Update 11/23/09

My dear friends,

It won't be a traditional Thanksgiving, but it will be full of true thanks.

Thank you Amazing God first of all for my great salvation. I never deserved it, but you loved me anyway, and continue to love me, recklessly, relentlessly. Thank you for the spared lives of Stephen and Hannah. You put out your mighty hand before the enemy of my soul and said "this far, and no farther". Though I don't understand it all, I know somehow the mix of free will and Your will work together for good for us. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for Your people, the church, acting like the church, being weaved into this whole tapestry, which we see the back side of but you see the front. Thank you for keeping my feet on the pilgrim road. I would never be able to keep them there myself. All my wanderings have been foolhardy, but You have been gracious. "And should I stumble again, I'm caught in your grace..." I have more gratitude than I can express. As it was for the pilgrims, suffering has brought thanksgiving.

Hannah is HOME! She is in a phase of TBI (traumatic brain injury) where she is hyper and has trouble coming down. She talks a lot. Keep praying God will restore her to her full and complete precious self. He will, he will. The dear little thing had 2 teeth pulled today by the Gentle Dr. Taranto. Next week she will get a mold done for some kind of temporary teeth and a plan will be made for something more permanent. She will have many doctor appointments and will start outpatient therapy at Sunnyview 2 days a week. All the experts want to ease her back into "real life", whatever that is. She is raring to go, but we have to tread lightly. Brain injured people can get overwhelmed. She needs time. I will be asking friends to come and see her often here at home for a little while since she probably won't reenter school until after the Christmas break. She will have a tutor in addition to the therapies, and soon will attend Gen Church again. My heart is broken that she has to miss so much school. But this I can do, this I can do.

Believe it or not, Stephen is slated to go to Sunnyview, possibly as early as Friday (the day after tomorrow). He can weight bear on his left leg now since Dr. Bagchi shored him up with a great deal of titanium. His left arm is about the only thing standing on that broken frame. How in the world they can work with a left arm and a left leg is beyond me. I'm so glad there are smart people in the world. His eye is still drooping a bit, and he still has some double vision. I suspect it is pain killer related, but I never attended medical school. In fact, the medical school students at NYU thought the film school students were a big joke. But that's another story...

I'm off to the couch to watch Ratatouille with my babies. I'll never make it all the way through, so I've got to do the Steve chores first. Ouch, that makes me so sad. I'm a blessed woman to have him as my own. Joseph will do the trash for me, David has already set up the video for his sister, and we are a family with a missing piece, but a family none the less.

Thank you to all of you who are providing a Thanksgiving meal for our family. And to those folks who have donated money to help us, how can I ever thank you? I praise God for your sacrifice to help us. May he pay it back to you a thousand times over.

I love you all dearly, I mean it, and rejoice to be so honored to have you as travelers on the Mayflower with me. The quarters are cramped right now, but oh the land that awaits us....

Happy Thanksgiving on the pilgrim road,

Loriann