Our New Normal Week

Hello faithful family, friends, and followers and welcome to the first full week of the new year. We are still adjusting to our “new normal” of managing therapies for OT, PT, and Speech, along with “doing life,” amid the new freedoms of being less appointment driven and more self directed. In addition to our home therapy routines we continue to check out winter walking options from malls to community centers. We are thankful for our general good health and ability to stay reasonably active despite the aches, pains, cognitive, and sight challenges that remain.

I know I often say how proud I am of Joy and her “grit” in doggedly pursuing her recovery and rehabilitation over the past 11 months. Our Alyx, in a recent post reflecting on last year, shared their thoughts on grit and resilience. They differentiated them as, “Grit is toughing it out, white-knuckling it through hard situations, getting through it; Resilience is not just getting through things, but processing those things as they happen, and growing through and beyond them. Based on that definition, I’d say Joy displays both a determined grit and resilience in her healing journey.

The latest example of this grit and resilience relates to her hard fought reading gains. Remember not too long ago we were practicing the abc’s and vowel sounds and working on basic words including our own names and the names of our children and friends. She then started reading slowly, but deliberately, from the Psalms and Gospels in the NIrV Bible which is written in 3rd grade level English. Next she started reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. Her reading has continued to progress, slowly with determination, but with unquestionable progress. Reading is still a LOT of work for her, having to pause frequently to sound out sometimes even the most basic words, but in the past week and a half she has continued to amaze, let me explain.

For the past 20 years I have read through the Bible each year using the One-Year-Bible which breaks down the entire Bible into daily readings of Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. In fact each year you read through the Psalms twice on this plan. Over the years I’ve read from the OYB in the New International Version, New Living Translation, English Standard Version, King James Version, and The Living Bible. Since Joy had been reading the Psalms each day anyway, I suggested she try using the daily Psalms section from the One-Year-Bible Living Bible version which, although not in 3rd grade English, is a very “readable” format. She thought it a good idea and since she had also been reading from the Gospels, we discussed her reading the daily New Testament portion from the OYB each day as well. For her daily after breakfast and after dinner Bible reading Joy prefers to read out loud to me so I can help/coach with recognizing words, pronunciation and meaning/context. So while I continued my own OYB reading, on January 1st, Joy started reading to me the Psalms and New Testament segments from the OYB.

On the afternoon of the 3rd, I came into the living room and she was on her Kindle and I just asked, “What are you reading?” She grinned with a sheepish grin and said, “The Old Testament for each day.” She had just caught up for the first three days, so since then, she has been reading the OYB Old Testament segment after breakfast and the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs verses after dinner. So my beautiful wife, in her careful, slow, and deliberate style is on her way to reading through the entire Bible when less than a year ago we didn’t know if she would even regain consciousness after the accident. Then if she regained consciousness, would she ever speak. If she spoke, would she ever see clearly enough to read due to her right vision cut and vertical diplopia. If she could see, would she ever comprehend the meaning of letters and words when she couldn’t even say or read her first name let alone pronounce it. And, if she could begin to recognize and pronounce words could she ever string them together into sentences and retain any of their meaning. Well now, the miraculous answer to all of those questions is YES!! Joy is clearly excited with the progress and it has been a big lift to her emotions and confidence.

But of course, Joy is not just content to read her way through the day. She has continued actively knitting baby hats for Maple Grove Hospital with the Knitting Grandma’s group. With the help of her knitting friends she learned an new pattern for cowls that she began and has now completed several for gifts. She faithfully does her exercise routine in addition to our walking outings. And, she continues to be a tireless prayer warrior and has expanded her efforts by being more proactive in reaching out to family and friends seeking how she can best lift them up in prayer. Her selflessness, despite her own personal challenges, is so inspiring to me, I am such a blessed and fortunate man.

However, even with these wonderful gains, we do still covet your continued prayers for Joy’s ongoing recovery. For miraculous healing of the right side blindness and continued healing of cognitive deficits which leave Joy feeling frustrated and of all things are the most challenging for her emotionally when she’s confronted with her new limitations. But as we’ve mentioned before and as I note above, please know that we are praying for your as well, even if we don’t know you personally. We have been so blessed by the community that has come around us and we want to do all we can to ask God’s blessing and provision for each and every one of you each and every day.