2 of being 1

Tomorrow my sweet husband and I celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary! Its hard to believe that 2 years have already passed and yet we are still learning new things about each other. What a joy it has been to spend the last 730 days with my best friend. The Lord has blessed me with the sweetest, God-fearing, honorable man... in my wildest dreams as a little girl, I never thought marriage would be as wonderful as it has been. I am blessed to serve and love a man that honors, loves, cherishes, praises, and spoils me everyday. Thanks baby for a wonderful 2 years.

I love you with all of my heart.

May 30, 2008

May 30, 2009

What an honor to love you Matt Hunter. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for our lives!

a special thanks

hello world! my first real day out of the apartment today was fabulous and very much needed!! after a very uplifting doctor's appointment, my sweet hubby took me to hobby lobby to pick up a few projects for when I'm cooped up in the apartment (still not daring to do the 3 flights of stairs alone!!), out to a lovely dinner, and then to get some yummy dessert at Mimi's Cafe with the wonderful Bergerons!! What a great day :)

The first thanks goes out to my wonderful Matt... he has been so sweet, so gentle and so great through this whole thing. He has brought me meals, helped me walk, made me smile and even listen to me cry (a lot) because I was "seriously emotionally drained" as he likes to say. He has been the BEST! Thanks baby for taking such good care of me.

Second, to my awesome mom who came all the way to Texas just to sit in a one bedroom apartment with a daughter that did not leave the couch! I couldn't have made it my first week without her here... she was so wonderful to clean our apartment, wash my hair and help me shave my "good" leg, do laundry, run errands, chat with me to distract me from pain and going crazy, and just be the wonderful mom that she is! Thanks mom for coming... I miss you so much already.

Third, all the church members who have made us meals, came to visit, brought flowers or just came to sit with me while Matt was working and mom wasn't here yet! It has been so great to feel so loved and cared for by the church family. I don't know what we would do without y'all!! Thank you :)

There is a lot that goes into recovery... I am learning and so being stretched!

Goals

1. Gradually putting more weight on my leg and being able to move away from crutches.

2. Trusting more in the Lord and less on myself and others during this time of healing.

3. Being more intentional with my time "stuck" at home.

4. Try really hard in all my PT exercises (in the PT office and at home)... it is so hard and a very slow process.

5. Getting 6-8 hours on the machine each day.

Victories

1. Reaching 70 degrees on the machine!!

2. A new, bendable brace and no more stitches!

3. Taking my first shower :) ... this is kind of a goal too - really, really hard and scary to stand in there!

4. Getting off the couch and out of the apartment more!

5. Getting to sleep back in our bed with my husband! wohoo!!

Thank you for your prayers! Praise the Lord for the big and little victories in our lives!

update :)

"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek in you" Ps. 9:10

This was my meditation and prayer all day long on Thursday, and just as He promised, He never left my side. I was surprised to have the surgery go so well and not be as terribly awful as I was expecting. I first got to the surgery center and put on this lovely gown and "party hat." Next, I was hooked up to some monitors and then the IV was started. I was really nervous about the IV, but it was not bad at all! I talked with some nurses, my anesthesiologist and matt while I waited for surgery. I felt truly blessed to have both a Christian doctor and anesthesiologist.... even more blessed to find that after the anesthesiologist had given me my anesthesia, he prayed over me with Matt and also quoted scripture to me to comfort me. The whole time I was thanking him after he said, "Well, you know where the real credit is due." and would not take any credit, only giving it all to Jesus! PTL! What a blessing and answer to prayer! I apparently told him, while being partially out, that I was meditating on scripture too and told him all of Ps. 9:10... I was very impressed with myself because I don't remember a thing!! ha. But, like he later told me, God gives us all we need for the moment and in that moment I needed to know that verse (even if I didn't know I was saying it at the time!).

The surgery was about 2 hours long and the doctor came to get Matt. He said everything went perfectly! Once he got in there he saw that my meniscus didn't even need to be touched and that my ACL was only 80% torn!! This was awesome to hear, because before he was thinking that the ACL was totally torn in two and the meniscus would need to be taken out completely (something about it not being able to get blood circulation once damaged). The Lord was doing his mighty healing on my knee just like we prayed! All in all, a great first time surgery experience! ... although, I don't plan on going through this again anytime soon!

I have been at home since Thursday evening and I am feeling great. A little sore on my knee now that my femur nerve block (numbing of total left leg) has worn off, but feeling great still. My leg is in a machine for 8 hours per day that bends it a certain amount of degrees each day. I am still only at 35 degrees, but have to get to 90! Pray that it doesn't get too painful!!

Matt is doing a great job of taking care of me and waiting on me hand and foot! He is so good to me!! Thanks baby! Mom comes tomorrow night. This will be a good break for Matt so he can get some rest! It seems I am quite the patient ;)

Thanks again for all your prayers and keep'em coming!

healing

Remember this??

well...starting Thursday, I will be spending most of my time here

this lovely momma is coming into town to help me (Yipee!!!)

with the help of this wonderful hubby of mine

Please pray for the doctors hands to be guided by the one, true physician and mighty healer our Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for my nerves and fears to be calmed and that all will go well in recovery. I know that my Jesus is in control of me, my ACL, my meniscus, and ultimately my entire healing. Our prayer is that my knee has been healed since the MRI and that they will only need to clean up my knee and not repair anything! Thank you all you prayer warriors out there!

Thank you Jesus for being my Healer.

dumpster diving

we found this in our apartment's dumpster...

and made this :)

it reads: "CHOOSE for yourselves this day WHOM you will SERVE... but as for me and my house, we will SERVE the LORD"

(a special thanks to tim bergeron for helping matt hang it!)

goodbyes

tonight we say a sad goodbye to our sweet, sweet friend Peter... he is off to a summer in the beautiful Colorado. He will be greatly missed by us and many others

... but, luckily we wont have to wait too long to see him again. Just 3 short months and he will be back in the great state of Texas!! wohoo!! :)