Our Rock

“The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.....There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you. And there is no Rock like our God." 1 Samuel 2

These verses are from Hannah's prayer. She prayed for her son and rejoiced in the Lord's strength. She stumbled, she was broken, she felt like there was no hope to have a son. But there was. She kept praying and hoping and God answered her prayer for a son.

I decide to let some time pass before posting so MG's progress would be more evident. She is beginning to use her walker more and Friday at PT she surprised me with walking a few wobbly steps to me all by herself. She's still hunched over and can't get her leg straight-but this is huge progress and we are so so grateful! It brought tears to my eyes to see her do this. MG has stumbled the last several months, been broken and we have felt like there was no hope at times. But somehow we have been given the strength to move forward and then get to rejoice when there are days like this. He has been our Rock throughout the last 6 months and continues to be.

We continue to pray for full recovery for her, for her hip to straighten out and strength for MG. She's so much happier these days, her pain is diminishing and starts school back this week for her.  I'm no longer hearing "mommy I hurt" all day long. 

MG will have surgery to expand her rods in her back in Philadelphia on September 22. I hate she has to have this done, but we have put it off and she needs her rods expanded. We pray she gains even more strength before this surgery and this isn't a huge setback. But it is another surgery and we pray God covers us like never before going into this one.
Hope you can see this little video of MG!

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Moving

This is Mary Graham on her little bike. She can scoot around the house and even took it to preschool today and used it. Her teacher said in recess they played with balloons in the fellowship hall and she scooted around and played. This makes me so happy to picture her playing like her friends and not sitting on the side watching.

PT has still been very rough, but we are seeing a little progress. She will make progress, and then regress the next day. Lee said it's like we start over every day with her. Her PT said to focus on getting her to move as much as possible. We are letting Daphne stretch her at PT (it was too much of a struggle for me to do it) and we are focusing on moving around more and getting stronger all over. So she is crawling around the house some and trying to get up and stand some in her walker. Her hip is still really really tight, and she still holds it up and it's hesitate to put weight on it. Please continue to pray that her hip muscles will stretch and strengthen to still avoid surgery to release the muscle. Would love to see great improvement over the next month.

This week, however, I feel like overall she's just happier and her pain level is somewhat better. She is wanting to move more and that is a huge step in the right direction. 

So, our prayers are being heard and I'm more hopeful than I have been in a while. I know that hope has come from God and as restless and impatient as I have been over the last few months I have more peace about her these days. And just resting more in His plan and timing.

I have attached a link of a talk I did this past week for a group of women at our church. I was asked to share Mary Graham's story. It was emotional, and I don't love public speaking,  but I was glad to share about all God has done. You can click on the link below and listen if you would like to hear it. 

http://www.covpres.com/showcase/jennifer-sheppard/

Thank you all again for the prayers!

Working hard

Mary Graham has been working really hard in PT the last few weeks. It's hard and painful for her and her hip is still extremely stiff. She does have more range of motion in her knee. And the picture shows her wearing her new brace to try and keep her leg straighter. She is suppose to sleep in it and wear it a couple hours a day-she doesn't love it and it's uncomfortable, but we are doing pretty good at getting her to wear it, with a little bribing involved :). She can stand for a few seconds in her walker, but not straight up yet, as she is still holding her leg up like a frog. 

She is definitely happier these days, loves to play and sleeping much better and mostly her pain is bad in the morning after she wakes up, but gets better as the day goes on usually. We are very thankful for these things.

We are going to continue on for another month or so with PT and hope her hip will loosen up, if not there are other ways (surgically) to help-we are praying that we don't have to go that route.

So, she's making some progress and seems to be a little stronger overall-it's just slow, which seems to be the theme of this recovery. Tonight in bed she asked me, "mommy, why did I have to have this hip surgery?" And I told her to help fix it. She then said, "no, why?" So, I explained more in detail that her hip was in the wrong place and the surgery was making it stronger. She's getting older and definitely asking wanting to understand more. She talks all the time about when she used to walk and when she's going to walk again-it just seems so far off at times. 

We ask you to pray for her hip to loosen and lengthen and for no more surgery to be necessary. Also, for her to continue to gain strength. Thank you for your faithfulness to pray!

Her storm

Who kept Noah safe from harm?

Who brought him safely through the storm?

Who kept his promise? Yes it's true

Who does just what he says he'll do?

Yes, God's the one. And guess what's true?

Little one, in the storm, God cares for you.

These are the words from one of my favorite songs on the Rain for Roots album for kids. This song has always reminded me of Mary Graham and I have prayed she would know God's promises and love through her disability, her pain, her "storm."

Last night we were able to here Sandra Mckraken and the singers of this album live in concert. Lucy and MG loved every minute (Loftin mostly talked to his friends:). But that pic is MG singing and snapping to this song. She was the happiest I've seen her in a long time. 

PT is going well, it's hard for her. She was teary at first. But she's starting to move more and overcome some fears of pain. She has lost a lot of muscle and strength all over, but slowly I see her regaining it. She's even talking more about when she will walk again and getting her drive back. Fear has been a huge hurtle for her to overcome after this surgery. Sleeping is still not very good. She cries off and on in pain at night. And the mornings are rough because now she's really working her muscles and she's hurting in the morning. We look forward to the day when she can really rest and sleep soundly. 

Praising God for moments like the picture above and baby steps towards walking again one day soon.

 

Little update

Mary Graham had a follow up with the orthopedist this week and he was concerned about her pain and stiffness 10 weeks out now from surgery. She has improved in small ways, but he wants to see her again in a couple weeks for an MRI or CT scan to make sure the hip and femur and in the right place. Mainly his concern is that she has not yet straightened out her leg or hip, it's still up in a frog position. But if she shows good progess these next few weeks this won't be necessary.

PT began this week and she is seeing Daphne, her same PT from school this year-so that's helpful. They took it slow (me and big kids left her since we know she'll do more without me there). It went well and we have some things to work on at home. And we went to the pool today and that's so good for her.

Sleeping is not good right now, she is completely out of her harness so moving in her sleep is painful. 

One improvement we have seen is being able to sit in her booster seat again at the dinner table, she was so proud of this. 

And she went to vbs this week and spent time singing and making crafts and hanging out with her friends-she loved it, it was exhausting for her, but so good for her little spirits.

So, prayers for progress, less pain and sleep. Grateful for your prayers!

Healing

Healing is something that takes time. It's slow. It takes patience. It's something you can't see, you almost have to look back to realize it is happening. 

Slowly Mary Graham is making progress. The pain is still there, she is still stiff and hurts to be moved. But she's getting better.

The beach was so good. It was hard at first, the car rides were painful for her, even putting on her bathing suit was painful. But gradually each day got better. Her nights are better too. We left her harness off much of the day. She hurt off and on, but we just kept going (with a little oxycodone to help) and took her to the beach, she sat in a little pink chair and played in the sand, we carried her in the ocean and helped her kick her legs the pool. There were lots of tears at first, I believe much of which was fear. But the best part was that we saw her little spirit begin to return. She laughed more and wanted to move more and realized for herself that she wanted to do what everyone else was doing. One of her best friends happened to be there and MG watched her run and jump and I think that willed her to want to do more.

And now that we are home, her little will and spirit is even brighter. I had almost forgotten how this was taking such a toll on her mentally even as much as physically. I know the physical rehab is still going to be tough, she starts PT next week. But we are so thankful that her smiles and laughter that have returned. Praise God for hope in the midst of all of this. Thank you for being so faithful to pray. 

She is healing and I can see it now. 

Sustained

Mary Graham slept better last night-we gave her oxycodone and was up until almost midnight, but then she tried sleeping in her bean bag in her room and she slept until 5:30, and so did we! Lee told me he took 2 Tylenol PMs around 10:30 last night just so he could sleep better (he's in a bit of a fog today ;) but that sleep made us all feel much better today. 

Anyway, thank you for praying....we are feeling sustained. At times it is so consuming right now and I don't like feeling so needy at times, it seems somewhat self absorbed and I know we are just anxious for things to return to normal. But I get to see God's love and mercy through his people. You all are lifting us up and it's humbling when I know you have full plates also.

God is providing and we have much to be thankful for. Her days are getting a little better and we are planning to head to beach tomorrow for several days. Not sure how this will go, riding in the car that long, but at least we get a change of scenery and hopefully she will try the pool. Although she says she doesn't want to put on her bathing suit because it will hurt her leg :( Praying we can make some progress there with her pain and stiffness and she will have fun and not be so fearful.

Thanks again for your prayers for our family!