July 19, 2014 -- Blessings Amidst the Hardships!

We are home and very thankful to God for safety in our travels and for the blessed visit that we had with our family in Oregon!  Hope and Gabi enjoyed playing lots of games (our family loves playing games!). . .  Hope killed us at Clue over and over.  Her memory of details is amazing!  And Gabs did an enormous number of huge puzzles that Auntie has collected from our childhood!  I love puzzles and we had a ton of fun doing these together!  We'd love to share a couple of our highlights from this wonderful visit with Grandma, Auntie Christy and Uncle Cody. . .
Visiting their church was a huge delight!  Trevor was asked to preach, and he was blessed to share God's Word with these dear brothers and sisters in Christ.  We were especially blessed by the people of this church, who have been faithfully and fervently praying for Hope and our family, even though most had never met her!  They brought Hope to the front of the church and had a time of prayer over her. . . what an amazing blessing to be a part of the body of Christ!  Their love was humbling and so very encouraging!

Another highlight was figuring out a way to take Hope and Gabs to the ocean AND spend the night on the beach under the stars and moonlight!  The girls had heard Auntie talk about doing it one time and were begging to give it a try.  It was not easy and took a LOT of work, but it was so cool!  We left the wheelchair behind and piggy-backed her to and from the vehicles to the beach and the bathroom.  The girls were thrilled to go shell collecting the next morning.  It involved some ingenuity and muscle from uncle and daddio who came up with an air-filled dingy pulled by a rope to get Hope around on the sand!  Other than the nasty sunburns that ensued from the fun in the sun, it was a super cool adventure!  Trev's computer hard drive crashed and I still can't get the pictures and videos that I was looking forward to share with you, so I will add them here later and then re-post it to let you know . . .



Thank you for all the sweet notes of encouragement for our family in this time away.  And for your continued prayers for us as we await God's plan for Hope and treatment of her severe scoliosis, all the while continuing to seek Him for His hand of healing on her, in whatever way He purposes for His glory.  Life is different since Hope had her brain injury, for sure.  There are many things that we cannot do now or find very difficult to do as a family.  Without sight, Hope's intake of experiences is very different.  Playing some of our past favorite games can be a challenge.  It can be hard on Gabi who wants to do many things that Hope can no longer do, such as put together a puzzle or play a game of Dutch Blitz (these are two favorite things they used to do together a lot).  It takes lots of creativity, sacrifice, compassion, and other-centeredness.  It can be a huge challenge to find balance, as parents, between having a healthy daughter with no limitations who wants to do many "normal" things, and having a multiply limited daughter who understands fully what she is missing out on and remembers her past clearly.  We can't do everything that Gabs would desire to do out of sensitivity to Hope, and we can't simply limit Gabs to only do what Hope can do.  Boy does it ever make us treasure the things that we can ALL do together. . . and how much more now than 2 years ago as we first left the hospital!

We are so thankful for the amazing blessing He has given us in our two precious girlies.  The challenges above have grown each of us to be much more sensitive, more thoughtful, more compassionate and other-centered, in how we spend time as a family.  And because we are all sinners, it definitely requires the amazing grace and power of Christ to see that happen.  Sometimes we are reminded of that in our own failures as parents (the self-centered huff and sigh when Hope calls for assistance just as you lay your head on the pillow to sleep, or catching yourself asking her if she can wait when she asks to go to the bathroom and you just want to finish your task first), and sometimes in the issues that arise between the girls.  It is easy to become frustrated with them. . . whether Hope is isolating herself or being demanding or whether Gabi is lacking compassion and being self-centered.  Life is indeed different and in many ways much harder.  But we learn every day, and especially on a sleep on the beach adventure, that harder is not necessarily a bad thing. . . in fact, it rarely is a bad thing for us as followers of Christ!  Oh for sure, my "getting older body by the minute," often complains about harder as I'm piggy-backing my now 92 lb daughter through sand. . . or my "mommy's heart" breaks and fights anger when I watch my girls "miss out" on what is enjoyed by most other children around them.

However. . . Harder for us has come to mean a higher level of sensitivity, love, and compassion for each other.  Harder has drawn out incredible creativity and determination.  Harder has given a greater heart of thankfulness and a lot less taking for granted of the many blessings that we have.  Harder makes the milestones feel bigger and the accomplishments feel greater.  Harder has deepened relationships with others, and even brought many of you into our lives.  Harder has grown us to be more dependent on God for what is needed to endure, all to His glory.  Harder has come with the rich ETERNAL rewards of Christ at work in us, through us, and around us.  We don't need to fear "harder" circumstances, when we have Christ in us. . . He will provide!  Paul exhorted us to live this out in Philippians 4:11b-13. . . 

". . . for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

I was so encouraged to listen to a message preached at Harvest Bible Chapel Calgary on this passage, online while we were away, and to be reminded of the rich spiritual truth there!  There are SO many things that I simply cannot do in this life, and there are days where Trev and I wonder if our bodies, minds, and hearts can even do another day. . . it can be that hard!  I'm sure most, if not all, of you can relate to having days like this, too!  But what I love about this passage is that it is NOT about what I can do, but rather about what our God CAN and WILL do as we trust Him, practice contentment, and look to Him in every circumstance, for His amazing provision of grace, strength and every other need I will ever have. . . our God provides adequately and even abundantly, every time!  Even when I fail, His forgiveness is abundant.  Even when our hopes fall flat, His grace will be sufficient.  Even when life is hard, God will provide what is needed to endure, to His glory and His glory alone!

Hebrews 12:1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Keeping my eyes fixed on the One who provides, I will cross the finish line some day, by His provision of grace, and all to His glory!  So "harder" should not unravel me, distract me, confound me, or dissuade me. . . and when it does, I just need to repent and then go back to obediently looking to Him, trusting in Him, hoping in Him!

From their 2 hour adventure on the beach, Trevor's sun burnt feet swelled terribly, along with increased back pain from all the lifting, pulling, driving, etc.  Gabs' sun burnt shoulders were pretty tender.  Hope's sun burnt face was quite intense and caused her face to swell terribly and then slowly peel and itch as it healed. . . it has been a long week of healing for her, and not being able to go out in the sun at all. . . and it was a beautiful week of weather, so she was quite disappointed. . . going for walks has become one of her favorite things (well walks for us, ride in a wheelchair for her)!  But we did get her out for one walk as a family in the late evening this week, and although we met nasty mosquitos trying to eat her alive, we did enjoy also meeting a new neighbor couple on our street while out!  Praying that God will continue to increase the mission field around us as neighbors continue to move onto our street!

Hope had a wheelchair accident on our way home from Oregon, and sustained some minor injuries.  The terror of it was hard on all of us.  But, she was fine and nothing worse than she has received from bike accidents in the past.  She then went on to have a seizure the next day, our first day home, along with other signs that her body was over taxed.  So Hope and I were very sad to have to stay home from church the following morning.  We did watch online. . . how thankful I am for our church's online service that has been such a blessing to me on the many Sundays over the past 2 1/2 years that I have been home or at hospital with a sick girlie.  We also had to miss our church's outdoor prayer walk that afternoon.  Hope had a disappointed cry about it.  But Hope and I set aside time to pray together at home and had a very special time together doing this.  She has been having difficulty sleeping at night this week, and needed us to be up with her multiple times throughout the night.  Her back and ribs have been increasingly painful and requiring frequent position changes.  Hope missed her sister a lot this week as she was at VBS each morning, but Hope and I have continued to read through the Old Testament doing our devotions together. . . I love our talks over what we read!  And yesterday morning, she had a friend from church come over to visit, while her sister was gone and taught her and I a new game that she can play completely of her own strategy. . . she especially loved that she won!  : )

Trevor dropped his phone on the drive home, and broke the face.  Then after returning home, his computer crashed.  He made a drive into the city to get them fixed, and ran into further problems there.  Eventually he came home with a new phone, only to find it did not keep time or receive messages properly, and so he had to take that back in again.  It was a frustrating time-consuming week with electronics for him indeed!  But he did end up with a retrieved hard drive, a working phone, grace on the cost of the repairs, and grace on the time originally estimated to fix the computer!


Our Gabi girl turned 10 day before yesterday, and we just had a little family celebration with her.  She chose the menu for the day, and requested a day of playing games, after she returned from the morning at our church's VBS program.  It was a tough day even though there were some wonderful and fun moments too.  Daddy had to leave in the afternoon to retrieve his crashed computer hard drive that was necessary for him to prepare his sermon for this Sunday.  He ran into complications there and took much longer, not returning until evening.  Hope, who usually will participate as best she can, did not want to join in the game playing, and preferred to be alone in her bed where it was more comfortable for her aching back and ribs.  Gabs was disappointed, although she did not complain, and instead took joy in the surprise visit of her auntie, two little cousins, grandma and grandpa!  Here are a few pictures of our sweet birthday girl. . . now in her double digits!

Our Sweet Birthday Gabi Girl!!!

Gabi receives her birthday gift from Hope. . . a cheetah stuffie to complete her cheetah family.  Hope asked me about 6 months ago to buy this for Gabi. She wanted to make sure that Gabs would have it on her birthday from her, in case something didn't go well with one of her surgeries.  You certainly think differently after going through what she has!  It reminded me of how much Hope loves her sister and how far her cognition has come since she woke up from the brain injury!

Sister Thank You Hugs!!!

Our Two Sweet Blessings. . . Gabriella and Hope!!!

Cancelled back surgery that ended up prompting a surprise birthday trip with special memories in spite of many obstacles and bumps.   All the ups and downs of this past two weeks . . . the roller coaster of these past two and a half years . . . so many hard circumstances. . . not any would we would ever have chosen in our human knowledge. . . life feels so much harder since Hope's brain injury indeed. . . but how I thank God for His grace in the blessings amidst the hardships. . . they are always there if you look with eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. . . and when you see those blessings, the ones amidst the hardships, I am convinced, they are the sweetest ones of all!


Psalm 34:8
"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"

Thank you for continuing to share our joys and our sorrows with us!  You are so very loved, dear ones!