Around 8:30 tonight the anesthesia team arrived to give Ela her first dose of sedatives. Once laying in bed and very relaxed, Leslee, Josiah, and I went as far as the team would allow us to go and said our “goodbyes” (which never gets easier). After that, we went back to the rest of the family to have a time of prayer for Ela.

We are so blessed to have the family we have. We are thankful for their support and comfort. We are also blessed to have the family in Christ we have. It is very moving to know that your phone is blowing up with calls and messages because of the amount of people that care and love our family.

The donor heart is not here yet. It is at another hospital about 2 hours away so we won’t receive the last confirmation on the heart until about 1 or 2 am. In the mean time, the team will continue to get Ela prepped for everything that is to come. It sounds like she will be intubated for a couple of days so I’m not sure when we will see her awake again.

Continue to pray for the Lord to sustain her life. It is not common for the new heart to struggle at first as it adjusts to its new body. Also pray for Leslee and I (and the rest of the family) to not let the myriad of emotions we are experiencing to run our lives. Rather, our desire is to be good stewards of those emotions and to channel them in ways that are helpful to those around us. Thank you again for your love. We will keep you updated as we are able!