Yesterday Amber had her first official Physical Therapy appointment since being in the hospital. Our new physical therapist’s name is Elyce. As soon as we walked into her therapy room, Amber got excited because there, hanging in the middle of the room, was a swing! So while I caught Elyce up on Amber’s sudden life changing situation, Amber got to swing. Afterwards, Elyce had Amber on the floor rolling to get from point A to point B, which she did but it only lasted the one time because Amber’s G-Tube button was sore. Next Elyce had Amber pulling herself up to tall kneeling and then walking on her knees. Amber fell a couple times (on a mat) but got right back up and tried again. We ended up going over our session time with Elyce which I felt bad about but also, on the other hand, selfishly, I was glad it did because it was satisfying seeing Amber working so hard with a professional (in other words, not me trying to figure out what to do!). And as an added bonus, at the end of the session, Elyce allowed us to borrow a square roller scooter to take home and practice for the week (which all of us have been thoroughly enjoying!).

Just as soon as we got home and I dropped Amber with her grandparents, I ran down to the school to help with decorating for the eighth grader’s class night. Then I ran back home to grab Amber for radiation. After radiation it was back home where both of the littlest ones went down for naps and I had just enough time do a couple things before getting Marie off the bus. Shortly after that I ran to pick Brianna up from choir, helped her with her homework, got the littlest ones up from naps and made sure Marie was ready for Class Night, where she and her classmates were going to host the eighth graders. My plan was to essentially just drop off Marie, only stopping briefly to say “Hi” and then get the rest of the kids home for dinner than bed. However, I was informed that I may want to hang around for the beginning part of the ceremony — which I am so glad we did! Little did I know that after prayers and introductions, the eighth grade class got up and announced that this years year book was dedicated to Amber! What a thoughtful and sweet gesture by the eighth grade class! Our school, like Amber, may be small but man oh man, in the same vein, like Amber, boy is it MIGHTY! A BIG Thank you to the eighth grade graduation class for the honor of dedicating your 2018 year book to Amber — that touched us immensely, and personally made my very long crazy day, much more special and worthwhile!