May 8

Wow! Do we have great friends and a wonderful community or what?  We are so thrilled with all the support we received at the auction on Friday night.  By pizza estimate (how much was eaten) it was figured that there were around 300 people there.  It was a successful auction and will really, really help towards covering her bills. We all feel so loved and supported. MANY, many thanks to Les and Kristen for heading it all up, and to the many people who also donated their time and talents toward serving our family.  We also want to thank all of those who donated items to the auction or who have given Lizzy such wonderful gifts. She truly feels loved. We are, as they say in the West, much obliged to you all. We truly feel very blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives who are so willing to help.

As for Lizzy, besides feeling like she is the most popular kid around, she has also had a good week in rehab therapy. She started out on Monday by being able to leave her cane behind when she was inside our room. The next day, she talked her therapist into letting her have the run of the whole Ronald McDonald House and then, the next day after that, pointed out that she could walk safely anywhere inside a building. He was good about it, but put his foot down when she tried (and she did) to talk him into forgetting the cane when she wanted to go outside. Friday brought another therapy victory. She was able to take off her shoulder brace and just have it taped up instead. She looks kind of interesting with black tape in strange patterns on her right shoulder, arm, and down her fingers, but we tell her she is just a trend setter. She is grateful they replaced the neon blue tape they had used earlier in the week on her hand with the black because I kept calling her a smurf - the tape was exactly the shade of a smurf. The problem was, Lizzy didn't know what a smurf was! Luckily one of her therapists and I were able to convince her that smurfs were cute. I think she believes us.

Lizzy has really enjoyed being home and being able to be with her friends for even a short time. She had a great time at the auction on Friday and insisted that she did not want to sit by us, and sat by her friends instead. She is also enjoying the new freedom of walking around without Mom or Day by her side. We are grateful to two of her church friends, Miriam and Gabba, for being her "body guards" the last few days.

We are looking forward to another great week - it will be a short on therapy as Lizzy insisted that she be allowed to come back for the Horace Mann graduation and awards ceremony. We are also going to take Lizzy up to the zoo in Omaha this week since we were planning to go there over spring break and ended up in the hospital instead. I think she is excited about getting to have wheel chair races with her grandparents around the zoo.  It ought to be an interesting week. . . . thanks again, everyone!