The Jo Bros

McKenna got tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert for her birthday so Dustin and I took her and her friend Alex to the concert on Saturday night. It was NOT disappointing! Wow, they definitely have an extraordinary budget with pyrotechnics, a moving stage, an orchestra, and amazing lights. The girls had a blast and we enjoyed watching the girls have a blast. There were a couple of things that stood out to me about the concert. The first thing is that it was such an overwhelming feeling to have the privilege of taking Mac to the concert. If the outcome of the accident had been different we would have had four unused tickets sitting on the desk at home. The second thing is that amidst all the lights, action, screaming girls, and entertainment, Mckenna urgently pulled on my pants leg and with wide eyes and excitement yelled at me and said, "Mom, look at how beautiful the sunset is!" I love it that among all the man made distractions that I have a kid that can still appreciate God's creation.
On the medical side of things, McKenna had a visit with the ENT and voice clinic at Children's last Thursday. Unknown to me, it was an appointment to examine her vocal cords, which means getting scoped. I guess the lead time to the visit probably went smoother, but the actual scope procedure was scary for her and filled with screaming. I can't say that I blame her. The good news is that the doctor said that her actual vocal cords looked good with "waves" in both sides. The muscles above the cords are still showing some left-sided weakness. The doctor told her that she is going to have to go to voice clinic to learn how to yell at her brother properly!
We're gearing up for school and practicing math. We have a meeting with the Traumatic Brain Injury Trust Fund Wednesday and after that we will be able to have a meeting with the special needs director and her teacher at Dayspring to make a plan for her. I'm looking forward to school starting and perhaps having some sort of "normalcy" and working on re bonding with Alia who has lost out on so much this Summer. Also planning a little weekend get away for the first weekend in August-nothing major, just a hotel and some swimming and maybe a train ride or something fun and out of the ordinary.

One Thousand Paper Cranes

Yesterday my aunt Lynda, cousin Sandi and her baby Peyton came to my mom and dad's for a visit. Lynda brought a special gift with a story for McKenna from her niece, Reagan. The story is that there was a girl from Japan named Sadako who was 2 years old when the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. She grew to 11 yrs. old before she came down with Leukemia from the bomb. There is a Japanese legend that says that if anyone folds one thousand paper cranes that a wish would be granted. Sadako finished a thousand cranes before she passed away. The point is that she never gave up and that people were inspired by her courage and strength.
So, now that you know the story, the gift was a large plastic container filled with a thousand paper cranes. The cranes were made by different people who have given a good wish with each crane. They are all threaded together and we're looking forward to hanging it up in her room to remember all the good wishes that have been made.

Another awesome thing that happened today is that last week Christ Community Church called and said that since McKenna missed VBS they were wondering if they could bring VBS to her in a format that she could tolerate! So today Tony, Becky, and Tammi came over to the house and did a mini power lab for the kids! It was so great. The kids got to walk on "water", make slime, sing songs of worship, have a Bible story, and make orange soda floats with ice cream. They had such a great time. Dustin and I have been so impressed with the level of care we have received from the church. Everything from making meals for my parents, meals to our house, visits to the hospital, phone calls, letters of encouragement, financial donations, and now they are even caring for the kids to ensure that they didn't miss something great like VBS this Summer. What a great display of true Christian love. Way to go guys! We're overwhelmed with gratitude!

Fun Day

Today we had a good visit with Robbie. He came up from Denver at about 2pm and stayed until about 8pm. The kids enjoyed seeing Robbie and hung on him most of the day. I think Robbie will sleep well tonight. He seems to enjoy the other kids as well and always does a great job with them. He will be going to Utah State in a few weeks so we hope to see him again before he goes.

Christy is now going to physical therapy and felt really good the day after. This is wonderful because she had been in so much pain.

The Past

I took McKenna to get the mail with me down the street today and we saw a red helicopter. McKenna mentioned that it looked like it was going to the hospital. I asked her if she wanted to go see the helicopter that took her to Children's Hospital, she said, "no". I then asked her if she wanted to leave the past behind her and she said, "yes". She also does not want to see the pictures of the accident. I guess the past serves to remind us that God is faithful and fierce, powerful and peaceful, holy and honorable. The past also serves to give us courage for the day and hope for tomorrow.

New Beginning

It seems fitting that we would start a new blog on McKenna's 9th birthday (July 1). Kind of a celebration of the life we have been given. Our lives could have been so different. I could be sitting here typing with no one left in the house but me. But that is not the case. My family is alive and doing very well, and for that we have God and many people to thank. Seeing Christy and McKenna having fun and enjoying the party was a great joy for me. Our family is different, but somehow complete. We hope to use this blog to share our lives with those of you who are interested in following along and, as of late, the Morris life is not so boring.