Making Progress.....

I know it has been awhile since I have posted and I am sorry, but things have just been so crazy and when I do have time it seems like all I want to do is rest. But Kensley is improving daily and we thank our Lord for how far she has come. She is using her walker quite a bit now and she is amazed within herself that she can do it. She will be walking and just say "WOW I can walk". It is the most precious thing. We are still going to therapy three times a week plus doing homebound school, so there is not a lot of free time and what free time I have I am trying to get in some hours at work. Dustin has started taking one day a week to let me go in to work and have a break and its nice to have adult conversations. My job has been wonderful to me and I am so thankful that the Lord provided me with this job. Speaking of conversations, Kensley has come out of her shell, she loves to talk and will talk your head off, she doesn't meet a stranger and has become a comedian too. I have talked with my case manager and the doctor's office from Birmingham about letting Kensley go back to school and they have told me that she could probably go back part time if the homebound teacher thought it was ok, otherwise we may wait until our appt in March for the doctors to re-evaluate her and see if she is ready. I'm not sure if she went back part time how we would fit everything in to our schedule. With the detour going to school it takes me an hour to drop off and get back home, so most of my time would be spent driving everywhere and I'm not one who likes to drive, it tends to make me sleepy, but I know Kensley would love going back to school cause she asks me daily when she can go back.

We have our moments of breakdowns too. This is a lifestyle change and it has taken time to get used to it. I think at first I was so overwhelmed with getting everything in order for her and making sure we had everything at home that we needed that the initial shock of it didn't hit me until later. We were at home one day and I got to looking at my pictures and found the one that I took of her on the first day of school and just lost it and then she lost it and we just cried together. I try not to cry in front of her, I try to wait until I by myself just because I don't want no one else to worry or see me crying. Dustin just doesn't understand sometimes I just need to let it all out, he thinks I should have a reason for crying. The Lord has really comforted me through all of this, but I know that there are going to be breakdowns moments to.

Konnor is doing good, he had a couple of problems at school, but I think we have gotten those taken care of. He is all boy and too much of that came out at school. And another incident of his was the first ice and snow that we got, he was seen sliding across the iced pond!!!!! I know boys will be boys, but thank God he didn't fall through. This past Saturday he was over at Suzie's playing with Kamron and Kade and we were leaving to go take some food up to the hospital and here they all come wet and muddy and Dustin got on to them and when we left I asked him how many times did he get in the water in the freezing cold and he told me none, but I know that's not true. I try to cut him some slack cause I know he is just a boy and that's what boys do. Konnor loves his dad and to me that is his idol. But Kade spent the night Saturday night and Sunday night we went upstairs and they had built them a studio and were pretending to record. They had gotten stuff out of the attic and had it all set up. I thought it was really cute. For the Valentine's pictures he first of all was mad that he was having them done because he missed getting to go to the studio with his dad, but once we started them he because creative and wanted to act like he was writing a song and then he had them made with a guitar and they all turned out so well. Here is the storyboard that Marty made of my kids pictures.






I would also like for everyone to pray for some good friends of ours, Bro. Darrin and Sis. Natasha Isbell. He fell and crushed his spine and has had to have surgery and is now headed to Atlanta for therapy. I've been there and know what it's like, but I know that they have God on their side and everything will work out for them. And pray for their kids also, they have two little girls and this will be equally as hard on them having to be away from their parents cause I know it was hard on Konnor, but we all know that God will deliver them back together real soon.

We love all of y'all and hope to see everyone really soon! Oh and I hope to have some more pictures up to, I just don't have my camera with me.

Finally back home!!!!

Hey everybody, I know it's been awhile, but I am glad to be back at home. There is so much that I could discuss about the past, but I am just going to concentrate on this day forward. Above are a few pics from our Christmas play at our church last Friday night and from the snow on Saturday. Although I will say that we are so thankful for everyone's prayers, thoughts, cards, emails, phone calls and visits. We couldn't have done it without any of you. We have made so many new friends through this process and hope to make many more. We love all of y'all and there is no way that we could ever repay all of y'all for your generosity and love, but we would do anything for any of you that need us.

We are so glad to all be back at home together again. We are just trying to establish a routine. Dustin is back at work and Konnor is at school and doing good (although I will say that he was a little spoiled when we got back home). Kensley is doing very well, she started moving her left side last week and we are looking for great things to happen and we owe it all to GOD and the prayers that everyone has prayed for us. Her left eye is staying at least a 1/4 of the way open all the time now and she can see out of it, but she does see double. Once she can keep it open all the time, we will have to put a patch over the right eye so that the left one can strengthen up. We have therapy 3 times a week and we met with the homebound teacher this week so we are also trying to work that in to our busy schedule. She will meet with her 3 hours a week and then leave us with lots of homework to do. We go back to our follow in Birmingham next Thursday, I think they will be impressed at how far she has come since we left them. They have a great team there and we can't wait to see them all again. We really got close to them while we were there, we thought it was so hard leaving the team in Florida, but the team in Birmingham was as equally as good.

I have realized that my whole life style has had to change since the accident. Kensley requires alot of attention, so that means that my house work gets neglected, but that's not what is important at this time anyway. We all take for granted getting to go as we please and now I don't get to do that. We could probably go alot more than we do, but it is alot of work loading and unloading her and her wheelchair and stress on my back, so if we don't have to go out we stay home. Although I am going to have to find sometime to go get my shopping done, I have hardly gotten any of it done. Its hard to buy for my kids anyway since they need nothing.

We have thereapy tomorrow and Friday and then Kensley we be spending her first night away from home Friday with Mawmaw. I'm a little nervous about leaving her, but she will be in good hands. Me and Dustin have a Christmas party to attend with all of our age group from church, with no kids allowed. Its just a good time for us all to get together and enjoy each others company without having to chase our kids around. We have another family Christmas Saturday in Grant.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Please continue to pray...

This is Marty, Dustin's sister.

As I pulled the blog up I noticed the last post that Melissa had typed. I remember the whole two months leading up to the Disney trip, how excited they were. I'm sure that never in their wildest imagination they fathomed what was ahead.

I know everyone is probably already aware but to recap:

Dustin, Melissa, Konnor and Kensley were travelling on Wednesday, October 7th from Disneyworld to Gulf Shores where they were going to stay until the weekend. At approximately 4:50 p.m. on Interstate 10, near Holt, Florida the car hydroplaned, hit a concrete culvert and flipped one and one-half times and landed upside down in the median. Dustin and Melissa were trapped in the car and had to be cut out. Konnor and Kensley were ejected from the car. The state troopers stated that numerous people stopped and rushed to them to try to help. Three fire departments were dispatched to the scene. Fortunately, a nurse was right behind them and stopped. She rushed to Kensley's side and worked with her and stayed with her until the medics arrived. Konnor has been telling us about the people that came and stayed with him until they put him in the ambulance and about the paramedics in the ambulance, "David" and "Kenneth" who in his words, "took very good care of me and were very nice to me." Kensley was air transported from the scene first, Konnor was transported by ambulance next, Dustin was air transported and Melissa was transported by ambulance, all to Sacred Heart Trauma Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, around sixty miles from the scene.

Dustin, Melissa and Konnor were admitted to the hospital and released the next day. All are banged up and bruised and cut but are okay. Kensley is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. She has a traumatic brain injury and has had surgery to try to stop a bleed. Just a few moments ago (Friday, October 9th, around 5:15 pm) Dustin and Melissa saw her doctor. Her latest CT Scan showed no changes. However, this is good news! They believe the bleed has now stopped and what they are seeing on the scan is now just a pool of blood left from the bleed and will HOPEFULLY (pray pray pray!!!!) eventually drain. How awesome is that!?!? She has a long recovery ahead, please continue to pray for her!

Here are our latest highlights:

*The nurse/doctor was adjusting her vent tube and she raised her right hand trying to either make them quit or help them. I'm leaning towards the first. :)
*She has coughed several times, which the doctors say is great.
*Kylee (my daughter/Kensley's first cousin) has been sitting with her singing "Beautiful Day" which is one of Kensley's favorite songs. She was holding her hand while she was singing and Kensley was tapping her fingers on her hand.
*Melissa was holding her hand and Kensley squeezed her fingers.

We, along with her medical staff, think these things are excellent signs. The news is getting better and we are sooo excited!

Also, the latest updates are being broadcast on facebook. There is a "Praying for Kensley" page that has been set up and Kylee Rogers is updating numerous times a day. We know not everyone has a facebook page but for us, that is the easiest and fastest way to update. If we are away from the laptop we can update via phone. If you already have a facebook page or want to get one, you can try this link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=163181429364&ref=share or go to facebook and search for Kylee Rogers and send her a friend request.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EMAILED, CALLED, TEXT, COMMENTED, BEEN HERE, SENT THINGS, ETC. YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO EVERYONE!!!

Please continue to pray!!!!!

Marty

WE'RE OFF!!!!!

Ok we are fixing to leave....we are all packed and the car is loaded up. The kids are so excited, just hoping the drive goes well. We are taking Suzie's car, mine is not in that good of shape and as a matter of fact it died on me this week, I had to go buy a new battery. Hope we make it at least by midnight. Not sure if I will get to post any, but I will try to if I can. Should have plenty of pics to share....see you all real soon!

It's Almost Here!!!!

Well it is almost here! We only have 4 days left until we leave for Disney and I have so much stuff to get done this week, but it will all be worth it. Dustin still isn't really excited about going, but hopefully he will enjoy it once he gets there and sees how excited the kids are. I know he can't wait to see Minnie and give her a big ole hug....lol! I will try and take pics of the girls outfits and post them for y'all to see.

The weekend was good, let me start by saying that wasn't yesterday a beautiful day? It was so nice outside. Friday night of course we had a singing at Higdon and I think there ended up being about 8 or 9 groups with some specials thrown in, but I have to say they did really good on time, it was over by 10 our time. Saturday I went and took the dreaded CPC coding test, not sure how I did, it was pretty hard. Saturday night we went to the funeral home, I didn't know the lady, but have heard wonderful things about her and she was a member of our church, but hasn't gotten to come in several years. Sunday Dustin had to play at the funeral and afterwards we went to Red Lobster for some endless shrimp or should I say Dustin did and he sure did enjoy it and so did the rest of us, I love those biscuits. Church Sunday night and then to Santa Fe with the family afterwards.

The kids are doing great, we got Konnor's progress report last week and it was all A's. He is doing so good this year. And of course Kensley is just reading away, it amazes me how much she can read, she picks up on words that I would never dream she could read. We always kid that Kensley is going to try and take over her teachers job. I was informed today by her teacher that Kensley told her she would bring her something back from Disney so I guess I will be buying her something while we are there. :) More to come in the next few days.

PICS

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids waiting for the bus and getting on. They loved riding, the first thing Kensley said when I got home yesterday was could they ride again. Although when they get a little bit bigger they will be begging me to take them rather than riding the bus. :)

We had a great weekend, very busy as usual. Friday night NH sang at Claysville. I had to take Kensley to Hazel Green to a sleepover and then drive to Claysville, so needless to say I drove for what seemed like hours that night. Saturday morning it was back to Hazel Green to pick Kensley up and then it was just sort of a lazy day. Dustin had to go practice for a funeral that afternoon and then we went over to Joe and Drea's along with Scott and Josie. I don't know about the guys but us girls had a good time just sittin and chattin. Doing a lot of catching up, we don't get to be together and just hang out a lot, we are all so busy, we had a great time. Thanks Drea for having us. Sunday Dustin had to go sing at the funeral and me and the kids stayed home and they watched movies all day while I cleaned the house from top to bottom, even baseboards. I love the smell of a clean house, I always say that once I get it that clean that I am going to stay on top of things, but somehow something always happens and my plan fails me. Church Sunday night and out to eat at Logan's after church with Marty, Lee, Kylee, Kade, Justin, Alicia and Harley. Back to work this week, guess I will go to practice with Dustin tonight. More post later.

"The Bus"

My kids have been wanting to ride the bus in the mornings and I figured it would work out better for me anyway, so we are going to give it a try this week and see how it goes. Normally me, Jen and Kyle (my inlaws) take turns taking the kids to school, well with the detour on the way to Gurley it takes me over an hour to take the kids to school and get to work and a lot of times I was late, so since the kids we interested in riding the bus in the mornings why not let them. The only downfall is that they have to get on it at 6:45, but it's only about 15 min earlier than what I would leave if I was taking them. Although I now have to get up before Dustin and get my shower so that I have enough time to get everything done, but that's ok. I just come straight to work once they get on the bus, so I may consider changing my hours from 7-4 now. I'll let you know how it works out, they are probably going to want to get in the bed earlier now, which works for me. :)

I'm going to be preparing this week to take the certified coders test. It will be Saturday starting at 8 and lasting for 5 hours. Please pray that I can pass it the first time. I do not like taking tests, especially ones that are going to last that long.

Well we are now down to 12 days until Disney. I have lots of shopping to do before then and I am trying to keep a list so that when I think of something that needs to go with us, I write it down because my memory does not serve me very well. I think that may have something to do with having kids, I used to remember everything, but for some reason after I had kids it started failing me. :) I am trying to come up with as many electronics as I can for the kids to play with on the way down there. If you have any suggestions on how to occupy kids for a 10-12 hour drive please let me know.

Well that's all for today. Hope everyone has a blessed day!!