Still conqueroring

I know it has been a awhile since the latest Ella update and we want to apologize for the delay, however, the wait has been worth it. A week or so ago we posted a picture of Ella standing in front of our living room couch holding herself, completely unassisted. At that time Ariella was able to stand only for a brief amount of time. She was standing for 15 - 30 seconds, well our miracle warrior has been getting stronger and stronger. Recently we recorded Ariella standing for more than two minutes! She is so amazing and it doesn't stop there. She has been doing a much better job of holding herself up on all fours as well. She has even started to lurch forward as if she is going to start crawling. Her gross muscle movements, have been a place of considerable weakness for a very long time, but through the grace and strength of Christ we are watching our baby overcome barriers she has had since birth. And glory be to God it doesn't stop there.

A couple of days ago Ella had a follow-up to her modified barium swallow. This is the test that determines how strong and how effective her swallow is. Her previous swallow study showed that her swallow was intact, but very weak. Well we have been saying for weeks that Ella lives to show people what she can do, especially when they say she shouldn't be able to. The results of her most recent swallow study show that Ella's swallow is still intact and is getting stronger. We have been cleared to continue to try and feed her through her mouth anything that she may be interested in tasting. In fact last night Ella was eating some of her mother's miso soup and today she drank almond milk from a cup. To say that this little blessing has increased my faith would be an understatement. Ariella is the embodiment of God's healing power. She is living proof that God is real, alive and cares for us.