Celebrate!!!

Today was a banner day for Amy on campus. To try to explain it all would take the rest of the night, and I doubt anyone wants to read that much anyway. Let me just say that all of Amy's goals/hopes/dreams for the next school year came together in a HUGE way for her today! She was flying high when she called to tell me all that happened when she talked to professors & administrators at lunch. Things are looking up, and it brings tears to my eyes to see something good happen for her after all of the rough days she's smiled thru when she was really hurting. I'm sure her grin was from ear to ear. My mother-in-law said it well..."I firmly believe that it's all because of the many prayers being lifted up for Amy." And it's true! So many times God's very clear answer wasn't what we'd hoped for, but we trusted it was best. His plans are perfect whether we like them or not. Today it was so awesome to see his emphatic "YES" to Amy. Will things be perfect from here on out? Not likely. Will Amy's pain go away? Not unless He chooses it to be so. Will we continue to trust Him thru the days ahead? You bet!!
Many, many thanks to the incredible prayer warriors all over this planet who lift Amy up in prayer. My parent's church and their good friends ask about her every week without fail. We receive postcards and "thinking of you" cards from people we've never even met. Brian's parents and their church friends in AR pray for Amy regularly, as do my brother Tom's friends in Indiana. I know people in Alabama and Bloomington, IN and Golden, CO and Pueblo, CO and San Diego, CA who are praying for Amy. We even have awesome friends who are in Beijing right now who continue to pray for our girl. We love you all...we appreciate you so very much. Tonight you can smile along with Amy as we celebrate her day.

Little Miss Bethany

Tonight I heard some really touching words from little Miss Bethany..."hey mom, let's watch a movie!" And we did! I want to always be available when my almost 17 year old wants to hang out with her momma. These days will pass much too quickly and she'll be spreading her wings to fly. I love that girl so much. She's fun...she makes me laugh...she reminds me to lighten up...to think positive...to be 'in the moment.' She's a treasure.

Lots of silver linings!

We're finally home after a quick turnaround in Denver with Amy. So much good came from this trip, and Amy said we took care of about 75% of what she needed to get done for the weekend. So many things to be thankful for...how awesome that we had a wheelchair to take to her...that Brian was in town and had the time to go with me...that RA training didn't go as long yesterday. Amy met us at the door of her dorm on crutches and was barely able to hobble along. We loaded her up, fed her, bought groceries, got the office supplies she needed, kept her with us overnight, fed her again, helped her with door decorations for her floor, loaded the laundry card, did laundry, headed across campus to help cut out more decorations, got her a microwave, got her internet working, and fed her again. Whew! We accomplished so much in a short amount of time which would have taken her SO much longer if she'd done it by herself! She was able to stay off her feet, and by the time we left today she seemed to be doing much better. One more day of taking it easy and she should be in good shape for training on Monday morning. Although we could tell she was a bit homesick, she's holding up well and still has a smile on her face. We met several of the other RA's who all seemed pretty great. She already is enjoying new friendships on campus. One more week of RA training and then things can settle into a more "normal" routine again. BA was awesome...helped SO much without complaining one bit...drove us all over Denver...just enjoyed being with us. Now it'll be a quick turnaround for him as he heads off to California in the morning.

One really cool thing is that my older brother, Tom, was at mom & dad's when we got home. I didn't expect to see him until tomorrow evening, so that was an awesome surprise. Anytime I get to see any of my brothers is just fine with me...they're all really terrific guys and I'm quite blessed to know and love them.

Time to pack up BA and prepare for another week of unknowns. Seriously, I just never know what's going to happen next around here! One thing I DO know...God gives us the strength to make it thru each day even when we don't think we can keep going. HE is my rock!!

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."
2 Samuel 22:33

Ready to roll...

It's been a rough week for our chef. RA training has been really long hours and a couple of days she had to be on her feet a lot. She tried explaining to her boss what happens if she's on them for many hours, but I don't think he believed her. She finally asked me to engage by sending him an e-mail, which I did. Thankfully, I also copied a couple of other people on campus who needed to know what was going on. The lady from the disability office called me back and we talked for quite awhile about Amy's pain levels & physical challenges over the summer. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough to save Amy from 6 hours of picking up trash in a park yesterday. Brian and I got a phone call in the afternoon..."Will you please send my wheelchair up with Janis on Sunday?" We knew she was in trouble. So yesterday afternoon BA and I headed to Denver to get her out of the dorm for a night. We took her out to dinner at Olive Garden and let her spend the night in air conditioning, and I think that was just the boost she needed to get thru another week of training. She said with no consistent cell phone reception in her room, no internet access, and no A/C in her room it's been kind of rough and she was rather homesick. I hope she'll feel better when she wakes up. The wheelchair was a lifesaver and I'm so glad we decided to invest in one "just in case." My biggest concern is that her dorm isn't wheelchair accessible. I'm not sure how she's going to navigate getting to the laundry room and out the door to head across campus. She has to go down 2 steps once she leaves her room to even get to the front door. Hopefully there will be others around to help her out. We've done all we can for now, and she and the disability office will have to address those issues. For now, we're praying her boss will learn that she doesn't cry wolf...that she knows her limitations. Maybe in the future when she tells him she'll be in trouble if he asks her to do something that involves being on her feet for long periods of time, he'll believe her. She said he's really a nice guy. But he's probably never worked with someone who's disabled before. And really, how can anyone understand just what she's going thru unless they've been in her shoes? I just hope and pray that this episode doesn't last long and she'll be back up and "running" soon. By the way...when she expressed concern about trying to do an internship in the spring, Jean from the disability office volunteered to go with her to talk to whomever she interviews with to help explain her situation...same with talking to the career counseling office. It seems that Jean is an awesome advocate and will do everything she can to help Amy with some of these issues. Bless you, Jean!