Thursday, April 26th

Time flies when you're...is it Thursday already? The end of April? Where did February and March go? I feel like I'm a bear that's come out of hibernating all winter. I'm starting to pay attention to the news--at least the weather report. Life crises are so consuming. It's like that's all you think about.

So Annie had a good week. A couple of urps, but nothing huge. The medicine changes are going okay, but still need to be fine-tuned. Her attention span is improving, but her vocalizations are off & on--probably depending on how her medicines are affecting her. Her balance for sitting continues to improve too.

Today she sat independently on a little black bench with her feet resting on the floor for about 3-5 minutes while I sang "Happy Birthday" using everyone's name in our family and then some of yours. For the last minute or so, her PT, Debbie, actually tried to push her off balance with her finger touching Annie's sides, and Annie kept sitting upright and strong...as long as I was singing "Happy Birthday." It was very interesting to see that she has strong balance ability--as long as her attention is focused.

Brain injury doesn't affect just physical or just cognitive--it's how everything works together. Think about what you have to do just to walk across a room--your vision judges how far you have to walk around the furniture, you're thinking about why you're walking across the room and where you're going, and your body does what your brain is telling it as you walk--arms, torso, legs, and feet. Balance, coordination, memory, reason...all things your brain controls. That brain God made for you.

I read a book to Annie today titled "What Does God Do?" After reading about everything God made in creation, there's a page at the end of the book with a picture of a baby in a cradle. Annie used to always ask me if that baby was her--and of course I always said yes. The verse on that page says, "You made me in an amazing and wonderful way. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old." Psalm 139:14 & 16. God created Annie's brain before she was born. I'm praying that He'll recreate hers now.

Jean