We're home!

Pepper was released from the hospital today about noon, and we were thrilled to pack up the car and put Westend Hospital in our rear view mirror.  He will stay home from school  for the rest of the week so I can watch him and make sure all is well with his insulin doses and the doctor will call us every night to check his sugar levels, but WE ARE HOME!!

I have gotten many, many emails, phone calls, etc, from friends and family too far away to do anything besides pray for us.  Lest you think from my negative tone that your prayers for us have gone unanswered, I have compiled a list of the things your prayers brought us:

* THE PRIVATE ROOM!!

* a very chipper, English-speaking nurse who took care of us for the last three days

* the doctor changing his mind about making us stay in the hospital for 10-12 days.  Seriously, a German "expert" changing his mind is truly a miracle.

* the fact that all this happened while Brad was in town and not at all busy with work.  He was able to work from home while Pepper and I were in the hospital, so he was there to keep things normal for the other kids.

* how well Pepper has adjusted to his "new normal".  He is able to give himself injections and figure out the correct dosage for his insulin.  I was really worried about this, because it involves a lot of multiplication and that is hard for him.  But, he has caught on surprisingly quickly.

* that I haven't slit my own wrists.

* even with me gone most of the week and therefor unable to wield my whip, Jessica buckled down and finished her 10th grade project, which has been a source of much stress and contention for the last few weeks.

* that sweet Beatrice happened to be visiting us at the hospital when I was summoned down to the front desk to clear up some registration red tape.  Having her there to translate made an otherwise impossible situation just fine.

* more visitors than I ever would have expected.  We had so many people from our ward come to see us, as well as some from the school.  A couple of times, there were so many visitors that we had to leave the hospital room door open and spill out into the hall.  Even non-English-speaking ward members came, and we could do hardly more than hug and smile at each other, but their presence meant that they understood this was hard and they were behind us.  There is no way to explain how much it meant to us to see friendly faces in the middle of all the stress.  I am tearing up just thinking about the people who showed up to share my burden.

So, thank you for the prayers.  I am sure they did more than I even noticed.
 I certainly felt them.