Friday, July 16, 2010

Testing & Trials

I am going to open the door "just a little" into our lives for a minute, as I might with a close friend. I hope by doing this it might let you know our gratitude for your support. Will received his third installment of nueropsych results. We have tested him every year about this time. The test outlines different cognitive abilities and deficits. Specifically dealing with memory, appearance, processing speed and so on. Because Will has moved past so many deficits, the test was only a couple hours. (Last year it was a day and the year before it was two days). It is critical, however, for us to be able to "erase" all the deficits, to be able to move on to be a doctor-- for in this career field it is life or death, no room for error. Because we are admits the making of many decisions and have many decision makers making decisions I have to keep our cards close.  But generally speaking, you can already guess from the title of this blog that recovery is still happening, so all is not erased.

Will is coping with the reality that after two and a half years he has yet to regain his dream of becoming a doctor (and still having to deal with the medical school debt as if he were a doctor). When Will and I first decided to marry, that decision came under intense scrutiny-- whether my intentions were real, or Will's stroke was too great a burden to share, or whether he understood the marriage commitment at that point in his recovery… whatever it was - we were under fire. During that time of trial, the year following his stroke, things changed.  We had dated on and off for years, but it was when I saw him face this Goliath, of losing so much and still turning to the Lord - I knew I could trust this guy with my life. I share this experience with you to let you know, my love for Will has grown this week. He is facing this time, like a true champion. He has continued to turn to the Lord and make right decisions.  What more could I ask for in a husband. I am so grateful for him.

Meanwhile, we are both learning more than I thought physically/spiritually possible. Lessons like, what really matters in this life, why is there so much suffering, how long are we called to bear great burdens, and so on. Not that we know the answers to these questions, rather we know that there are answers and the answer has everything to do with our Lord's great love for his children. Somehow the Lord's power and love can find a home into the hearts of those who mourn, and those who suffer. That love is what matters in this life, if everything were taken away from us- and that love was all that remained, than that would be enough. Luckily, however, we have been given so much more...

Below is a picture of one of my best friends and I. I am due at the end of September, Boni is due at the end of October. This is a fun pic because for Boni, after five years of trying to have children doctors told her she would never have children of her own-- well one adoption and two pregnancies later-- she is one happy mother.  Meanwhile, I was single and wanted a family too. We both got our greatest desires.

This is a pic of Will celebrating the 4th of July with my nephews by sitting in a helicopter.

Will preforming the Hungarian Dance by Brahms at my 93-year-old grandpa's Fathers Day celebration.


This is our crib we've set up two and a half months early.  We are soooo excited to be parents!  I have to keep telling Will it's too early to put the car seat in ;)

And of course a picture of Will and I on one of our many adventures.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Vacation with Summer

I've been kind of remiss in writing these days. I say that because I don't want you to think that nothing has been going on in my life. Only that I haven't, I guess, spent the time to write it down. A lot is going on, especially now that it is time, once again, to start getting residency applications done. Anyway, I am doing stuff. I'm just not always writing it down.

I think in the last posting something was mentioned about me telling about the Clarke family vacation that we took in Bear Lake last month. It's the Clarke family vacation because as you may or may not know I married a Clarke. Of course all this is off the topic. The point being is that we went to Bear Lake, and Park City and had a wonderful time.

Summer's sister Cami married a guy whose family owns a cabin up at Bear Lake. Its a pretty nice cabin close to the water with a fun backyard that includes a tower and a fire pit. Up there one of the fun things we did was have competition somewhat like the olympics which the kids participated in and we, the adults, cheered. We also had fun in the water including playing Ultimate Frisbee although that was pretty short lived.

On our last day in the Bear Lake area we went to a cave. It was pretty neat to see the stalactites and -mites. It was also nice because we didn't have to hike to it. The entrance was only a hundred or so feet from the parking l0t.

The second part of our vacation was spent in Park City. There we had a nice dinner at a local restaurant. We also got to swim in the pool that was at the place we stayed. And we played a rousing game of croquet in the grass below the patio.

All in all, it was a good time. I hope you all get to go on fun vacations as well this summer.