Ahhhhh, That's Why

 I don't know that there are more

profound and truthful lyrics than

"don't know what you got til

it's gone".  It's just too bad that most

of us have to learn that the hard way.  :(

Our lives are SOOOOO different now.

So very, totally and completely different.

Nothing has been quite right for my

entire family as a whole since

Travis was in his accident. 

When one of us hurts, we all hurt. 

Sometimes I try to imagine what life

would be like had this NOT happened. 

What all would we be doing in place

of all of this "new" norm?

Oh well, doesn't matter......

I'm thankful that we DO have a

new normal even if it's not quite

right.  It's way better than longing

for and missing our Travis which

was almost the case that fateful day

twenty months ago. 

Instead we EMBRACE the new..........

like Aunt Michelle and I fighting over our nephew!!!

AND me getting to pick Travis

up and take him with me to

get the kids at school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was such.an.amazing feeling

to have him RIDE with me again!!!!!!!!!!

I'll never forget it because as we were coming

up through the line one of the South Bosque

teachers that was directing the cross walk

looked at me and mouthed,

"Is that Superman?"

Then Mary G and others had to come

and see him, too.  He's famous like that!

Of course the kids were thrilled

when they saw him!

Then it was off to the MHS pick-up

line to get Hunter.  We pulled

up to Aunt Michelle just so I could

totally surprise her (and one up her! ha!)...
She was THRILLED!!!

Then of course a ride over to

Grandmother & PaPa's...

we found PaPa out in the back working!

Trav can never deny how much

his family loves him, that's for sure!  :)

All in all, a really really good day!

Such an AMAZING feeling to be able

to drive my boy around AND

for him to GET OUT even if it is

just to ride around! 

The very next day he was texting me

asking if we were "going to get the kids?"

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I try to go by Sr. Care everyday around noon...

sometimes with Hudson, sometimes not.
I get to SEE Travis every single day.
That is just so awesome!!!!!!

Two to three afternoons a week,

the FULL storm stops by after school.

We make the most of our time there!  ha!;)

Uncle Troy continues to do SO much for Travis.

He really, truly does love Travis like

he is and has been his very own nephew

his whole life.  It makes me so proud and so

thankful.  I can't say enough about how

much my husband does for others. 

As Trav would say, "going toe to toe!".....

Troy is AWESOME with Travis.

These "dawgs" love each other!  :)

Then there is my sister.
What can I say?
Everything about her life has changed.
She is 50 years old and her life
has taken quite the unexpected turn.
God love her heart...
she just does it. 
She just does it all for her boys. 

Gotta liven up even the walkway at Sr. Care:)

Lynna takes Travis to his therapies

on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I take him on Fridays and to any
random afternoon sessions.

We are hoping he can qualify for more

soon.  He needs it.

Here he is coming out of speech with his

therapist, Stephanie.  They have

all fallen in love with Travis

at Hillcrest Outpatient.  DUH!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful for my Friday "date"!

We go pick up the kids after therapy...

and this day, we all went to
Wal Mart afterwards:)

Travis gets to go horseback riding some

Saturdays at Outreach  This is Simon.

Horseback riding is AMAZING therapy for

Travis.  Doesn't he look

AWESOME?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Lynna especially loved this picture so much.

Travis looks so Travis standing there

next to Wen's truck. 

Travis has always been the

best looking thing.....

These people at Outreach are so

wonderful!!!  There is such
goodness in this world.

Travis and Lynna have also been going

to church with some of Trav's sweet friends

who invited him.  He loves getting to be with them

again.  The first day they went a lady walked over

to Lynna and told her that she had watched

her and Travis "walk" in (he uses his walker)

and she asked to pray for Lynna.  Her name

was Joice...as in rejoice:) God is good.

Then I realized that Walker's basketball coach

is a minister at that very church.  I told

him about my sister and nephew visiting there.

He immediately described Travis to me.

He had seen him come in the week before.
  Travis has such a presence about him.

And it's not just because he's a normal looking

guy having to use a walker or a wheel chair.

There is just something. 

It was present in his hospital room

at Hillcrest when he was deep in a coma.

God is using Travis in a mighty way.

Travis just doesn't truly realize it yet. 

This was a random Tuesday afternoon

when I was taking Travis to therapy.

Poor guy does not sleep much even

though he is given a sleeping aid. 

The brain is SUCH a crazy thing:(

and controls so much of our bodies.

I laughed because Travis AND Hudson

were both snoozing on our drive! ;)

It is still such a God thing how the

whole Sr. Care Nursing Home came to

be our best option.  It actually wasn't even

an option until I remembered my friend

being in the nursing home business.

Chad (Walker and Hadlee's little friends' dad)

has been AMAZING at Sr. Care.

He is SO good with Travis

and takes such great care of him

AND entertains not only Travis...

but all of us!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave it to Chad to do this pose...

whatever it means?!?

It is SO Travis and we did NOT

tell Chad to do it!!!!!!!!!!!

We are thankful for Chad...

he has been VERY beneficial in making

Trav's stay at a nursing home

much more tolerable. 

The STORM may be loud

and crazy at times,

but I have a feeling Sr. Care

will miss us all when Travis moves home!

Hanging out in 308 after school :)

How good lookin' are these two guys

who remind me SO much of one another!

The Baylor girls had brought Travis

this Theta shirt:) I was a Pi Phi

but I sure am digging the Thetas now!  ;)

The strides Travis is making are remarkable.  

The first day of his accident the

doctors told me his injuries

were like that of a 'shaken baby syndrome'...

meaning all over his brain. 

Another doctor pulled up his x-rays

and told his nurses that Trav's

brain was like mush. 

Recently Trav's new speech pathologist

in Temple said that his brain was

injured in spots all over it. 

She was amazed at how his intellect

was NOT damaged. 

Unfortunately he has a lot of cerebellum

damage in his brain making balance

a HUGE issue for him. 

But look at him STANDING...

with little assistance!  :)

Right here with only the wall

as his support!!!

When Travis was at CNS, Troy

left one afternoon and went and bought

him some weights.  Trav has always

had the best body...and he hasn't let

that go!  He lifts these weights

ALL.the.TIME!

I just had to get a picture of him doing

it.  Whether he is sitting up or

lying down, he is constantly

doing his weights!  Heavy ones, too!!!

Nurse Lisa is a treasure. 

She loves Travis and tells him all

the time that when he is truly famous

that he better give her a shout out! 

Mrs. Ross is our new friend.

When she sees us walk in,

I think she thinks we are there to see her.

She loves Hudson and he is SO

sweet with her.  I have a feeling

we will be visiting Mrs. Ross

long after Travis has left Sr. Care! 

I had the best time watching

Travis at Physical Therapy on the

Friday before Spring Break (March 9th).

Travis gives therapy 110%!

With a SMILE no doubt :)

Everyone smiles when

Travis is around!!!  :)

It's amazing how much this place

already loves Travis.  As soon as he

walks into the waiting room,

everyone behind the desk starts

saying hello to him and giving him

a hard time.  He eats it up!!!;)
Same goes with his therapists......

They had him on his knees

and DANCING!!!

I got it on video and hope to

post it on Trav's new blog soon.

It's priceless!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking of...please visit his
blog:  http://supermansays.blogspot.com

Everyone seems to come around

when Superman is there!  :)

We are so thankful for our

new therapists in Waco! 

Travis can be a real mess!  ;)

We have his TBI to deal with

(which makes him do and say  (or type) some

really CRAZY things), but also Trav's

own natural, fun-loving, rebellious nature.

But way more than ANY of that,

he is just sweet.  Always has been. 

I will never, EVER get over

this happening to him. :(

I am constantly praying to God

and pleading to God to help

Travis find purpose and contentment

in this new life of his. 

I have a VERY difficult time

imagining how in the world

he can live out the rest of his life like this. 

I love it when God gives me

little answers and encouragement.

I so often find it in the journal

my beautiful Beth sent me....

Jesus Calling.

I had actually taken this picture

to remind myself to make sure

that Travis had read this page

in his own Jesus Calling book from

my sweet Amy Christie.

I believe God must have written this

entry FOR Travis.  I couldn't believe

when I walked into Trav's room one

day when he was having a VERY difficult

time only to find Lynna reading

this very page to him.

I have since prayed and prayed

that this page would come alive to

Travis and that he truly could/would

find God's strength in the quiet

and stillness that unfortunately

he is so often surrounded by. 

I have to believe that God has been and IS

using Travis in a mighty, MIGHTY way. 

I recently heard the end of an interview on

K-Love about a man who had suffered

"horrific abuse" for much of his life.

I'm not sure what the abuse was as I missed

 the beginning of the interview. 

He was saying that he has always had

a list of questions that he knew he was

going to ask God as soon as he got to

Heaven.  Pretty much a list of "why's".

But now this man fully believes when

he walks into the gates of Heaven

that he won't need or want to ask

WHY? about anything...

instead he has full faith that he

will say, "AHHHHH, that's why"!!!

My family and I are blessed...there is

no doubt about that.  We have experienced a

real life miracle first hand.  There is no

questioning in that.  But that doesn't mean

that things have been easy.  Nobody really

has a clue what life is like for Travis

unless you are in our inner circle.

Of course most everyone knows he

can't talk, walk, eat.  "Duh" ;)

Those are the major issues.

There are SO many MANY other things

that he has to deal with and overcome

every.single.day.  The brain is just

crazy!  Travis doesn't have much

movement in one arm. He can't button

his own pants, put on his own belt,

get up to go switch out his DVD,

and just so many other things that you

don't think about until you are

experiencing this new life with him.

Then there's the whole TBI factor

of him actually believing that

he CAN do everything when in

reality he just can't. 

My heart breaks every

 single time I am with him. 

I try to never, ever let him see that.

Sometimes it's when I'm pushing him

in the wheel chair or I'm helping him to

move from his chair to the bed or

helping him with his clothes...

it's just a silent heart ache for him.

I know I speak for Lynna (believe

me...I watch her watch Travis and her

pain is only what a mother's could be :(,

my poor parents, Michelle, even Hunter).

It's gut-wrenching.  No matter what. 

Seeing this vibrant, strong-willed

hunk give everything he has to do

something when he just can't. 

My family and I can gladly accept

and love Travis just the way he is,

but Travis can't.  And hopefully

that's what is going to get him to keep

progressing and regaining his life back!  ;)

A couple of weeks ago, we were all just

down.  Travis was not able to sleep hardly

at all, he had fallen in the shower,

he was posting crazy things on

Facebook, taking all of his frustration and

anger out on his mother, and to top it off

I walk into his room one day to find that his

feeding tube had spilled out all over his

iPad (essentially his life).  The tears would

NOT stop rolling down my face.  I was

feeling a lot of anger towards God

and begging Him to show me a sign...

something to remind me of His Goodness. 

I'm all about God's goodness - I don't

know that I've ever actually doubted it...

but I needed a sign.  Well, guess what?

That evening I took dinner to a sweet

former hoodie Pam & her family because

they had just brought their new baby

girl home from the hospital.

As soon as I got there, Pammie

told me to go look in the cradle ~

there lay the most perfect, beautiful

little angel.  One of God's perfect

creations..............wearing the

Superman onsie I had given them. 

God gave me just the sign I needed that night.......

God is Good. 

"So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer

self is wasting away, our inner self is

being renewed day by day.  For this light

momentary affliction is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory beyond all

comparison, as we look not to the things

that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

For the things that are seen are transient,

but the things that are unseen are eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

To my Travis...

"I pray that the eyes of your heart

may be enlightened in order

 that you may know the hope to

 which he has called you..."

Ephesians 1:18