When we got home, I spent Wednesday running errands and shopping and taking Mercy to a Dr. appointment.  Her hemangioma is currently growing VERY FAST.  Her eye can now only open part way, and is really black underneath it, past her cheekbone.  The part over her eyebrow and by her ear grew so fast that the skin split, and there are about 5 large scabs covering the area.  (Larger than a nickel).  Once there are scabs on the hemangioma, it becomes a whole new ball game.  Due to the huge amount of blood in the area, it is hard to heal them.  By Friday, these had become infected, and it was a trip to Louisville (2.5 hours away) for IV antibiotics.  She was released yesterday, but I have to go back today for a previously sceduled appointment with both the ophthalmologist and the dermatologist.  Hopefully we can assess what to do, when to do it, and if she has any vision in her eye.  Please keep me in prayer today!  Pray I know what to ask for, what to push for (the doctors have been very reponsive so far, but you never know!), and that we know what is best for Mercy.

On the good side, Mercy slept REALLY well last night for the first time in probably a month.  That is a blessing, and I think it may be an indication that she is feeling somewhat better.

Mercy’s eye is much worse than this, although this was just a couple days ago.   The top three scabs are also completely yellow.

Please pray for us.  We are in need of God’s encouragement.  It is so very hard to have the baby in constant pain and not know how to help.  We are almost 8 months into fighting this thing, and although I know that it will eventually go away, at this time it seems to be winning.  We are tired.  Pray that we can gain the strength we need to be a witness to the power of God in all this.

My two big boys are at Grandma and Grandpa Ott’s house this week.  We will all join them this weekend for a long “vacation”.  (It never seems a vacation to me, but that’s another story).  Anyway- since we have the 5 girls at home (plus 2 year old Nathan), we decided to have a tea party for all our little girl friends.  With the exception of one family, all are MOMYS qualifiers.  We had a splendid time!  There were 14 Little Girls (ages 2-10 or so), 3 Young Ladies (ages 14-16), and 6 Mamas.  My husband (who works nights this week) bravely stayed upstairs until the last family left.  What a good time we had!  Enjoy the photos! 

Angela Elisabeth (14), Matthew Roman (13), Josiah Mark (10), Anna Grace (7), Emma Joy (6), Sara Faith (4), Nathan John (2), and Mercy Noelle (born 12/25/06)

 If you click on the picture you can see them all more clearly… but you won’t get the names!