The Bartlett Family Five

When I put Danali to bed on Friday night I had clothes laid out just in case she needed to go to the ER. She was so passive. She wouldn't eat. She just wanted to snuggle and sleep. I laid in bed and poured my heart out to Heavenly Father. I begged him to help my daughter get better. I checked on her several times through out the night to make sure that she was breathing and kept trying to sneak a bottle in her mouth to keep her hydrated. When she woke up Saturday morning she was bright and smiley. She was also hungry. We gave her a 6oz bottle and waited for the vomiting to start. Jon and I laid in bed with her as she cooed and giggled at our silly faces and tickles. She never threw up. She didn't tire out for hours. It was the longest stretch in over a week that she was awake, and not just awake, happy and full of the life that had been missing for what seemed such a long time. She woke up again this Easter morning, with happy sounds and a sense of delight at waking up to her life. She isn't completely better but, she is getting there. I could sense her getting so close to this cliff of really seriously sick. I saw it in the dullness of her eyes. I felt it in the limpness of her body. I smelled it in the sickness of her breath. I know that we are moving further and further away from that cliff now. We still have tests to run, lost weight to make up, and a baby with constant diarrhea, but I feel us inching closer to the shelter of good health.

So this Easter, my soul is full of gratitude. Gratitude for a Savior who loves us so much that he provided a way for our salvation, for an eternal plan which allows us to be a family forever, but the thing that causes my heart to swell with absolute humbling gratitude is the smile, the squeal, the joy that exudes from my sweet daughter.