One Week Ago Today...

Since I know we have so many new people reading Emily's blog, I thought I'd recap today on what happened one week ago today.
To back up, Emily had a precious baby girl, Sarah Michal, 9 days ago. Two days later, while Emily was at home, she had an aneurism of the aorta near her left leg rupture. They took her to the Greenville hospital, thinking maybe her appendix had ruptured. But when they did surgery, they realized it was more serious...so they airlifted her to Baylor Medical. Once she got to Baylor Medical, they determined what her problem was and did emergency surgery to repair the aorta. It's a miracle Emily is alive. There were so many things along the way that can only be explained by God. If this had happened while she was delivering Sarah, we probably would have lost them both. But...because she had delivered Sarah at the Greenville hospital, they were able to call ahead and have her blood type waiting on her. They had to replace her blood 7 times during that evening.
To date, Emily is in a drug-induced coma so that her body can rest and heal from the trauma it's been through. She is being weaned off of the respirator a little at a time. The main concern now is that her kidneys will start functioning properly. She's had to have dialysis a couple of times. She's still in critical condition. (Nothing changed during the night.) God has done so much for Emily, Luke and their family. Immediately, they were surrounded by family and friends. Luke's mom came and watched the 5 children the first few days and now Emily's mom is taking care of the children. (Don't forget to pray for her!! Those 5 children include a newborn.) Friends are pitching in and helping---taking kids to school and play groups, bringing meals, helping financially, etc.
Emily's cousin, David, had the idea of putting a "Donate" button on this website so people could easily give to offset the needs the Panter family are going to have. Emily's already been in the hospital over a week, so you can imagine what the medical expenses are going to be. There's also the day-to-day expenses Luke has of driving to the hospital, eating out, parking, etc. So THANK YOU to those who have helped that way. I know God will pour back into your pocketbooks!

We've also asked that you send cards to Emily so that when she wakes up, she is flooded by a roomful of love. You can send them here:
Luke & Emily Panter
c/o Bridgeview Baptist Church
PO Box 820
Quinlan, TX 75474

David is working on a system that we'll put on this blog where you can sign up to bring a meal to the Panters if you live in the Quinlan/Greenville area. And if you'd like to help that way but you don't live nearby, you can always google to see what restaurants are in Quinlan, TX and send a gift card to the Panters at the above address.
We want to thank you. We never dreamed when we began this blog on Wednesday, October 28, that we'd have 10,000 hits in less than a week. Thank you for praying. Thank you for helping. Thank you for giving. You have blessed the Panters more than you know. Emily will be so embarressed that she was the center of attention---and didn't even know it! We can't wait for her to wake up and find out all that has God has done. We love you guys--your prayers have sustained us.

Lamentations 2:22-23
"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."