Hope Peacock Photo Puzzle Fundraiser

July 12, 2013 -- Sitting Around!!!

Here is a picture and little video of one of the first times Hope showed off the newest ability she has regained. . . sitting!!!  She did it first in the middle of the night when she asked for a drink of water. . . when I let go of holding her, to grab the water bottle, she didn't fall over!  We tried it again the next day on the new trampoline and she was able to do it again for you on the video camera!  So now you can share in our excitement for the Lord's grace and continued healing!

Click on Read More to read the rest of the post and see the picture and video. . .

July 12, 2013 -- A Big Surprise. . . A "Peacock Nest!!!"

The girls were super surprised and excited to receive a new trampoline, generously donated by a loving family that has been praying for Hope for a long time!  This is one of those blessings where God's grace and love goes far beyond our simple needs and into lavish extras that are just plain fun!  How God delights in giving good gifts to His children!!!  And we praise Him and thank the compassionate family that chose to remain anonymous in their desire to see God receive all glory and praise!!!  We have some video of the fun discovery of the girls' surprise and their reactions and thanks!

Hope-ism July 7, 2013

The girls and I were on our way to church, driving the 20 mins that it takes to get there and reviewing their memory verse for Higher Ground Children's Ministry that morning.  Gabi had her verse down perfect and Hope was still struggling with it, and getting a little frustrated.  I encouraged her to remember that with her brain injury, this was a lot harder for her to do, but how awesome was it that God was slowly healing her and giving her the ability to not only speak it but memorize verses again!  I encouraged her that she could continue to ask The Lord for His help as He would delight to help her hide His Word in her heart, because that would honour and glorify Him.  I also mentioned that what He cared most about was not that she said every word perfect but that her heart understood the verse and knew what it meant.  So I set out then to talk them through the verse and discussing what each part meant as we went through it!  It was a great discussion!

Here is the verse. . .

July 30, 2013 -- God's Gracious Answers to Prayer!!!

Just wanted to give a quick update to my post from last night. . .

It should be no surprise that God did a mighty show of both His power to heal and His loving care to hear and answer the many prayers that were lifted up for Hope and our family today!  Thank you so very much, dear prayer warriors, for your many encouraging notes and the many prayers that were prayed over our precious girl and our family today!  It never ceases to amaze me as to the loving kindness of our great God through His answers to prayer (even the ones that are answered in a way different than I would choose in my foolish wisdom/understanding!), and through the many people that God has placed in our lives to support and encourage and truly "lift us up!" throughout this trial. . . from near to far, young to "more mature!". . . we are blessed by YOU!!!  and by our amazing GOD!!!

July 29, 2013 -- Quick Update and Prayer Request!!!

Hello dear praying friends and family!  It is with a heavy heart that I write this update tonight. . . I had planned to do a more lengthy update of the past month or so and some of the neat things that we've been so blessed to see God doing in Hope's life and continued slow recovery. . . but that will need to wait a bit longer. Hope had the worst day she has had, health-wise, for a long time.  Even as I write this, I am reminded how far God has brought our precious girlie as days like these used to be the norm!  We praise and thank Him for the fact that this is no longer the case, yet after the scare we had tonight, we are reminded that we are never far from needing to fall on our knees to beseech the King of Kings asking for His continued mercy, healing, wisdom and comfort all the while remaining in complete submission to Him and trust in Him!

July 2, 2013 -- "Steely" Determination!!!

We had our sweet little nephews staying with us.  So we took the kids to the local splash park and playground. It was very sweet to watch Gabi push Hope around in the jogger stroller that was given to us by the Woolsey family, and see Hope enjoy a bit of splash park fun. Her temperature regulation is still off as even in the 30+ degree weather (Celsius), she was freezing after just a couple minutes.  So she would come back to her daddy and I, get covered with a towel and warm up. . .

A Day at the Farm July 1, 2013

We went to my parent's farm to celebrate my mom's birthday.  Hope and Gabs were super excited to be able to ride the horse and snuggle the dogs there!  They have always loved animals!!!  Here are some pictures and a video from the day. . .

Snuggles with Daddy!!!

School's Out!!! June 21, 2013

This is an old post but I thought I'd still share it. . . 

School finished up towards the end of June.  Bearspaw Christian School held their annual elementary awards night, which we took both our girlies too.  It was a sweet night to thank our dear teachers that have poured into our children over these past months.  Here are a couple pictures and a video from that night. . .

Hope's Spelling Test

Hope and Gabi love to play school!  They always have!  So it's very fun to see them starting to be able to do that somewhat again with Hope's continued recovery by God's grace!

We have shared that Hope's memory has really started to return. Here in this video taken early June, she applies some memory but also shows the comprehension and new learning required to start spelling words again!  Isn't God's power and mercy so very great!!!  June marked some exciting advances in Hope's ability to start doing academic work at school. And although school is now out, we are hopeful and eager for what The Lord will continue to do in Hope this fall when school starts again and a plan to start some academic goals begins!

Hope you enjoy seeing answered prayers in this video. . . prayers for Hope and Gabi to continue to find more ways to interact and prayers for Hope's continued recovery!  All praise to the One who is able!!!  God is great and greatly to be praised!!! 

You are loved!!!

Video Link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Henil7efrJA

Hope Loses a Tooth

"My mind was left behind!"  A Hope-ism for how to deal with pain!

To view Hope's comical commentary on losing a tooth, click on the following link. . . 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFav69xqeuI

Tea Party Fun

One of the things that Hope has recently remembered is the library area that is on the upper floor.  A couple weeks ago, she started asking for us to carry her up to the "pink rug!"  She always loved that area.  Last Monday, Gabi set up a tea party for them up there, to her big sister's delight!  It is hard for Hope to stay upright for long, sitting like that, due to the constant challenge of her scoliosis.  But here are a couple pictures of the girls thoroughly enjoying their little tea party together, before Hope fell over for the fifth time and so daddy took her back downstairs to her more comfortable recliner chair.  : )  I love that they still enjoy tea parties!!!

Hope-ism. . . June 18, 2013

We are daily blessed with the sweet and/or funny things that Hope entertains us by saying.  We are also often amazed at the depth of her understanding, especially when it comes to the things of The Lord.  Here is a conversation that Hope and I had today while driving on our way to school. . .

Hope Update--June 17, 2013

Hello dear praying friends and family!  It has been a bit since I've put on an update.  Although life stays very full, things move very slowly with Hope and so I often feel I don't have much new to tell you.  But after a couple weeks have gone by, or for sure after a month, we see the culmination of those little things into bigger areas of change, which is very encouraging for sure.  I'd love to share some of those things with you.  We've also had a couple discouraging days where Hope has had some setbacks. . . these are always hard to take in and hard to watch our girlie continue to experience the roller coaster of ups and downs throughout this long recovery journey, especially as she is increasingly aware of these setbacks.  To be honest, each setback feels like a punch in the stomach and makes you realize how little we are able to control and how utterly weak we are on our own strength.  It reminds us how much we yearn for the return of our Saviour and the joy and release of Heaven!  The stinging pain of these setbacks are not a place we enjoy being, for sure, but our gracious God uses these times to continue to grow our faith and trust in Him, and especially our dependence on Him to continue persevering for His glory and by His grace!  John 16:33 says, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  And 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."  Praise God for the most awesome hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ!!!

So, a few updates to share:

Hope continues to make small bits of progress that over time sure adds up and we are so very thankful for God's obvious faithful hand of healing over her. Boy it stretches our patience some days, but He is always accomplishing His good and perfect plan and we need to stay content and thankful!

Learning Heart Lessons

Learning Lessons

I have another Hope-ism that turned into a good heart lesson for me and I would love to share it with you for a couple reasons. . . first because I love to see God's truths go forth and I pray that it will encourage you as The Lord continues His faithful work in our lives, and secondly, because I love to give you a real picture of the weak and sinful self that I struggle with all for the purpose of showing how great our awesome God is to save, love and continue to sanctify a wretch like me!

Let me start with the story. . .