Thanksgiving....

hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did. First of all I will say I'm thankful for the Lord and all he has done for us and I'm thankful for my family, they mean so much to mean and I don't know what I would do without them. Thankful that we have a place to lay our heads at night, a roof above our head and food on the table and good place to work. What more could we ask for. He is so gracious to us and to Him I am thankful.

We started out the morning with my mom and dad coming down early and helped me put up my village. We then cooked and went to Suzie's house for dinner. And as a tradition after we eat, we drag out all the sales papers and begin to plan out our shopping. This year was a little different though, we decided to shop all night. Dustin loves to go just as much as I do, but he wasn't to keen on going all night so he opted to stay home. Me, Marty and Kylee braved the rain and the crowds and headed to Wal-Mart around 10. People already had buggy fulls, so we grabbed a buggy and started shopping. People were going crazy over stuff. Marty even witnessed a fight over DS games, nothing is that important to me. I ended up going to check out and got checked out somewhere around 1 I guess. Loaded my car up and headed back inside to sit with Marty as she waited in line for one of the hot items going on sale at 5. We sat and talked and talked and made new friends and even played a game while waiting. We got what they waited for and stood in line again to check out and then headed off to Huntsville. We stopped by Shoe Carnival and then headed to Madison Square Mall. Got a few good deals and then went to Catos for our last stop. I got my kids a few items but not a lot. I still have lots of shopping to do. We got home a little before noon, so we shopped almost 14 hours. I think that is the first time I have ever stayed up that long without sleep. Came back to Suzie's and watched the game, I might have dozed off for about 30-40 min. Dustin's grandmother got sick so we went up there for awhile and came home and fed the kids and then I went to bed around 8. Finished up some decorating this weekend and did some much needed cleaning to the house. Will post pics of all my trees a little later.

Part 3 of reflecting back.....

Progress was being made in therapy at the hospital and when it was time for us to be discharged they were having her put pressure on her legs and trying to walk with lots of assistance. We were so ready to come home, but on the other hand hated to leave because she was getting so much help everyday. We were being discharged on Nov. 18th. Kensley had to do a half a day of therapy, so it ended up being over in the afternoon before we got to leave. Justin, Joe David and Scott came to help up pack all of our stuff and drive us home. The family had planned a Welcome Home party for us and when we pulled in the driveway we were greeted by a multitude of friends and family holding signs to welcome us home. As I sit here typing this I just get so overwhelmed at the love that was shown to us. Channel 19 was also there to capture it all for us. Everyone came inside to see Kensley and at that time she still could not even hold herself up, so it took some trial and error to figure out how to adjust to things at home, but we managed.

We began to take her to therapy at Huntsville Hospital and the group of therapist that we received were great. I was able to take a leave of absence from work and stay with her for the next 3 months. I remember going to Christmas program practice and us standing her up to walk with our assistance, but others there were just amazed at the progress. We went home that night and she started kicking her left leg, we were beside ourselves and started calling whoever would listen to tell them. Time rocked on and she begin using a walker, it was hard to keep her left hand on it correctly, but didn't seem to bother her she would just keep trying. Throughout this whole process she has been anointed several times and with each time has made some great improvements. It wasn't long after Christmas that she started taking her first steps for the second time in her life. I was work and Dustin sent me some pictures of her walking down the hall. And here she is doing just that.


We've had some obstacles to overcome, but the Lord has always been there to see us through. Which brings us to where we are today. Kensley is back in school full time and making all A's, she does pretty much anything she wants to do with some limitations. I think I'm probably some of her hold back, but the momma in me starts coming out and I get a little over protective sometimes. I'm always so afraid of her falling and hurting herself that a lot of times I won't let her do certain things, but I'm trying to work on that. :)

A couple of weeks ago we went to therapy and they were trying to work with her left hand and it was so tight that they couldn't even keep it open, they were having to force it open. We went to church on Sunday night and her Uncle Paul anointed her hand. We went back to therapy the next week and she was just so much better. The therapist was just amazed, so I told her what had happened over the weekend. Kensley was able to put her weight on her left hand and prop herself up and then she was able to crawl with both hands. And also a couple of months ago they put her on a bike, that is her greatest desire right now is to be able to ride a bike. Well they had to tie her left hand and foot to the bike for them to stay on, well this past week they put her back on it and didn't have to use anything to help her keep her hand and foot on there, I was amazed myself and trying to text Dustin while all of this was going on. We are so thankful that the Lord has brought her this far and look for Him to bring her the rest of the way.

In my first post I mentioned that I had thought about asking Dustin to pull over in the rain, but didn't realize that the Lord had a plan. I have since thought if I would have asked him to pull over until it cleared up some, we could've no doubt still had the wreck and all the people that stopped and helped us would've already passed. My point is there was a nurse driving behind us that stopped to help and had we stopped and let her go by us, who would've been there to help Kensley? I know the Lord put her there and I wish I knew who she was so that I could thank her personally, but we haven't been able to find out. There was this one guy that helped in the accident and he came to visit us in B'ham. We can never repay all those who stopped to help us that day, who sacrificed what they were doing to help us. I felt so helpless that day, and we had no one there with us, but God sent us some angels to help my family that day and I'm forever indebted to Him. Thanks to everyone that said a prayer for us and helped us in our time of need, I just hope that I can give back when it's my time to help someone else. We love each and everyone of you!