Emily's surgery-Hannah's patience and a whole lot of LOVE

Today is Friday-2 days after Emily's surgery and all is well. Probably most of you didn't even know she was going in for surgery. Apparently surgery is just going to be a part of Emily's and our lives. It is amazing how much better her little eye looks. I hadn't realized how high the pressure had gotten, even with medicine. I just thought that was how her eye would look-cloudy. Like smog in Utah.

Today we are grateful for lasers, a very skilled surgeon, and great pediatric anestisiologists. We are also grateful for friends who shared their home and family with the girls and I so we didn't have to stay in a hotel and can I tell you how wonderful Hannah was? She went through two days of doctors and hospitals with no complaint until the last hour on Wednesday at which time our friend Suzanne and her little girl Emily came to the rescue. I'm not sure they felt they were much help-but they were.

I also have to say thank you to a kind Heavenly Father for priesthood blessings. Could we live with out them? One of the great blessing of the restoration of the gospel is the comfort and guidance we recieve from these beautiful blessings. We could all feel the power in the promises given to Emily in her blessing prior to her surgery and in the many prayers offered for her from friends of all faiths.

So the prognosis? Continued surgery to control pressure from becoming painful and also to prevent one eye from outgrowing the other. What about vision? Em's doctor took pictures of the backside of her eye and I thought it was cool to finally see it in color and 3D. You know she really doesn't have optic nerves- they are just missing. She is also missing alot of vessels that you see in a normal eye. We didn't get pictures of both the eyes, because the pressure in one eye was great -so no surgery in that eye. According to the Doctor though, a picture of the other eye would show basically the same thing.

So you might ask how do we feel about all of this? You know I don't know that I have ever had a greater sense of peace about a challenge in my life. Emily has changed me forever.

I am chagrinned to admit that a few months ago my worries were so superficial. I can even remember thinking-How will our family pictures look from now on? Of course there were concerns of more substance, but most of them were grief over the common ground that would be lost between us because she would not see the world I see every day.

Over the last months though, I have felt great happiness and hope at the world I am only starting to see because of Emily. A world full of amazing people who I have the privilege of getting to know. A world of possibilities and amazing accomplishment-where vision is more than sight and where our little girl inspires good in all who see her sweet smile and feel of her incredible spirit.

Of course there are occassions where you see the pity in peoples eyes or hear the dismay in peoples words. A few months ago, I would have been one of them. I would have felt sorry for a little girl without vision and parents who would be burdened by this for the rest of their lives. In my heart I would have been so relieved that it was not my burden to carry.

Today, I consider this challenge a huge blessing. Even a wonderful blessing we have been given to learn that the Lord truly sees not as we see and that he is aware of all his precious children. I know all will be well. I am confident that there will be difficulties of one sort or the other, but I know the Lord will sustain us and we will be better because of them.

Oh sweet Emily we love you! We are so grateful for you and all you add to our lives:)