Beautiful

I wanted to give a quick update on Lucy tonight.  So many of you continue to pray for her and our whole family and I can't begin to tell you how much we appreciate it.  Your prayers have sustained us through so many horrible days and nights and our whole family will forever be grateful to you all.

Lucy has been going to school every day.  She stays until lunch and that seems to be just about the right time for her to come home and rest.  Every day she eats 6 chicken nuggets with ranch for lunch and I just laugh thinking about how wonderful it is to see her eat.  And let me just tell you something.  Lucy is up to almost 40 pounds!!  January of this year she weighed only 27 pounds.  Can you believe it?

If anyone in E Clinic is reading this---please tell Dr. W how well Lucy is doing with her weight.  No one will believe it!

It's not just the eating that's better.  It's everything.  She is sharp.  Really sharp.  Her mind seems to be working again.  For so long she was malnourished and her brain had suffered so much trauma that she struggled with even the simplest task.  Her memory failed her constantly and some days she couldn't even complete a sentence.  It was so hard watching her struggle.  Those were dark days for Erik and me.  I shudder just thinking about them.  Now, she is answering questions at school, staying on task when given an assignment and her memory is quick.

Physically she is getting so much stronger, too.  She still uses her walker at school and that allows her to be much more independent.  We are still working on accommodations for PE, but for the most part she can figure out a way to keep up with her classmates.  She's getting her drive and determination back, and that's awesome to watch.  It's like the old Lucy is starting to surface.  Her personality is beginning to shine through again and I am enjoying watching her reconnect with her friends.

It's still a process and she has a ways to go yet, but I am so thankful to God for where she is right now.  I look at her and see so much potential and so many exciting adventures in her future.  My heart is full and I am happy to be in this place.  I truly believe that God has special plans for Lucy in her lifetime.  She has already touched so many lives and I am grateful to be a part of her story.  Cancer will not define her, but I know that it will be a major piece of the puzzle that determines her future.  I continue to pray that as a family we can use the lessons we have learned and the challenges we have faced to help her become the woman that God created her to be.

Lucy's life may not take the "normal" path that we all dream for our children, but she has been set apart to do mighty things.  She already has.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

 He has made everything beautiful in its time.