Friday Praise and Prayer.

I am going to try to get a regular Friday Praise and Prayer post out again.

Today's praise:

• Sara is feeling better. She had pneumonia a week and a half ago, but with antibiotics and good care, she is doing much better. 

• Luz is also doing better. She has had a chronic cough since she arrived in mid November, and we had tried several different treatments. Praise God this last one worked! Whereas she used to regularly cough until she choked (even to the point of waking her up at night), she hardly coughs at all now!

• Shirley is making great strides in her developmental milestones. She is starting to mimic more words and sounds, she can stand up and walk by herself, and is even working on feeding herself and using the bathroom!

• Lupita is doing better at school in the last week. She had been having some behavioural issues at school, but with a different approach, she has really improved and done so well at behaving!

• Marcela started a new medication for her (very) high blood pressure, and she is like a new baby! I suspect she has had high blood pressure all her life, or at least the whole time she has been with us, and that has been giving her chronic headaches. Once we got the BP down, she has been much more active, smiley, happy and with such a fun little personality! I love to see it, though feel sad for all those months that she was in pain. :(

Prayer:

• Marcela. She has had bowel issues for over a month and a half, mostly constant diarrhea. Since November, she has had at least 5 major infections that needed to be treated with antibiotics. Her little body has very little resistance to anything, and is almost like a patient on chemo. She didn't get a fever when she had pneumonia. Or when she had pus running down the back of her throat. Or when she had a urinary tract infection. She has very few signs telling us she is sick, so I have to be very attentive to any change.  

The point of all that, is she needs prayer first of all to boost her immune system and get her body to the point where she can fight infection. The doctors and I need wisdom to see when there is a problem, and to know how to deal with it. I also think the antibiotics have done damage to her intestines, and that is part of the reason we are having such issues. If the diarrhea doesn't stop this weekend, she will end up getting biopsies done next week to see what is going on. Please pray it stops. She is tired from not getting enough nutrients (it isn't absorbed, she just has diarrhea immediately after she eats. Sometimes while she is still eating), though we give her enough milk. She still remains such a happy baby through all of this. It has been a rough week for her with blood draws (that is a story in itself!), diarrhea and vomiting, etc. She is still the cutest thing you will ever see. 

Have a great weekend! And thanks for keeping our girls in your prayers.