Hello faithful family, friends, and followers. Thank you for coming back to check on us, we value your interest, presence here, and faithful prayers so very much.
The week started with another road trip, this time north to Duluth to spend an afternoon/evening with Joy’s youngest brother Steve and his wife Sharon. We had an absolutely wonderful time walking along the board walk, wandering Canal Park, exploring the shops, and an extra special time of sharing our journey and catching up on their lives over dinner. This was a very emotional trip for both of us. Duluth has been long been a favorite hangout for us as a couple and as a family. With so many memories, it was wonderful beyond words in many ways because I never thought we’d ever be able to visit again, and yet, it was also a poignant reminder of how much life has changed. Still, the overwhelming emotion was joyful gratitude that we were once again, tasting a sense of “normalcy” in such a special place for us. Joy tolerated the trip very well and I think we paced ourselves better this weekend than the previous. We thank you for your faithful prayers that continue to bring miracles of “normalcy” to our daily lives.
At home our evolving “new normal” continues to develop as we have wound down PT, are winding down OT, and while continuing, probably moving to a reduced frequency of sessions for Speech Therapy. Last week and this we met with a speech therapist that is working with Joy on the sound of her voice. We do the exercises twice a day and Joy seems to be adapting to the routines well as was affirmed in our therapy session this morning. Joy has continued to advance in her letter and word recognition and her reading, slowly, but ever so surely. I think yesterday was the first day she got all upper case and lower case letters of the alphabet correct. She’s doing a great job with long sounding vowels, but still struggles with short sounding vowels, although she is working very hard and making steady progress. Her mood has generally been positive, but at times the reality of practicing the ABC’s at this stage of life, puts her in a sober mood reflecting on the long road ahead.
Joy is so committed and working so hard at all her therapies and I could not be more proud of her. She starts her therapy routine even before getting out of bed doing core and some of her shoulder exercises. Then depending on the day and whether or not we have therapy, there are the rest of her lower body and balance exercises to complete, the remaining posture and shoulder exercises, and although her eyes are doing very well, she still keeps up with her latest round of eye exercises. We also do our best to get in at least a 1.5 mile walk or more. So we thank you again for your faithful prayers that continue, by God’s grace, to lead to Joy’s healing and recovery, but I also want you to know she is working hard to maximize all your prayerful efforts.
Joy’s Moh’s surgery is still scheduled for the 19th of this month, so we appreciate your continued prayers that the procedure will go well, will be able to eradicate the cancer with minimal excision, and that Joy can have quick and total recovery and healing.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you again, for your continued faithfulness in your interest shown despite the slower and more incremental progress we share. It is so hard to express just how much you all mean to us. Knowing that prayers are lifted up for us so faithfully keeps us working on those ABC’s and the effort is paying off.
