It's Friday!

I look forward to Friday night all week. I get to spend the night with Emily on what we call an extended "Daddy Daughter Date" where we get to sleep over together and spend Saturday morning playing together. Tonight we played with clay, took a bath, sang some songs, and then I found myself in the listener role.

Emily talked about missing home and how hard it is to be in the hospital for so long. She misses all the simple things. All the things we take for granted. She misses walking through the door and having her brother or sister there to say hi, she misses a snuggle with her dad and a few licks from her dog (that mom never approves of), she misses her mom welcoming her home from school, the smell of her home, the feeling of her bed sheets, the security of knowing that she's in her room and that she's in control. Emily's life for the past three weeks has consisted of one room, one hallway, and one bath tub. As she expressed her emotions she was in a sense saying, "Dad, do I really have three more weeks of this??"

I suppose it might be like having Tigger bouncing around the Hundred-Acre Woods and then putting him into one room and telling him this is his life for the next six weeks. The good news with Emily is that she hasn't lost her bounce...

Despite all these things she still manages to make others smile with her positive attitude, willingness to do the hard things, and her desire to do what's right. At the end of today she was tired and ready for sleep, but she still wanted me to read her a story in the scriptures and offer a short prayer. Even though it was short, it had the necessary components for her, a prayer of faith to get better and an expression of gratitude for Heavenly Father watching over her. I hope you don't mind me sharing but I wanted to remember her innocence, faith and gratitude years down the road so I recorded the sound and have posted it below.

- Matt