Anne continues to make slow and steady progress.

Let’s see… Physically, she is smiling on both sides of her mouth and stretching her left fingers out straight 4 or 5 times a day. Whenever she uses these “new” muscles, she gets really excited. “Look at my big smile, mommy!!!” “Look, look! Look at my hand!”  Can you imagine not feeling the left side of your mouth or not being able to stretch out the fingers in your left hand – and all of a sudden being able to do it??  To me, it’s more evidence that God is continuing to heal.

Anne has also made big jumps cognitively. More of her personality is emerging. A good, upbeat song will come on the radio and Anne will say, “Oh Yeah, baby!” Her sense of humor and ability to use words continues to improve. She seems overall, more content and happy – although she continues to struggle with insecurities over being different. For the most part, she is keeping up academically in school. She has a hard time writing, so she will probably qualify for adaptive technology for first grade (in other words, she’ll get to use a keyboard to complete her work.) She is also less irritable and has a bit more stamina – which makes our lives a little easier, especially in the evenings.

Anne’s seizures have drastically decreased in frequency, duration and intensity – but she is still having 1-2 very short, mild seizures a day. We’ll see the neurologist again in March to discuss our next plan of attack. But thankfully, the intense (horrible) seizures she was having over Christmas break stopped after we increased her current medication a smidgen. Thank you for your prayers!

She still struggles with her walking, although she has made progress – it’s just not fast progress :-) She walks well with her walker, but she cannot propel or steer the walker by herself, so she has a ways to go before she can walk independently… that’s my dream-goal for Anne – that she might be independent one day. We’ll just have to wait and see :-)

She still likes to mouth objects, but I think peer pressure is helping to curb that impulse. The other kindergartners just think it’s strange when she puts the wooden food in her mouth! This is just one example of why we are so grateful Anne is in a regular kindergarten class. There is so much value in positive behavior models for Anne!

Anne’s rehab doctor is still concerned about the tightness in Anne’s left foot. Her left foot is stuck pointed down and in. This is a direct result of the brain injury – her brain is unable to send the correct signals to the muscles to tell her foot to relax. He’s persuaded me to start her on a medication that reduces muscle spasticity. I’m praying it doesn’t affect her mood or stamina level.

Anne continues to be a source of great joy in our family. She has a unique ability to endear herself to others, so she brings joy to many people outside our family as well. This is a source of great encouragement to us! Our prayer is that God is glorified through this difficult circumstance, and when we see a glimpse of His glory in our lives, we are strengthened to persevere with gratitude!

Thank you so much for praying for our family for so long!!!

Gratefully, kathryn

I’ve been encouraged lately by little bits of progress that Anne is making. All of Anne’s little gains add up to one conclusion… Anne is still healing. I’m so thankful for God continuing to knit neurons together in Anne’s brain!!

Here’s a sampling of Anne’s “small” gains :-)

• Her smile is starting to include both sides of her mouth – not all the time, but we are seeing that left side of her smile more and more.
• She is tracking words from left to right more consistently in school.
• She can stand up out of her car seat all by herself – and scoot herself back into her car seat with verbal cues.
• She is learning how to stand from a sitting position by first pulling herself from sitting, to kneeling to standing. She uses her right hand to hold on to something for support and balance, and she’s real close to doing this by herself with only verbal cues.
• She is becoming just a little bit shy… (she was painfully shy before).
• She is also better behaved in school and is really trying to keep her name on “green” instead of on “yellow” or “red.”
• She has mastered her 50 sight words and is beginning to learn more.
• She is counting objects now. This might seem small, but she wasn’t even close to being able to do this last May. I’m very excited!
• She is ticklish. She hasn’t been in a long time. It’s fun to see her laugh :-)
• She can lift her left hand from her lap and place it on the table all by herself – without her right hand helping at all.
• She’s walking farther… 300 feet at school with a walker before she starts to tire.
• She can sit and listen to a whole picture book being read. She used to close the book after just a few pages.

Anne still has a long way to go, but we are so thankful for her continued progress! If you want to know how to pray more specifically for Anne, I update the top post on my blog on the 1st of every month with new prayer requests for Anne. And if you want to be notified by email each time I update the blog, just look on the right side for the “follow” button.

Thank you so much for your support of our family. We are so grateful!

Today marks the first time Anne did ALL of her business in the potty. She told us every time she needed to go, and kept her pull-up dry all day. Woo-Hoo!!!! I can’t tell you how wonderful this is :-)

Anne continues to bring us so much joy… constantly making us laugh. As we were putting her to bed tonight, Eric said, “Anne, you are such a joy.” Anne replied, “Daddy, my name’s not Joy.”

Thank you Jesus for all that you have done to heal Anne both physically and spiritually. We are SO grateful!