Day 299 (A Bowling Score I'll Never Get) (If I ever tried Golf, though . . .)

Hi there! Stephen here. I haven't filled in in ages, but it appears that your luck has finally run out. It's not like I have anything really important or unique to say, either - I could just tell that Loriann could use a break tonight before we sat down to watch something together, so here I am.

I don't have anything breathtaking to say because today was a pretty normal day. And here's the thing - do you know how good it feels to write that sentence? There were days in December and January when we felt we would never have a "normal" day again. And I'll admit that normal today doesn't mean the exact same thing as it would have last October. As Loriann and I theorized months ago, there's a "new normal" (my doctors and therapists also said that this would happen).

Today, though, Loriann and I had a rare morning where we could sleep in without setting the alarm, and didn't get up until nine o'clock or so. After breakfast we talked about different things that we want to get done in the house, both short term and long term, and then we went to Staples with Hannah and got some things to help us get more organized (we can always get more organized!) and to Target for some odds-and-ends. After that I made a trip to one of my favorite places (Delmar Full Gospel) to get my new Sunday School classroom ready for tomorrow, when I start teaching for the month. On the way home I got the car washed, stopped and picked up the snack for tomorrow's class, and came home and had some lunch. My wife and I had some fun working together to take down an old storm window to let some more of the breeze into our dining room. Later in the day I picked up David at his friend's house, finished planning my lesson for tomorrow (which I had started earlier) and had a delicious dinner that my wife made me. And now I'm writing to you.

Mundane things, but wonderful to experience! Last night we went to have dinner at the house of dear friends of ours and got to enjoy spending time with their just-over-a-year-old baby. All of these are things that, eight months ago, we weren't sure we'd ever be able to enjoy so freely again. Sometimes when you're in the middle of a crisis it's almost impossible to see past it, to see the life that you'll be living later on.

I'm writing this on Saturday evening. I haven't used the cane at all since sometime on Sunday evening last week, and I'm going to try to get through tomorrow without using it so that I can have done a whole week. Even a month ago I was thinking that there was a very good chance I'd be using it for the rest of my life - barring a miracle, my left leg will always be about 5/8th of an inch shorter than my right leg. I'm not saying I'll never use it again, either. I've left it in my car this week because I thought I might need it if I went for a walk at lunchtime. (Between the hot weather and my shortened days due to my occupation therapy and a doctor's appointment, I didn't take lunch this week, though.) It was only last month at Cape Cod that I went without it for a few hours at a time, and then one whole day. God's healing continues for us. Not just for myself, either - Hannah and I both went to see one of our doctors this past Tuesday and she's doing so well that he said that she was discharged from his care. (He made sure to let us know that he's happy to see her at any point in the future is she wants to see him.) I took my princess out for a frappuchino at Starbucks later to celebrate her "graduation".

Sorry that this post is so disjointed. I'm feeling happy, though. One of our neighbors had a beautiful day for their daughter's second birthday party. The sun was shining today but the humidity was finally down, my daughter is doing better, and I've been walking all week long without my cane. When I saw that doctor on Tuesday I told him about the Smith Family Thanks You Dessert Night, and also got to tell a therapist who's just started helping with my program at Sunnyview. Loriann and I are really hoping to see many people there who've helped us along this road. Some did it with their medical training, some did it as first responders, some did it by providing meals. Some people blessed us by sharing their money with us, many blessed us by sharing time and many many blessed us by praying for us. We know that many people are still praying for us, and we appreciate every prayer that's gone up for us. Again, if you can join us on October 23rd (a Saturday night) so that we have a chance to thank you in person, you'd be blessing us again. Please let us know if you're able to come by clicking on the link on the right and sending an e-mail. If you don't see the link, you can e-mail your RSVP to smittythanks@gmail.com.

Loriann should be back tomorrow night. Thanks for sticking with us as we approach the end of this part of the journey!