Surprises

This week has been full of surprises.

I walked into Abby's room the other day and found this cute scene. Love it!

When Abby and I walked into therapy on Tuesday, I was handed a gift certificate for a massage and was told to leave! What?! You don't have to tell me twice. So while Abby was working away, I was enjoying a relaxing face, hand, and foot massage. It was amazing. (Thank you!)

Abby gave all of us a surprise on Wednesday. She starts this day with feeding therapy. I bring food for her to eat so her therapist can time her swallows and track her progress. Abby never eats more than a few bites during these sessions. I don't know if she just doesn't like everyone staring at her, or what. But this week she ate EVERYTHING I brought for her - 2 ounces of pureed lasagna and a 1/2 slice of heavily buttered, soggy toast. We were all very excited about it. And since she was such a good eater, she got a chocolate pudding treat at home. Great job Abby!

You may recall that there was a 7 year-old boy in our ward (church) who suffered from the same type of bleed as Abby, just 2 months prior to her own bleed. Sadly, his rupture was more severe than Abby's and he did not survive. This past Monday, March 26th, was the anniversary of his death and as a way to honor and remember him, his family started "Errands For Ethan." They invited everyone they know to perform service and do random acts of kindness for others on that day in memory of Ethan. Well, our family was on the receiving end of one of their Errands. They, with the help of several friends (some of whom don't even know us) bought Abby an iPad. In a previous post I mentioned that we had been trying to introduce an iPad as a tool to help Abby communicate. It is much more versatile than other assistive devices, meaning she can get used to it by doing fun activities first, and then move into the more functional choice maker programs. It is a lot more enticing and user-friendly than other assistive devices that we have tried. What an amazing gift! And what an amazing family. They have been through so much, but still continue on strong in their faith and walking with their heads held high. This family has been such an integral part of our journey and we appreciate their friendship and their love. We thank them for thinking of us and we are so grateful to all those who contributed. We feel very loved. I know this gift will have a great impact on Abby's progress. (Please read more about Ethan's story. Visit kimandmarcus.blogspot.com.)

One more surprise came on Friday night when I managed to throw Anthony a surprise party for his 30th birthday! I've always wanted to do a big party for his 30th, but given our situation, I wasn't sure if I could realistically pull it off. I decided I just had to do it anyway - you only turn 30 once! I think it turned out great. I had been planning for a couple of months and doing little things at a time to get ready - and I had some really awesome women lend a hand (Thanks girls! You know who you are.) Thanks everyone for making it such a special night. Happy Birthday Honey!!