Could there be a cuter Easter Bun-ny?

As a continuation from yesterday, our great escape was a nice change of pace. By the time we ended up arriving to the hotel last night and hooking up an oxygen concentrator, medicines, food pump, putting together a travel crib, a pulse oximeter, etc, etc (you get the idea), our heads hit the pillow at 2:45am. Ella decided to wake up at 6:30am with a huge smile that simply said, “Happy Easter!”.

This was one of the first nights in recent times that Josh was sleep deprived. It was very evident as he laid around with Ella this morning.

I went to grab coffee at Starbucks, just a short stroll away. We had muffins and celebrated Ella’s first Easter morning hanging out in the hotel. Although it was relaxing, we’re excited for her to grow and get strong so we don’t have to take as many precautions with exposure. Then, we can go to church as a family for Easter…I’m sure the time will be here before we know it.

One thing that made the morning even better: we were able to arrange for late check out at 2pm. That was great because mid-morning all of us snoozed for another 2 hours. That made facing the rest of the day more bearable.

From there, we decided that we wanted to be outside with Ella. It was a nice Florida day, not too hot. So, we opted to drive south to Celebration, Florida (a master planned community designed by Disney). We grabbed lunch to go and ate in the car with the windows down, so Ella could people watch with the breeze hitting her face. She could hear the trees rustling and the birds chirping.

Josh and I watched other children enjoying the Easter holiday. It gave us visions of Ella running around in a spring dress collecting Easter eggs in a basket. Some day…

Once our food settled, we decided to try and walk some of it off. Nearby there was a nice lake with a path. We went around once and ended up at Starbucks. Yes, Ella visited her first Starbucks, so of course we had to take a picture for future reminiscing.

Around 4pm, we decided that we would head home to Gainesville which is about a 2 hour drive. When we were about 1 hour into the drive, a light bulb went off in my head. I remembered that we left some of Ella’s food and more importantly, medications in the refrigerator of the hotel room. Oops…

So, we turned around and went all the way back to Orlando. That meant that Ella sustained a 5 hour trip in the car today. Overall, she did really well. I was impressed. Sure, she had a couple of meltdowns, even one at the very end of the drive. But who could blame her since she had been sitting in the car seat for so long?

One highlight that I did not mention was when I went to feed her at 3pm. She fed orally via bottle and the rest was going in via g-tube when suddenly, the syringe and tubing came apart. Instantly 25ccs of formula spilled all over me! Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day sticky and smelling like Alimentum. Yippee…

Speaking of food, Josh forgot to mention that Ella took 50ccs via bottle yesterday in one session. That is a new record for her.

Many times throughout the day, we found ourselves stopping to thank God for sacrificing His Son, so that we might have life. In addition, we kept looking at Ella and seeing Him.

We are just so surprised that it is the Easter holiday in March 2008, and that we are the proud parents of a smiling Bun. It is so hard to believe that all of this is real. It doesn’t seem like it sometimes.

I will end with a simple poem that I ran across that I felt summarized my feelings about this holiday so succinctly.

The Cross

I know in life we all go through
A lot of hurt and pain
We need to think of Jesus Christ
On the cross with all our shame

For as our Lord was hanging there
With all our sin and doubts
Everything that we’ll go through
He bore as His blood poured out

And in the blood that flowed that day
Is forgiveness from every sin
There’s nothing we can do or say
His blood can’t cleanse within

Oh the pain that He went through
In suffering on His own
For even the Father turned His face
And He was left to die alone

We could never imagine the anguish
Of Jesus there on the cross
He lived for us; He died for us
And all we did was scoff

Nothing we could ever go through
Can ever be compared
So next time when we’re feeling down
We should go to Him in prayer

For He will understand your pain
For He has felt it too
He knows the road your traveling on
And He will walk with you

© By M.S.Lowndes