Dear Friends and Family:

It has been an interesting day here at the Williams household! As usual, Sunday mornings are crazy for us. But, we all managed to get to church, some earlier than others =). Another sweet family from our Sunday school class brought us some lunch and as Claude was walking out with them, they encountered a 4 foot long king snake in the area near our rocking chairs and the boys swingset. For those of you who know Claude and I very well know that to say we are terrified of snakes is an understatement! But, I'm so very proud of my husband who was quick in his thinking and actions and killed the snake. We disposed of the snake, left for the hospital, and stopped at Lowes on the way home for some "Snake Away". Needless to say, Claude scattered it along the edge of the woods/yard very quickly to try and keep the others away.

Our 2:30 visit at the hospital was pretty much status quo. While talking with the nurses, they told us that Emory's red blood count had gone down a little further and also realized that they didn't know where Claude's blood was. In order to trace it we would have to wait till Tuesday due to it being a holiday weekend. Although that was discouraging, we knew our hands were tied and that there was really nothing we could do about it right now. Gremmy went for the 5:30 touch time while we got dinner ready and did some things around the house.

Before going to the 8:30 touch time, Claude and I stopped at the church to pray and partake of the Lord's Supper. This was something special that our church was doing today - the church was going to be open till 10:00 for anyone who wanted to stop by to pray, receive prayer, partake of the Lord's Supper, etc. As we were walking in, another couple there was talking about their testimony of when they walked down a very similar path as we are now. So, they were able to share with us, pray with us, and identify with us. As soon as we were done, we went to the hospital for our touch time, Emory had just finished his bath, and we were able to feed him. After he went through his usual spitting up routine, we were just about to leave when the blood bank called and said they had the blood.

It is about 11:30 p.m. right now and Emory should be receiving his transfusion between midnight and 1:00 a.m. His currenty levels are at 29 and they need for them to go to 40. Our prayer for today is that the transfusion will be successful, that there will be no side effects, and that this will be one more step to us bringing him home. Our understanding is that the blood will help him with his eating as well. So, if you're up this late and are reading this blog around that time, please say a pray for Emory and his blood. If you're not up reading this late, please continue to say a pray for our continued progress towards bringing him home.

One thing that has been special for Claude is to know and speak of the healing that Christ's blood is for us and our prayer is that his blood (Claude's) will be healing for Emory. Please know that we appreciate ALL of the prayers and other gestures and nothing is going unnoticed!

Have a great Memorial Day,

Twila