually make learning fun. Yeah, can you believe it? Kath went through a number of sets of Elena’s Glenn Doman Learning Cards throughout the day (as seen in some of the pics on Facebook). Elena loves going through them. Her eyes light up when Mommy says, “Elena, do you want to do your cards?!?” She gets all excited. Well, as excited as a mellow kids on drugs can get. The huge blessing is that in spite of the meds, she’s still sharp as a tack, too. Thank God! Elena still recognized all the cards that Kath had done before coming to the hospital, and she still picked up the new cards as fast as she had before. She just did it with a little less vigor & enthusiasm due to the still pertinent meds she’s on.

8.8. Again, thank you all SO much for your continued prayers for Daylen & Elena! I’d like to add a 6-yr old little boy named ‘Nate’ to the vast army of prayer warriors out there as well. I know we’re all up for it! He’s got a new kidney that needs to start working to its max potential & he needs to heal up from pneumonia as well. So, Daylen, Elena & Nate…all young troopers that all need to come out of this & do great things with their lives!

9.9. I sincerely appreciate how dedicated you all have been in supporting us through this time of learning & growing, which is the nice way of really saying, “struggling, wobbling, crying, questioning & hoping”! Thank you! I pray that one day I will be able to sow back into the lives of everyone praying for these beautiful kids to add value to you as you all have to us!

10. And, the next time you find yourself in a tough medical situation and you’re in a hospital or a clinic & you’ve got amazing care-givers, I give you permission to “hug a nurse” for me! Take the time to thank them for the care they’re giving to you or your loved one. They’ve got a challenging job. Keep them in your prayers as well.

(--The full Hospital photo album & all Elena's updates are on my Facebook page.)

Thank you!

Noble (noble.gibbens@gmail.com)

“The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” –God

“Preach the Word at all times, and if necessary, use words.” --St. Francis of Assissi

Long Struggle

Thank you for taking such great care of me!My name is Elena and I love owls! I’m only 2, but I can already read and do math. My purpose in life is to be a World-Changer. I am a strong girl and I am very deeply loved. The words above are a little sign that I made to go over Elena’s bed in the ICU. I wanted the people caring for her to know her as a special little girl, not just another sick kid. And, yes, she really is learning to read and do math! Thought I’d give an update from me, as Noble has kept everybody updated on all the specifics from the medical side of things.Honestly, I have been reeling. I go from being sick to my stomach with anguish for my little girl to moments of calm and faith. I have prayed no fancy prayers, just the groans from a mother’s heart. Often, I have no words and have completely relied on the intercession of friends and family, as well as the Holy Spirit. I never thought I’d see my baby sedated, on a ventilator and fighting for her life. God says interesting things sometimes, and I have to tell y! ou about one of them. Right after they wheeled her into the ICU, we had to leave as they were getting her all hooked up. I went back to our hospital room and fell to my knees sobbing out to God. Here’s what He said, “Well, did you think it was going to be easy raising a World-Changer?” This caught me completely off-guard as it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I’ll give you a quick background.Before we had Elena, we prayed and asked God to send us the next World-Changers. Whenever God needs to get something done, He does it though a person – He sends a baby. We know that this world is in desperate need of World-Changers and we specifically asked that they be sent to us and we would raise them as such. And we really meant it. God takes vows seriously, and so have we. Well, our enemy, Satan, takes them seriously, too. He tried early to end her life. In my second month of pregnancy, I hemorrhaged badly and rushed to the ER, fearing we had lost her. Against all odds, when they finally did the ultrasound, there she was, heart beating just as strongly as could be. Not a single night has gone by where I haven’t prayed for wisdom in how to raise her to be exactly who God has for her to be, dedicating her all over again to His purposes, praying that we would find her purpose at a young age and praying for her protection.So, today, as I’m sitting by her bed, I asked her, “Who are you?” I wonder at what God has planned for her. ! I believ e this is an attack directly related to her purpose. God told me that wimpy moms don’t raise World-Changers and I needed to gird up and fight. Well, He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I pulled out my Bible and looked up the verses He had given me about Elena specifically the month before she was conceived. I bawled my eyes out and praised God when I read the first one b/c it’s a promise of LIFE!! Here they are, I’m going to do a slight paraphrase:“I asked you for life, and you gave it to me – length of days, for ever and ever.” Ps. 21:4“I will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn – for He has done it.” Ps. 22:31“Your descendants will be known among the nations and your offspring among the peoples. All who see you will acknowledge that you are a people the Lord has blessed.” Is. 61:9These and so many other promises have been oxygen to my soul. We continue to wait and pray – and can never tell you how much all of you have meant to us. Truly, we have been carried by the prayers of the saints. Thank you doesn’t even begin to say it.Kathy

Elena in the BATTLE