Wrapping up 2011

Life never slows down, NEVER.  Telling myself this fact helps me not get too stressed when life is crazy.  If I stop waiting for it to slow down and just accept the fact that life is busy and have the attitude of "do what I can and keep moving" life won't overwhelm me so much.  Does anyone else feel this way?

It's almost Christmas and I have let a whole semester go by without posting anything.  Again.  Oh well, keep moving.

Brad is still working on his recovery from our accident a year ago.  He had shoulder surgery 2 months ago and they repaired a tear in his rotator cuff and cleaned up some arthritis.  For a while insurance denied physical therapy for Brad on his knee, but now we have all of that sorted out and he is doing PT for his knee and shoulder.  We are hoping that his knee just needs to be strengthened and no more surgery is needed.  He's not 100% and I think we know he won't ever be at 100%, but there is still room for improvement.

My foot and ankle are doing well.  If I walk a lot or stand on my feet I start having minor aches and pains, but for the most part I have full function of them.  Besides being busy with normal life, I am really enjoying going to Community Bible Study.  This semester we have been studying Hebrews and have really enjoyed it.  There is so much in the book and it's been a lot of rich, solid theology.  It's been great to look at it verse by verse and to be reminded of how completely sufficient Christ is to be my Savior...and other's Savior.  He is the only One capable.  If we trust in this world, it will fail us.  If we trust in ourselves, we will fail.  If we trust in other people, they will fail us.  If we trust in our things, they will fail us.  It has given me an urgency to pray for my family and friends who do not know Him...that they may see the TRUTH of who He is and put their lives completely in His hands.

During this one-year anniversary of our accident and starting the recovery journey, we look back with Thankfulness to be here, alive.  Also, we are reminded of all of the support and encouragement we received a year ago from our families, friends, church family and co-workers.  We were so overwhelmed by people's responses and generosity of time and resources.  It helped us experience the love of God for us more fully through the hands and feet of people.  We are hoping to bring this type of encouragement and God's love to a family we know during this Christmas season that has recently been through a work related accident themselves.  And now we know even more how to bless them because of all of those who blessed us so much during our time of need.  THANK YOU to everyone who helped us throughout this last year in all sorts of ways...praying for us (many daily!), watching kids,  bringing food, organizing helpers, doing yard work, cleaning our home, giving gift cards, giving money, mailing care packages, bringing belongings to us from home, calling, visiting us, sending cards, etc., etc.!!!!

As far as the kids go, Will has enjoyed his first year of school so far.  He usually rides his bike to school and thinks he is pretty hot stuff being one of the only kindergartners doing this.  He played t-ball this fall and loved it.  Now he's about to start Upward Basketball.  Will turned 6 in November and had a Star Wars Lego party.  When he's not playing sports, playing legos or riding his bike, he's usually pestering Carissa.

First Day of School

 T-ball

 Birthday Party!

Carissa is our snuggle buddy and twinkle toes.  She likes to cuddle and hug and kiss us and we LOVE IT!  She is a sweetheart most of the time with some diva moments.  She enjoys watching Barbie movies, singing like Ariel at the top of her lungs and dancing around.  It took her a couple of months to warm up to school this year, but I think she finally likes going.  She can be very shy and quiet around others, but I see that starting to change too.  One of her favorite things is to have her friend Megan or Ryan come over to play.

First Day of School

Circus Parade at School

Halloween

 Carissa and her friend Ryan

 The kiddos in San Antonio

And now it's Christmas time!  I can't believe how the time is flying by. We hope you have a truly special Christmas season with your family, celebrating baby Jesus who came so that we can have life.  It was His plan from the beginning of time...and it's a trustworthy plan!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Catching Up

I want to be a regular blogger, I really do.  Maybe I will get better once school starts and we get into a routine.  I can hope.

I'll try to get you caught up on what has been going on since April.  As far as our accident recovery, things have moved along slowly.  Brad continued with Physical Therapy but eventually seemed to plateau and not make progress.  He could walk, but it was slow and he could not use stairs very well.  After an MRI and CT scan on his knee, the doctor decided to do an arthroscopic knee surgery.  Brad did that about two weeks ago.  They shaved down a bone spur that had formed in the middle of the knee, trimmed some cartilage and repaired a small tear in his meniscus.  Now Brad is back to more PT and hoping to see some improvement soon.  It's still a little early to tell and he really has to build up his strength in the muscles around his knee which will take some time.

We are still trying to settle with the auto insurance companies and they are very good at stalling and making things way more difficult than they need to be.  We are working with an attorney to help resolve everything and we have peace that it will all work out.

In May Will graduated from Pre-K.  He went to his preschool for 4 years and he made lots of good buddies there.

Will played t-ball for the first time in the Spring.  

and of course, Carissa was there for it all.

This summer we mostly tried to keep cool.  We made our way to different water parks across the state and went to the INDOOR Legoland.

We have one more week of summer until Will starts Kindergarten.  I don't know if I should ask for prayers for him or for me.  I don't know who is more nervous :o).

He can handle this

As you can tell, life picked back up again after our return and it is much harder for me to find the time to blog.  We saw some friends in the last couple of weeks and they were shocked to see Brad walking, so I realized I haven't done a great job keeping everyone posted on our recovery status. 

Brad is walking.  Slowly.  It's so nice to not deal with walkers, crutches and wheelchairs anymore.  Brad's legs are pretty weak, but he is able to get around.  He can't do stairs very well.  He's not suppose to walk really long distances or walk around the neighborhood for exercise.  His therapist has recently said that she thinks his strength has plateaued and that he needs to have the doctor look into the reason for this.  Her thoughts are possible soft tissue damage that is preventing him from progressing.  Brad will go see the doctor and will have him look into it. 

I went to see another doctor to get a second opinion on my foot and ankle.  After looking at the X-rays he thought that I didn't need surgery right now.  His suggestion was to get an MRI to look for possible soft tissue damage.  I left glad to not have surgery, but at the same time a little anxious that my foot and ankle will never feel normal again.  It's so hard to accept this since the accident wasn't our fault.  I want to cry "FOUL" and make the responsible party fix it.  I still don't have full function of my foot and ankle.  That may never happen and it makes me sad.  I know Brad's feeling the same way about the possibility of never being able to run again...something he enjoyed doing quite a bit before the accident. 

Continuing to pursue expensive medical treatment is feeling more and more stressful as we see the reality of dealing with insurance companies.  The other guy's insurance is dragging their feet and hasn't paid a dime, ours doesn't want to settle until the other guy's insurance settles and we often get reminder letters from our medical insurance, short term disability insurance and medical providers that they want to be reimbursed or paid.  (If you only have minimal auto insurance coverage for liability and uninsured/under insured motorist I highly encourage and recommend increasing your policy limits!!) 

You can say a prayer that all of the insurance companies settle quickly and fairly and that our medical insurance will negotiate with us and settle within the policy limits of the auto insurances.  And you can pray that we can do all of this without having to hire an attorney.  We are just ready for closure and we know God can bring it.  In the big picture of life, this is a small trial. But even so, we would love to see God work it out in a miraculous way so He gets the credit.  As I look at paperwork and talk to adjusters I try to work it all out in my mind.  I can think it is all up to Brad and me to figure it out.  We will be diligent to do our part, but we are praying for God to intervene and work it out in only a way He can.  This morning I met with our insurance adjuster and I was feeling anxious before hand, so I decided to read some Psalms and I came across Psalm 57:2 which says:  " I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me."  I know He can handle this.


On another note, we had a great Easter at Brad's brother's house.  Our kiddos love their cousins and we love being with them. During the week leading up to Easter I was able to focus on what Christ did for me (Romans 5:8-9 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!)  It definitely puts any suffering here on earth in perspective and also reminds me that there is a bigger picture beyond having good function of my foot or beyond losing money because of an accident that wasn't our fault.  None of that will matter when we get to spend eternity with Christ in the place He is preparing for us.  He has a plan and it's way better than mine.

Spring Break Fun

My sister already blogged about our spring break, so you can go to her blog read all about it:

Spring Break Fun

Our big 3 year-old!

Carissa turned 3 at the end of February.  We had a fun time celebrating at her party two weekends ago.  This last weekend she got her "big girl" bed and we are selling her baby furniture, so she is officially a "big girl" now. 

And just so everyone knows, things are much better from the last time I posted.  They were better the next day.  I should know to never write posts in my moment of tiredness and pity-party mode. Of course we all have those moments, but for the most part things are going great.  Brad has the ok to put weight on his leg and he should be walking in the upcoming weeks. He's working on that at PT.  We've even been to the gym twice this week as a family and he swam both times!  What a good feeling.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

Here are some pics from Carissa's party:

Happy Birthday, Big Girl!  We love you!