Baths are getting a little better

Today was a better day and there were a lot of tears. Annie had her bath at the hospital and cried her way through it. We were blessed by the nurse who did the cleaning super fast and it was over. When it was over Annie looked up at me and said, " I love you Mommy." At this point I was glad I wasn't the "meanie" today. She then heard a baby screaming in pain and said, " Mommy we need to pray for that baby because she is hurting bad." These burns may have hurt her skin, but her heart is exactly the same! Praise God! Greg and I did much better with the cleanings today and are determined to learn how to do this quickly. We were so encouraged because the Dr. said she was healing well. We were a little discouraged because he said what we thought were 2nd degree burns were actually 3rd degree burns. They will continue to watch these areas and see if she will need surgery. We are praying hard that she will heal without surgery. Annie is struggling with a lot of anxiety. She is scared to death of anything hot, scared to go potty, and scared of small insects. All of this is new to us. Please continue to pray for energy for all of us as we are literally exhausted and pray that Annie can learn to reuse her right hand and begin walking on her own. We read every post and continue to be blessed by each of you! Thank you so much!!

hospital address

Many of you have requested the address here. You can send mail to Annie at the following address:
Shriners Hospitals for Children
815 Market Street
Galveston, Texas 77550
Attn: Annie Wood

We have been told we will be here for at least another full week. We will keep you all updated on that. Thanks again for all of your encouragement, it means the world to us!

Our morning

Hi everyone!

We started the morning off with prayer. We then got ready to change Annie's bandages. I (Missy) was looking forward to this about as much as I would if I were going to the dentist to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Pure dread. We explained to Annie that mommy and daddy would be doing the changing of her bandages instead of the nurses. I told her that mommy would do her best not to hurt her. Keri, Greg and I started the process and all was going okay until we got to her hand. (which Keri describes as a charcoaled marshmallow) All of a sudden Keri says, "I think I am going to pass out." About that time, she passes out. We have since then, joked about her doing that on purpose for some comic relief. She came to a few seconds later and was fine. Then Mike decided he should take over. It wasn't funny at the time except for the fact that Annie was really confused, because Miss Keri wasn't in pain. She wanted me to tell you all of this because she wanted you to know just how bad her burns really are. You can't tell that because she is covered in bandages and only we can see what is under them. Jerod and Alex still do not know the seriousness of her condition. I say all of this because when I feel someone is doing better I tend to slack off of the prayers. Sorry, I just do. So, I want you to know, she is doing great for someone who had 20% of her body burned and some of those places we don't like to talk about. However, she still screams as if she were being burned all over again as we scrub the burned skin and rebandage it. She still has fears about going potty and can not stand on her own for more than a few minutes without the assistance of a walker or someone's hand. I really don't want to seem like I am complaining. God has done a miracle for her! The doctors continue to tell us that the majority of children who are burned like she was usually have all 3rd degree burns, all need surgery and almost all of them have their faces burned and lose all of their hair. So, I praise God that Annie's face is still PERFECT and her beautiful red hair is all there! Those are only cosmetic things, however it makes her seem normal. When you walk through the burn unit, you realize just how precious life is and just how much people look at the outside of a person and not at one's heart. We covet your prayers for tomorrow as she will again go to the "torture chamber" at 8:00am EST. We love reading your posts and tell Annie of all the people who are praying for her. She says, "Thank You!"

Peaceful afternoon for Annie

Hi to all,

Thanks again for your posts and we wish we could respond to all of them. They have been very encouraging. Annie had a good nap this afternoon and we were able to keep her in the house resting from 11:30 this morning on. We had a staff member, Jay Alvaro, from our home church, BBC, arrive today to help as well. We don't have much new news and are looking forward to a good night rest.

Annie has physical therapy at 11:00 tomorrow morning so please pray as she still continues to be nervous walking due to her leg burns. We do have a few new pictures up on the blog and we thank you again for your prayers and we will update tomorrow. Good night.

Tough Morning ;o(

Well, all I can say is that without a lot of prayers, this would be impossible! This morning we went back to the hospital for her bath and physical therapy and it went a little different today than yesterday. They removed her bandages and started scrubbing the wounds. Tears and screams began. This was the first time we (Greg and I) experienced an overwhelming urge to sob. Greg and I both had to have the nurse stop so we could compose ourselves. It was TOUGH!! After about 2 hours of that and Annie saying, " You're a meanie!" to the nurses, we were done! The Dr. checked her and said he was concerned about the area below her waist that suffered a deeper burn and is healing slower. He is going to watch it and we are praying for no surgery. Please pray that with us. We left and went to therapy and her therapist said if she could walk to the other door, she could go home. Annie walked as fast as she could ( about the same rate as a one year old) holding our hands. We left and all she could say was, " I want to go to the house with the comfy couch!" We have been so blessed by so many things and someone here in Texas has offered to let us use their beach home for the next week. It has a very comfy couch and Annie is going to get very spoiled I think! We ask you to keep us in your prayers over the next few days as Greg and I will be doing these baths and we will be the "meanies." Many of you have asked how Jerod and Alex are doing and they are doing great! They have been a huge help to us have tried to make Annie laugh. Mike and Keri have been a godsend. I don't know what we would do without them here! Thank you so much for loving us through your thoughts and prayers! We are off to the comfy couch!

God is taking care of our Annie!

If you prayed at all today for Annie, please know God answered your prayers! We went for the bath and I (Missy) felt like I was going into a torture chamber. However, once we were in there we realized it wasn't so bad and God was there with us. Annie was calm and although it was painful, she just let out small whimpers. The nurses that were changing her bandages said she had a very high pain tolerance level. Takes after her mom! ;o) As we were getting to know the 2 nurses we found out that one of them named Julie, has a youth pastor husband at a Church here in Texas. God knew how much that would mean to us! They both took great care of her and she did well. As they were washing her hair she looked up at them and said, "Thank you!" Melted all of our hearts! After that she enjoyed eating her Chick-fil-a nuggets. The physical therapy went well too. She walked with assistance around a few hallways.The prognosis is that by next week she should be walking on her own. She also sat in a chair and played with various toys. All in all we consider the day to have gone nothing more than PERFECT!! We continue to ask for prayer for her as she is trying to avoid using the potty. We have now read EVERY email and blog post and can't tell you how you have all touched our lives through the outpouring of love and prayers. I said a prayer for each of you today. We have a few more pictures added in the rotation and there will be more to come. Love to you all!

Annie had a great night!

Just passing along that Annie had a really good night sleep and is showing more of her personality this morning by talking and asking for some food. We had two good friends, Mike and Keri Franz, arrived last night from our home church. They are going to be a great help especially with the boys. Your prayers are working as Annie is doing better each day. We have been humbled by your comments which are coming from all over the world. What an awesome example of the body of Christ and power of prayer.

We are headed off to the hospital shortly for Annie's first bath and some physical therapy. We will let you know this evening how things went. We should have some new pictures up some time this morning.

Love to all, The Woods

Annie is out of the hospital!

Hi everyone,
We have just arrived at a hotel that a church here in Galveston arranged for us to stay in for now. Annie was discharged from the hospital and is now trying to rest comfortably here in her new environment. She is doing well but, still has a great deal of pain in her hand and when she goes potty. Please continue to pray for a quick recovery. She has to learn to walk again as her legs were badly burnt, and how to use her right hand as it was burnt bad too. She will receive that therapy at Shriners Hospital here for the next 2 weeks. She is exhausted and is going to have a hard day tomorrow, she will definitely need your prayers then! She will have her first bath at noon EST tomorrow and her first physical therapy session at 4:00pm EST. We have been warned that this will NOT be a very fun day for any of us. We are so thankful that we have 3 friends from our home church,arriving tonight to help us with the boys and Annie. I am continually amazed and brought to tears by the outpouring of love that has been shown to us by our company, many churches all over the world and our precious  friends in Mexico, and The Shriners Hospital here in Galveston and we will never be able to truly express our gratitude to all of the ones who have helped us! We love you all and will continue to update you as much as we can and will add more pictures soon too. Until then..... God Bless You All!!!

Monday Night Update

Hi all,

Greg, the boys, and I (Donny) just left Missy and Annie at the hospital. We have been working hard to day to get some logistical things accomplished. We were able to get the boys out to a fun restaurant today. They have done so well after being cooped up for over 2 days. We have arranged a vehicle for the Woods thanks to Macedonian Call Foundation and we are still working on our long-term housing options. Pray that this would be resolved quickly.

Annie was able to leave the room a good bit today and ride around the hospital in a wagon. We will try to post a video and some more pictures later tonight. She is doing very well considering the circumstances. Her hand is itching and and she is having a hard time getting comfortable.

Greg and Missy are checking your comments frequently. It means a lot to them and the boys are loving seeing that people all over the world are leaving comments.

First Update

Hi everyone!

Wow! When there is a need, it is awesome to know that we have you praying. Greg and I have been overwhelmed with all of your love and prayers you have shown us and lifted up on our families'  behalf. I know many of you have tried to call us, however since only one of us can be with Annie we don't have time to talk. I am sorry, I would love to talk to you all and tell you all how it happened, how she responded and how God moved mountains to get us from village in the middle of Mexico to the Shriners Hospital in Texas within less than 24 hours. However, since we can not talk to each one of you personally, we wanted to share what has happened through this blog. We will be updating this as often as possible to tell you of Annie's progress and her immediate prayer needs. 

I will give you the short story on how this happened. On Saturday, we had a group of doctors from a larger city come to offer services to our friends in the village. I (Missy) was in charge of preparing the food for them. So my friends and I began fixing the food at my house. We were fixing the food village style. We cooked a large amount of food over an open fire outside. That food was brought inside and put on the floor in the kitchen while they prepared to gather all of the food to take the doctors. This food was in a large round washtub looking thing.  I left Annie there, in our house with my friends, while I went to buy tortillas. Annie was in the kitchen and stumbled backwards and fell in this big washtub full of food that had been boiling. Once she was brought to Greg and I, we rushed her to the nearest ER about 45 minutes away. There she was treated by a plastic surgeon who suggested we have her treated in the US.  Twenty-four hours later we landed in Galveston, Texas and she was admitted to the Shriners burn center. 

She has second degree burns on 22 percent of her body with 2 places being close to 3rd degree. Those 2 places will be watched to see if she will need skin grafts on them over the next 2 weeks. Last night, (Sunday) was a good night for the most part. Annie was heavily sedated and rested well. That was the calm before the storm. At 6:30 am she woke up and cried for the next 4 hours. After giving her a pain medicine, Benedryl, Valium, and Morphine, she finally went to sleep. Please continue to pray for her as she is very restless and in a lot of pain. Her right hand is giving her a huge amount of problems. She is mad that she can't use it. Greg is with her now and said she is still cranky, but she has gotten out of bed and gone on a wagon ride. She told him she would be good if I would buy her a coloring book and crayons. So, we are off to the store to buy coloring books and crayons. I will keep you all updated as much as possible. I guess I should ask for prayer for me too, as I have tried not to cry in front of her, but sometimes that is very difficult. So, thank you all for everything!