Abby update - February 7

It was nice to have a "day off" today. Abby doesn't have therapy on Wednesdays, so we were able to stay home and mostly catch our breaths. Frank and his friend Alex did their homeschool work, while Abby did a little English homework, practiced piano, stretched, baked cookies, and did some Social Studies with her homebound teacher. We all enjoyed some time outside taking a walk and jumping on the trampoline, and Arby did great in his obedience practice with Abby.

Abby's doing very well on her schoolwork in many ways. She's got such a good foundation of knowledge (she's doing amazingly well in her grammar lessons!) and obviously is still a very bright girl (she really had me and Gordon laughing yesterday with another of her "play on words"), yet some things continue to be a struggle. Primarily her short-term memory issues limit her capabilities, so recalling new information just learned is difficult, and performing complicated multi-step tasks, such as using reference books or composing a paragraph, is hard. I'm thankful that she seems to be improving, but it's still hard when we let ourselves look back and realize that last year at this time she was winning ribbons at the district academic meet in those very subject areas. Again, we find ourselves just asking God for the patience to be glad for each day's progress and the wisdom to pursue the right therapy and educational approaches so that hopefully Abby can look forward to that academic meet next year...

Still, we give thanks. When Abby was in ICU I recall begging God to let her once again bring joy and vitality to our lives, and she truly does. Now we just pray that He has many more promises to fulfill in her...and that we will not fail to see those promises as they are revealed...

Thanks for watching with us...
-Abby's family