TRAVIS ~ Therapy, Trash, Trouble, TOTALLY Amazing

Travis at Hillcrest Physical Therapy...

Wouldn't you know everyone fell

head over heels for him there?!?

Nothing like the STORM going

to therapy with you!!!

My four Superheroes!!!

Hudson playing with the trash

cans at the nursing home!!!!!!!

The laughter that Janitor Hudson

brings to Travis is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!

Travis and feelings about this entire

situation are NEVER far from my mind. 

Tears hit me off and on pretty much

every single day.  Sometimes only once

a day...and other times I can't keep the

tears from falling all day long. 
Anytime I have tears in my eyes,

Walker or Hadlee will ask me why

I'm crying over Travis.  :(

They have been so accepting of his

situation ~ it AMAZES me. 

But other than tears, I also have many

ahhhhhhhhh haaaaaaaa

moments with/about God and this

entire situation.  Sometimes these

moments bring me to my knees.

I just stand in awe at God

and His power and all the goodness

of His ways and His people. 

I.love.those.moments!

And I LOVE sharing about those

moments.  When I took this screen

 picture, apparently 101 other people

liked hearing about God's miraculous

 powers (ended up being over 101!).

Before Trav's accident, I wouldn't

have been so bold to post about

God quite like I do now. 

Such a shame it took this horrible

accident to make me want to

shout to the world about God

and His goodness. 

We love us some Chad Carr.

Still crazy how the whole Sr. Care

Nursing Home situation came about...

through Walker's friend's dad. 

God is always weaving together

good works...we just don't know it!

Unfortunately during our stay at Sr.

Care, Chad moved on to a new job.

Travis & Chad hit it off.

That was a huge perk at

Sr. Care!!!  We miss him.

He was good for Trav;)

So handsome.......

Standing there like the Superman he is

waiting for me to pull the car up!

Speaking of God's Goodness,

I think it's so cool to find angels on earth.

Kim is one of them.  Truly one of those

people who make ME want to be a

better person.  Kim is a part time PT

and she has just so taken to Travis. 

And she's one that doesn't just 'say'

she's going to do this or that,

she DOES it.  She makes it happen.

I have great intentions, but often

don't follow through with them.

Not Kim...she is a Godly woman

with the most compassionate, caring

heart.  Doing all that she does for

Travis...someone whom she just happened

to pass by his room and saw him

reading Jesus Calling and she struck

up a 'conversation' with him.

It's so cool to have angels

amongst us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHH!  Super Baby Brynn...

my new beautiful God Daughter wearing

the Super Girl outfit I sent her :)

A text or a post like this does my heart

so much good because I know it was

preceded by a thought or hopefully more

often a prayer for Travis!

Even Brynn's super cute cousin

way up in Connecticut,

Charlie, supports the Superman!

Love that Brookie texted me this..........

One night some friends from high school

took Travis to a concert!  It was his

very first time out with 'just' friends...

and not one of us!  :)  I was SO happy

for him and he had a great time.

God bless his heart...he misses

his freedom and his friends

and his life.  I happened upon

something this sweet girl wrote to

Travis about how he was one of the

few people that was nice to her

when she started school at Midway. 

In her message she wrote him that she

could not understand why something

like this could happen to someone

so nice.  I've finally come to

accept that one day I will know why.

Little Love snoozing in Trav's room

at Sr. Care....such a trooper!!!

Still can't believe I ever wished that

Travis had been a girl for those few minutes

right after he was born!!! 

It certainly didn't take long for him to

steal my heart and for me to KNOW

that I must have more little boys ...

like the cutie pie in my arms :)

Again, sometimes I'm just taken aback...

by sadness or by awe.

This was one of those times when I look

over from my kitchen and I'm just

so thankful that Travis is sitting in my

living room texting. 

And even MORE so...

outside STANDING beside me!

I was so jealous of Lynna (his own mother! ha!),

the first time they strapped Travis to a

board and stood him up and she got

to hug him like that.  I couldn't wait

to do the same!!!!!!!!

Look at us now:)

Sweet smiles, Sweet spirits......

Let's be honest here...it's not always

sweet smiles and sweet spirits for Travis

(or ANY of us no matter our situation). 

His days are LONG and HARD and DIFFICULT.

Most people would choose to not have

his life.  It's just the truth.  Being a good lookin'

23 year old guy with more personality

imaginable but having to have your mom

or your aunt or a nurse help you

button your pants among MANY other things...

NOT cool and NOT easy.

People sometimes go on and on to him

about the miracle of his life being saved

and how awesome that is...and it's

the TRUTH.  But ya know what?!?

Heaven just might sometimes feel like

a better option to Travis than being

trapped in his own body.  Yes, there's

a reason for all this and I have faith

that Travis is going to find that

reason and act fully upon it...

but until then, his days can be down

right frustrating and sad.

And sometimes he doesn't mind

sharing about it........

La Tante has to chime in herself sometimes

with a response......

I pray every single day for Travis

to "give into and believe" his purpose!

This particular afternoon I told this

handsome Superman to stand RIGHT there

and NOT move while I went to go get

the car.  When I drove back up, he

was on the other side of that wall!!!

Such.a.MESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Superman STRONG!!!

Showing Travis what lifting that wheel

chair had done to my arm muscles (ha!).

No more arm muscles for me though...

the walker is easy!!!!!!!!

Travis most definitely keeps us all

on our toes with his Facebook.

You never know what he is going

to say.  He's so witty!!!  I laughed

so hard one day when I read what

he commented to this guy...

we are SO grateful that Travis

didn't lose his sense of humor!:)

Dustin "D-Ro" & Travis

Best buds for a long time...............

Grandmother has to be the greatest.

Some days she will tell me that she is going

to go and sit with Travis for about an hour. 

Then I'll hear from her six hours

later, and she's still sitting with him.

God bless her heart!

Then she will tell me alllll about their time

together.  Meanwhile Trav will text Lynna

and tell her that he's having to deal with

her "mother"!  ha ha!  But he loves

it.  Just the other day, Grandmother was

sitting in the chair beside him reading

her book when all the sudden she

hears the robot voice from his iPad

say, "Thank you for coming

to see me, Grandmother."

An afterschool visit...

I adore these guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look who I caught praying ;)

Sometimes Travis is just down...

as any one would be in his situation.

The STORM and I and other family

members do whatever we can to

perk him up.  Today called for a silly

little photo shoot by .... Hudson!!!

Getting that million dollar smile

is not usually too terribly difficult,

even on his bad days.....

Being a part of the Storm is tiring!

One Saturday night we showed up

to see Trav and he and Tdawg had

on the same shirt!  They are so funny

together...always talking about

going toe to toe, who weighs what,

who is stronger, etc!!!

I love my two T's and I love

how they love each other!
I swear Troy loves and cares for

Travis like he has been his nephew

his whole entire life. 

 That makes me so proud of my man. 

Nothing makes me happier than when friends

or cousins (home for a visit from college)

come by to see Travis.  My group of friends

in high school had a friend who was in a

horrible car accident when we were

seniors.  She had many injuries...including

a TBI.  It was devastating.  Our hearts

broke for Shawna.  We spent hours at the

hospital, we drove back and forth to

Temple, we prayed our hearts out.

Shawna was never, ever the same.

Her life took a completely different turn:(

Looking back, our group of friends

faded from her life.  Her mother would

call and ask us to come and visit Shawna.

We graduated and all headed to different

colleges.  It makes me sick to think

that we would only come to see

Shawna during the Christmas holidays

and then even that faded away. 

I am ashamed of myself for this,

but I was a kid (it's still no excuse though).

  I just had no clue at the time.

I was able to put Shawna out of my

mind and go on with my life.

That's why I can't be angry at

Trav's friends.  They are kids...

embarking on the all different sorts of

journeys.  I just hate it for Travis

though.  Facebook is in one way

such a blessing for him to

communicate but then I also

know he is watching his friends

and their lives move forward with

school, marriages, experiences,

babies and more.  I can't imagine

the depth of what all Travis feels :(

Travis has continued to do horseback

riding therapy at Reach Therapeutic Center

on Saturdays.  At the end of June,

he was in their horse show

and did AWESOME!!!

Travis had never really ridden

horses before his accident,

but he certainly seems like a natural! 

He wrote HIMSELF about his horseback

riding on his own incredible blog...

http://www.supermansays.blogspot.com/

He reminds me of Christopher Reeve....

Two AMAZING Supermen! 

The people at Camp Hope

are so incredible...

I love that this has brought

Travis some joy to his life :)

Kim & Kaley...such amazing supporters!

Some members of the

Travis "Superman" Bigham Fan Club!

A TBI (traumatic brain injury) is just so

different from other types of injuries...

there are no clear cut answers, there are

often no surgeries to fix it, there is no

time line of recovery and I could go on and on.

It's not like when you are born this way OR

when you are fighting with all your might against

a disease in which you know you will

win or you will go to Heaven and it's not
like dealing with the elderly ~ when

they have lived a full life and now they

are suffering.  Don't get me WRONG...

NONE, absolutely NONE of these things

I am using as examples are EASY.

They are horrible, difficult, tiring, sad

journeys.  The only guarantee with a

TBI is unfortunately you will never

be the same...in some form or fashion,

you or your loved one will not

be the same.  It's an absolute

and it's a difficult pill to swallow to

say the least.  For the most part, each of

us in the family has accepted Travis ...

in fact, we love him more than ever. 

We gladly take on a Travis that is a little

different than he was plus he can't talk 

or eat or walk among other things as well.

We can accept ALL that.  

I have EMBRACED it as a matter of fact.

What is most difficult though is seeing 

him hurt, seeing him not want to be this way,

seeing him struggle to do everything,

seeing him so very lonely and longing 

for his friends who have pretty much all 

moved on.....watching him suffer is

truly the hardest part of ALL of this. 

Thank Goodness there IS hope though!!!

Travis OR better yet GOD

 is far from finished.....

and I think I can pretty much declare

that a FACT, too!!!!!!!!!!!

"Give thanks to Him who alone

does mighty miracles.

His faithful love endures forever."

Psalm 136:4