Abby update - June 5

Just a quick update tonight, as we arise early again tomorrow for the lacrosse commute--Frank's continuing to enjoy it--a lot! I stayed at the fields all morning working on some items--wavering between pride in Frank's improving skills and worry at the number of boys who ended up lying on the grass, clutching some body part that had been hit with a stick...

Gordon and Abby stayed home today and had some good father-daughter time, I think. This afternoon I took Abby to her violin lesson, where someone else's heart was moved to reach out to Abby. Abby's violin teacher, Paula, had written to a music professor at Vanderbilt University who makes teaching aids for violin, requesting to purchase a bowing aid that might help Abby stabilize control in her bow arm. When Dr. Plummer heard Abby's story, she wanted to send Abby one for her own use. Today Abby was able to practice with it, and I was so grateful for both Paula's and Dr. Plummer's thoughtfulness. Violin has been very stressful for Abby lately because of the tremors in her right arm. Just having something like this might prove helpful and might help Abby to feel that she do something positive to try to make some improvements. As Paula said, I think we need to add a dot in Nashville for Abby's prayer map...

We closed out the evening with a practice session for the 4-H dog show. Amigo was once again excellent at the long down-stays (lying down is his specialty...!), while Arby showed remarkable self-restraint in his when a ball bounced across his field of view. Abby and Arby are going to work on a musical freestyle routine for the show--we'll let you know how that's progressing...

Now I think I'll go work on my down-stays...8 hours would be nice, but I'll settle for 7...
Love,
-the Linams