Day 58, The Beat of Her Own Drum

Amber’s been asking to go to school to visit. Well, today was finally the day! It seemed like all of Amber’s friends were just as excited to see her as she was to see them! It was a beautiful moment in time for me to just step back and observe all the love.

We met with our new Occupational Therapist, Michelle. She seems promising and we are looking forward to having her work with Amber and hopefully continue the great progress that was already started with Caitlin.

At radiation therapy, Amber was in a bit of pain when they tried to put her mask on due to Amber’s healing stitches being tender and sore. However, not to worry, the ladies came to the rescue with an easy fix and all was right again. When we were walking out, Darlene and Shelly stopped in the hallway to show Amber a colorful link of papers with numbers on it. At the very bottom was a purple #29. The ladies created a countdown for Amber’s treatments! So every day Amber goes in for treatment, she gets to pull another link off. How creative!

Tonight was a very special night. Tonight was the girls’ Spring Concert. And as it turns out, Sister Patrick, principal of our school, dedicated it to Amber. I don’t think 58 days ago any of us thought Amber would be in the audience tonight enjoying her school’s concert, but she was. THAT is the healing power of prayer, of God’s love, and of course, pure determination from Amber. These past 58 days for me have been a reevaluation of myself and what’s important. So when hearing a few songs tonight that Brianna sang in particular — Amazing Grace, Somewhere Over The Rainbow and From A Distance — the words of these songs and the voices of these children struck a chord. The chord it struck was my baby girl sitting right next to me with her sleepy left hand nestled in mine. All I ever wanted in life was to be a mother and God has granted me this honor of being Amber’s mother one more day.

At the end of the concert, Amber was presented with a big card, maracas, and a beautiful Djembe drum from some of the Academy of the Holy Family students as well as Alice, their Spanish teacher. Now those instruments will help progress Amber’s sleepy left arm, hand and fingers! Thank you! Amber can now literally march to the beat of her own drum; which makes sense since this is Amber’s Way.