Abby update - March 7

Today was a long day, with so many various story lines that it's hard to know where to begin to write...

The beautiful morning started out tranquilly, with Abby and Frank doing a little homework side-by-side--aaah, this is what homeschool is supposed to be like...but then that hour was over and the rest of our hectic day began.

A little later we left to pick up Gordon and hopefully go buy that used car that sounds just perfect. But then we arrived at the dealership to find out that, sometime in the 20 minutes since we left Gordon's office, the car had been sold to someone else. Aaaaagh....We looked around the lot and stoppped at another lot, but only grew more weary of the used car/limited budget vicious cycle...

So, we sought encouragement and stopped by Hill Country Christian School to see Abby's friends and teachers and begin to make plans for her return there after Spring Break. It was great to see Abby get such big hugs from all her friends. But we had to leave Hill Country to keep an appointment with therapists and staff at Wimberley ISD. They, too, are eager to welcome Abby into school and try to design a schedule and some therapies that will help her be ready to move ahead. It's been really wonderful to have so much support and so many resources available to us--now the challenge is just to find the right balance of therapy and school, Wimberley and Hill Country, busy time and rest time, comfortable and challenging--and hopefully without driving Mom crazy and wearing out too many more cars...!

Speaking of cars, just as Abby was finishing with her homebound teacher, another of Gordon's co-workers arrived at the house with him to try to resurrect our station wagon from the dead. By the time they were finished, the old Taurus had come back to life (albeit without air conditioning and still with that funny ticking sound in the engine...). At least we now can keep commuting until we find that right replacement vehicle (and it's always better if you can actually "drive" the trade-in to the dealership.)

Then, just because the day had not been full enough, Abby and I took Arby over to our good friend and agility mentor's house to practice running through some agility courses. Arby was a little distracted with all the cats in the neighborhood, but I think, as long as there are no cats outside the agility arena, that he'll do fine this weekend. On the way home we stopped at the library to check out a couple of dog books that the Friends of the Village Library had donated to the library in Abby's name--what a perfect way to honor Abby, with books about dogs! We also stopped at the grocery store, where several people were so glad to see and talk with Abby.

Hmmmm--I started out this post thinking that there was no common thread to all these crazy events in our day, but just now the light went on in my head. All throughout the day we kept encountering people who love, care for, and have wanted to help Abby and us--her classmates, her old teachers and new teachers, Gordon's co-workers, library friends, agility friends, Wimberley friends--today was a good day because these people are in our lives, and I trust tomorrow will be as well because of people like them and like you...

Thanks!
-the Linams