Sanctus Real - Lead Me (Slideshow With Lyrics)

One Year Ago Today

Savannah 1 year after her car accident.

Savannah shortly after the accident.

At 8 pm it will be exactly one year from the night we received every parents nightmare phone call. Savannah had been in an auto accident and was taken to the hospital unconscious. I scrambled to get ready and my neighbor drove me to the hospital where later Lee and Alyx would join me. When I arrived Savannah was already in ICU and on her way to surgery. She was labeled as Jane Doe since no one had followed her to the hospital. In a quick minute it was explained that she had internal bleeding and surgery was needed to repair what was assumed to be a torn bowel. That alone was life threatening. The doctor did not know what he was facing and he told me so. I had minutes to see her and say goodbye before they rushed her to surgery. Lee and Alyx did not make it before she went to surgery. Prayer had already started like wildfire through text, face book, phone, and e-mail. At this point hundreds of people were praying. As I went in the cry room completely distraught and everything blurred, I was pretty sure that we would be told that she did not make it through surgery. It was only 45 minutes but seemed like hours as we waited. The surgeon appeared and said she is fine, it went great, she just had a small laceration on her liver and no other organ damage. Praise to God was all that we could do! Now she just had to wake up. At this point they saw no reason for her unconsciousness. She had no brain swelling and no sign of bleeding. So for the next 8 hours we shook her, yelled at her, talked to her and tried to wake her up. All in vain though because of course she did not. It was later that morning that an MRI was done and we would later learn the extent of her closed head brain injury.



One year later..............................

You can read all about Savannah's journey on her caring bridge site. (it is linked on the blog) But here we are one year later. Savannah has had an amazing recovery and surpassed all expected outcomes. God has changed her and grown her in every way from her feet to her brain and everything in between. Savannah is currently making plans to attend Southwestern College in the fall. It is a 4 year Christian College and is about 45min - 1 hr from our home. She would like to live on campus and probably major in child psychology. She has been released to go to work by her doctors but has not been able to return to Chipotle. Savannah has favored her right arm quite a bit and therefore experiences difficulty using it for coordinating tasks. She writes and types and does all fine motor skills with her left hand only. She has significant strength in her right arm and hand though. Of course, Savannah, walks just fine as opposed to what the docs originally thought. We were told that the nerves were severed to her right leg and she will never regain use of it. God did not have that planned so he healed her. She still is unable to run although she has done it in short spurts on the treadmill at therapy. But it does not look graceful and can be dangerous if she does not have a spotter. She can however jump and completely squat and get off the floor just using her legs. Everything regarding Savannah's pelvic injuries are completely healed. Anything she struggles with is a direct result of her brain injury. She has full memory and speech. Her speech has slowed significantly since before the accident. But she is very clear and able to speak whatever is on her mind. And believe me, she does! LOL! Savannah's metabolism has slowed immensely so people that have not seen her since before the accident are quite shocked at how calm she is. Savannah used to be a blur of activity and voice. Now she is very subdued with hardly any talking. This is very common after a brain injury. She has also been released to drive by the doctors but has not driven in a year. We have to get some legal matters taken care of before her license can be reinstated. So we continue to take things one day at a time. Savannah is slowly figuring out what life looks like for her now. God is good and has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams! We all are aware of this and continue to trust Him. Days are hard and life is hard but we all see the hand of God upon us and believe it is all for His purpose and we persevere!

Fun in the Snow

We headed up to Flagstaff this past weekend with Alyx's youth group to play in the snow. Everybody had a great time!

Chase,Katie,Alyx, and Sydney

Alyx -blahhhhh!

Alyx hitting down!

Alyx gliding .

Youth group .

Dax and Graci after sledding down the hill, Daddy following behind. Daddy had to come down every hill the hard way, running behind the littles.

Daddy got to sled down with Graci!

Dax went a few times down with Daddy and then took every run by himself with no fear! He never lost his disc either.
Graci took a few more times than Dax to gain confidence but after she did, there was no stopping her. She went every time by herself.
Thad really wants to get to our sodas.

Graci - snow angel!
Dax rolled the base for the snowman with his head -see below picture then after picture above.

The littles and babies chillin' in the snow.

No, they did not sled down the hills, they just hung out in the discs. Kamby and Thad!
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Daddy and Thad - Thad always looks way more awake than Daddy. That is because Thad still wakes up 1-2 times a night to eat and Daddy gets up to feed him.

Savannah and Thad -everyone adores this boy, of course what's not to love, do you see that smile?

Kamby with the best big brother in the world!

Uniquely Dax, he thinks he is the coolest boy ever. He puts on his rag, his shades, and this case his cubby vest and gets attention from everyone!

Thaddeus Joel is always smiling!

Kamby and Thad just learned to sit up, they love playing together on the floor.

Isn't she so beautiful!

Princess Graci Jia is turning 4 in a couple of weeks.

Ethiopia Video Part 1

Alyx is making several videos of our trip. This is the first complete one. This one depicts the average living conditions of what we saw in Addis Ababa. Future videos will show the babies and their trip out of the orphanage. I cannot figure out how to post a link or the video on this blog so here is a link you will have to copy and paste. Enjoy, Alyx did a great job!

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=7de35e409230e7ef0a48&sp=1

Goodbye 2009 and Hello 2010

Savannah and Kamby

The boys love it when Alyx gets on the floor.

Precious sisters!

Our littles and our little littles!

Best friends forever!

Is this a handsome boy or what?

I feel as though I may be over thrown someday.

There is not one thing I would change about 2009. It has been an amazing year full of God's grace and abundant life. We feel blessed beyond measure to have all our beautiful children both newly joining our family and rejoining our family (Savannah). I have so much trouble finding the time to keep a blog updated and I am not an inspired writer so that makes it more difficult. I know that many have been concerned for Thad and his health and I do want to update on him. His lungs are clear for the moment and we are no longer giving breathing treatments. He is still very nasally congested but that is just going to take time. He is breathing 10x better now. He has a pretty severe ear infection in his right ear and it has caused him a lot of pain and has been oozing since we got him. He is on a strong dose of antibiotics and hopefully will clear soon. Kamby is doing awesome. She sleeps all night and is a happy, healthy baby girl. Thad is super happy as well despite his health issues. Both babies are eating well and putting on weight. We eagerly await 2010 and what God is going to do. We have no regrets and very much look forward to experiencing Him in the coming year - however He decides we will do that!