On Day 9.

We are so in love. And still so in awe of all of the blessings that continuously unfold before us. 

We are 9 days in to the otherside of our little boy's journey, and we can't begin to describe all the times we have been able to see the almighty strength of our God show up just when we needed Him. 

Can you believe it has already been 9 days? 

Little Elam was born Thursday, June 20, and has had quite the adventure ever since. He had his back closure surgery on Friday, where he had to be intubated and put on a feeding tube. They kept those in until his shunt placement on Monday.

Since he came through both surgeries with ease, the sweet NICU nurses were able to surprise us on Tuesday and gave us the permission to hold him again for the first time since those few precious moments right after he was born. So, on day 5, Justin held his son for the first time. 

I cried as tears of happiness glistened on my cheeks, and felt a feeling that can only be experienced - words will never come close to fully describing the emotion experienced in that moment. 

He was beautiful. 

He was perfect.

He was loved more than he'll ever be able to imagine. 

Our strong boy has come a long way so far.  He has been poked and prodded, had a lot of blood drawn, and been through multiple procedures, but with the grace of our Heavenly Father, his healing is going smoothly and we couldn't be happier. 

And today, on day 9, they let us take him home! He's ours - without the wires, without the loud beeps from the monitors, without us having to say good bye. 

We are so happy. But some how happy doesn't seem to fully describe our emotions.