What is That? A Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Unbelievable blessings continue to rain from the sky. We are seeing things that God set in motion years ago to help us that this particular moment. I am amazed at how beautifully His plans unfold. We know God is with us right now. His presence is wonderful.

The elementary school where two of my children attend had a fundraiser for our family. The principal and my daughter's teacher with the PTC did all of the work. There were hundreds of people at this event. My oldest daughter was not able to attend so my husband went. He said that every time he turned around, some one else was offering help or giving encouragement. He said he spent the night in tears. He was so overwhelmed by the compassion and love shown to our family.

Another example of blessing came from the lady we hired a company to come out and evaluate our home. I mentioned that she talked to some architects pro bono. Well, she did much more than that. She has presented our story to charitable organizations here locally. She said that before she could even come to the part about asking for help, they already offered it! She has spearheaded a giant renovation plan with accommodations for all of us. This is life changing stuff she is doing! The groups are Hearth and Cincinnati Occupational Therapy Foundation. They are like angels and I believe that they are doing God's work. We are so humbled by their efforts, money time and care for our family. If we can make our home safer my children and I will see a huge benefit in the level of pain.

The next day we were visited by a support coordinator from the Board of Developmental Disabilities. I had applied thinking that maybe they could help, but I did not think we would qualify. Not only did we qualify, but we approved on emergency status! This means that there is a possibility that some of the materials that need to be purchased for the plan from Hearth could be funded through this program! I spent a long time in the special education field and I rarely had a family that received this support. I have never seen it happen so fast and in such a complete way! God had it all arranged. Even the support coordinator admitted it was the "hand of God" doing all of this for us!

If we can keep us from traumatic injury and strengthen our bodies we have a chance to lead a more normal life. We have a chance of avoiding big surgeries in the near future. We have a chance of living without so much pain.

We praise God for all of this because all of my effort lead to years of frustration and anger. When I finally realized that I could not do this and God could, He has shown me that His way is much better!

God is So Good

Here is what we know right now. First, Elizabeth is still falling. So far she has fallen and received a concussion to her spine and to her head. The spine left her numb in the chest and neck area. The head concussion left her eye sight distorted for a week. A pattern is forming that is disturbing... she is not putting her arms out to catch herself. When anyone falls, there is an automatic reaction to put out your arms to protect yourself. Elizabeth keeps falling and she is getting injured so severely because she is not putting her arms out.

This was confirmed, at of all places church! We went to service on Ash Wednesday and I promised CJ that if he was asked to acolyte, I would serve with him. We brought Elizabeth in her wheelchair. I glanced up and saw that she came up the stairs for communion. I saw that Chuck was right behind her. I did not think anything of it until Fr. Daggett told me to leave the alter and go to the sacristy. From there a friend of mine directed me to Elizabeth on the floor.

I cannot relate the picture I saw. She was lying with her hair encircling her head like a hallow. She looked beautiful, but she was hurt badly. Her left leg was twisted horribly and her neck did not look right.

I found out that Chuck did follow her up and back from the communion rail but she went into the front pew from the other side. She was only a couple of steps ahead of him and she just collapsed. She said that her hip and her shoulder were out.

I thought that since her shoulder was dislocated that she put her hands out, but that was not the case. The people in the pews said that her hands did not break her fall, she just fell backward. She dislocated her shoulder from the impact from the fall.

I say that God is good in this situation because He is. Elizabeth stayed very calm through the whole ordeal. We tried to put her shoulder back in, but she made us wait until the service was over. She thought the church would empty, but people just stayed and offered to help and prayed.

The only time Elizabeth cried is when we tried to put her shoulder back in. The rest of the time, she was so calm. When I was close to her, I could smell God's presence. I am not quite sure how to explain it other than it was beautiful. God wanted us to know that He was there and He was in control.

The Hamilton fire department was wonderful and saw the obvious dislocations and loaded her up into the ambulance carefully. But, as with most of our adventures, by the time she made it to the x-ray table, she was already back into alignment.

Why go? Well, we could not risk moving her wrong which could have torn her hip tendon more, or injured her shoulder as well. The biggest problem would have been her neck. She hurt it again with the fall.

We left the ER with her parts snapped back in place, but we know that it was not an accident. For some reason, God had a plan. I am claiming this publicly so that I can look back on this some day and hopefully understand it more, but I might have to wait until I am with Him. Either way, "Those that put their trust in God will not be shamed."