Hello faithful family, friends, and followers. Our past week has been generally positive and one of the things that stood out to me most was, as the title suggests, the joy I see Joy bringing to others. One of our goals in creating “The Life with Joy” was to not only share the ongoing story of Joy’s recovery, but also our pursuit of a life with “joy” in the midst of life’s challenges and unexpected twists and turns.
Last Saturday we had the privilege of being hosted by dear friends for dinner in their new home. Although it had only been a few weeks since last seeing them, they were amazed by Joy’s progress in speech and cognition and shared as much. While we recognize and praise God for the gains we know are there, it is so very affirming to hear from others the healing miracles they see and the genuine “joy” they show in experiencing Joy’s progress with us. It was also just wonderful to again feel a sense of normalcy over a special dinner with friends.
Then on Monday, Joy made her return to the Knitting Grandma’s group which knits and crochets baby hats for newborns at Maple Grove Hospital. Joy’s dear friend Shelly took her to the meeting and from what they both shared on their return, Joy received an overwhelmingly loving and affirming welcome to her attendance. I’m told Joy had the chance to express her gratitude to the group, which she has wanted to do for months now and she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of encouragement from so many who have faithfully followed first on CarinBridge and now on our blog with interest, prayers, and compassion. Joy kept sharing over and over how much she was blessed by her time with the group, which we hope, also blessed those who were there.
We also received encouraging and welcome news at what was probably Joy’s last visit with the speech therapist who has been working with her on her voice. We have been pleased with her progress, but this was affirmed by the scoring of an assessment, on which a low score is better, Joy moved from a score of 22 at the start to 4 on Tuesday. Needless to say, we and the therapist were pleased.
In other promising news, my Kyphoplasty procedure on Wednesday appeared to go well. They were not able to expand the compressed space of the vertebrae as much as they had hoped, but felt the cementing of the vertebrae went well without complication and now I just need to heal from the procedure. Thank you all so much for your prayers.
Other aspects of our life remain the same, therapy homework, home tasks, walks, and time with friends and family. We continue to covet your prayers especially for Joy’s continued healing of vision and aphasia as well as her emotional encouragement.
Reflecting back on the last few weeks I appreciate Henri Nouwen's words all the more when he says:
“By inviting God into our difficulties, we ground life—even its sad moments—in joy and hope. When we stop grasping our lives, we can finally be given more than we could ever grab for ourselves. And we learn the way to a deeper love for others… This is not easy, of course. This “dance” will not usually involve steps that require no effort. We may need to practice… These steps will not make the pain disappear. They will not mean we can expect to avoid shadowed valleys and long nights. But these steps in the dance of God’s healing choreography let us move gracefully amid what would harm us and find healing as we endure what could make us despair. We can ultimately find a healing that lets our wounded spirits dance again, that lets them dance unafraid of suffering and even death because we learn to live with lasting hope.”
We wish and pray you have a safe and blessed week and thank you once again for your faithful prayers and support.
