POUNDS.

Pounds right before we left...

on our fridge

Madden trying out my kicks. At least they aren't heels.

They just told us we could go bye bye!

Murphy would take the dr.'s stethoscope and listen to himself-he had it down if you need a dr. call us.

Eating Lourne doones hallelujah!

Tink checking out what cupid brought

If you go to Le Bonheur for anything anytime soon, they have a new hand shake and way of greeting their patients...its pounds. Murphy would tell everyone "no" when they asked him anything-i.e. can I look at your IV "no" Can I listen to your belly? "no" Can you take a drink? "no"...we all started saying it just like him but so as not to lose all of his manners he would then offer up pounds to smooth it all over. In his typical fashion he was a joy, a pitiful one but a joy nonetheless. The pounds got crazy from across the room to drs. who would almost make it out the door then catch a glimpse of this little fellow holding his fist out just waiting to make them smile. By the time we left everyone was giving pounds, everyone...and everyone we met came to tell our guy bye bye-because that's what he usually said to them right when they walked in his room.

Its overwhelming when I think about everything that transpired without my knowing this past week-people take such good care of us, thank you for letting us focus on getting Murphy well and HOME!
Murphy went to Baptist East on Valentines Day in the morning, I have to tell you at this point I was pretty puny myself so Clay and my dad had 2 patients on their hands. Fortunately I held off on checking myself in so I could go to Le Bonheur with him. Everything was insane that day and little did we know we would not bring him home that night. It amazes me when I think about all of the people worried about our guy and everything that went on "behind the scenes" so we could stay where we needed to be...

-While I got Murphy to sleep Clay made our little pallets every night, even let me borrow his clean socks to sleep -yes I realize this is gross but we were desperate :)
-Clay somehow managed to pay the bills and find stamps and mail them at the hospital
-He helped his parents navigate their way through Memphis to Le bonheur
-I caught him holding our boy's hand and praying too many times to count (not so behind the scenes but pretty powerful)
-My mom became the mother of a one year old and a very sweet chihuahua in between visits to cheer up one pitiful guy (not to mention they had watched her sunday when I was sick and then my dad caught it monday)
-My mom made do with two outfits for tink-washing and ironing everyday even packing chicken salad in her sweet lunch box-this week is going to be a challenge for me!
-My mom missed her special day and we have yet to celebrate her birthday ( she missed everything else too last week :( ) Email her and tell her happy belated birthday if you want!!
nmurphy@hotmail.com
-Clay's parents navigated their way to Le bonheur at night and at 7 am (4 if Pop had had his way)
-Clay's parents got the stomach bug, felt wretched, disinfected our house, and made one last trip to tell their boy by before they got all the way back to Townsend...
-Lovey stocked our fridge with lots of casseroles and soup... we also came home to a feast from friends of my parents, and cupcakes from Heather-she knows my weakness...
-Two very special nurses and two very sweet doctors requested Murphy over and over so we had the most wonderful care we could ask for (aside from the student nurses-dont get me started)
-People from all over prayed for my joy, we even got a postcard from a Bible study from a different church to let us know they had lifted us in prayer that day
-We got texts and words of encouragement and we got the most perfect Bible verses from sweet friends at the most perfect time.
-I got phone calls from friends who would pray with us on speaker phone
-A sweet friend in Atlanta sent her friend (a Dr. at Lebohneur) and her dad, a surgeon, to check on our boy...thank you!
-We got balloons and special happies for joy and even Mr. Joe offered to come play for him (THATS MAJOR and if I didnt think we'd give Mr Joe the bug-I would have taken him up on it)
All of this happened as one person in our family after another fell victim to the SUPER bug...
-One of my best friends, in South Carolina was talking to me during one of the scarier moments-she said something that stuck with me, she said "Suzanne, if you think you love him more than anyone could love anything in the world, think how much God loves him." I know its true but its beyond imagination...how wonderful is that to think about though?
-Clay even managed to salvage Valentines day and score the best Valentines gifts ever-even though he was canceling our babysitter and reservation behind the scenes, I have some new kicks and a journal Ive been eying....I have no idea how he does it. Blessed does not begin to describe us when it comes to a daddy and husband.

Our sweet Murphy has had half a cup of water in the couple of hours nothing to eat but still...not bad, right...POUNDS for him!