Our Man of Steel

What a thrill to see the new Man of Steel

movie with THE real Man of Steel!!!!

Troy was out of town so it was

the five of us who went to see it about

a week after it came out. 

Trav went to the midnight showing 

with a friend the night before it premiered (:

But he obliged us and went again!  

 I have to brag on these three.

It takes some effort to take Travis anywhere.

He's amazing and does SO incredibly well

walking...but his injuries only allow so much.

His balance is so affected and walking is not

easy for him by any means.  My kids "get"

it and they are soooo good to him and me

as I help him.  It truly makes me SO proud. 

I hope they always have a deep and profound

understanding for others and what others

are going through.  I think they will. 

Trav is such a joy to be around. 

He's fun and funny...and although he can't

talk, he gets his point/message across to you

even when his iPhone or iPad aren't handy.  

I pray for his healing and for the speed of his healing.

I pray for the day when he meets someone special.

He deserves the world and more for all

he has been through.  

Walker, like Travis, is a movie BUFF!!!

Hadlee...not so much!

Hudson slept through the first hour and a half

and Hadlee through the last hour!  ha!

The movie was AWESOME!!!

I'm not a movie person at all...

but this one was really, really good!

The new Superman in the movie is pretty cute, too;)

With four of my favorite people in the world... 

Picked up this stud one afternoon

and he had on his new Ray Bans

and the shirt Robin gave him for

his birthday.  I had to text her this pic:)

Nike should actually use THIS guy

as their model for this slogan. 

I am in shock/awe at what he has

to go through during speech therapy :(

The kids usually don't come to therapy

with us.  It's just too hard to wait in the

waiting room with three kids.  DUH!

But this particular day, they had to come.

I texted Lynna how "good" they were all being...

Of course two of them had

headphones in their ears...

And one was sound asleep!  ;)

Trav's Hillcrest therapy is going amazingly

well.  The two therapists who are working

together with him are truly like angels.

They continue to work very closely with

the expert in Florida.  She guides them

as to every step and what needs to be

done next.  It is grueling.

Basically he is gagged 150 times with a

lemon swab.  It's awful...and I can

hardly stand to watch.  He even bleeds

from it :( Plus then they put heat and

cold on his cheeks with this thing to

stimulate his muscles.  Grueling, I tell ya:(

 

BUT, here's the thing...when they

first started doing this technique on

Travis (it's called DPNS) ~ he didn't

gag AT ALL.  That's horrible.  When

somebody sticks something deep into

your throat, there should be a reaction.

He doesn't gag on all 150 swabs,

but he is making tremendous progress.

 

It blows my mind that we found these

two speech therapists...not in one of

the many, top-notch brain injury

facilities Travis has been in, but in

Waco, Texas, our hometown!!!
God is Good (:

Sweet, Precious Holly!!!!!  

Kristin, too!  May God bless them BOTH greatly!!!!!!

There is a teenage boy in our community

who was also in a car accident with his mom

last year.  His name is Tanner and his struggles

with his TBI are immense, too. 

Trav has on his Tanner shirt in this pic...

I pray fervently for Travis and Tanner

every single day.  The healing process

is so slow and so unknown. 

Tanner has a wonderful family.

It's been a blessing to get to know them. 

I struggle a lot with the WHY's of all of this

and the unfairness in this world.

I cry quite often and really have a hard

time keeping check on these feelings.

As I've said before, it's like I lead a double

life.  One with my little family of five...

nurturing and loving and having fun

with them and living such a great life.

ANd then, on the other hand, trying

to help Travis and Lynna and bring

joy to their lives and help them in any

possible way I can.  Of course I know

at any second, my life can change

and tragedy could strike my little

family of five, but I still just feel so guilty.

There is so much pain and heartache

and struggle in this world and it kills

my soul.  I look around at others who

are less fortunate or those who have to

struggle to do even the most simple

things or those facing cancer or people

who have lost a child or those

just feeling so alone...and I just can't

seem to grasp WHY?  Why this person

and not that person?  I can assure you in

my years before Trav's accident I had

done far worse than he had in his

naive 21 years of life.  Why not me?

I of course know that's not

how God works...but still...I have

trouble keeping my mind from going there.

 

Thankfully all of these thoughts lead

me to one thing:  Prayer. 

Deep, earnest prayer for others...