Good morning Forrest! As one of your faithful bloggers reminded us recently, today is the first day of the rest of our lives. It may not be the life we had planned, but with hard work & help from a lot of incredible friends, it is going to be a wonderful life. Let me show you some of your hard work. I'll let your friends tell you their story later.
With love & gratitude for this beautiful day,
Mum & Team Forrest
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| You are learning to use a computer designed for Augmentative or Alternative Communication (ACC) so that you will be able to communicate until you regain your voice. | |
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| We work together on to regain control of your hands so that you will soon be able talk to us through the AAC. |
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| With help you work on sitting & balance. |
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| The hard work pays off & You sit up on your own! |
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| For hours & hours you work with your speech therapist to practice swallowing and regain your voice. We can't wait to get you back on "real" food & to hear your voice again! |
Looks like some real progress. Keep it up Forrest! We're all rooting for you!
ReplyDelete- Jonny C.
Dear Forrest,
ReplyDeleteJane, Rebekah and I struggled through Stream Monitoring without you and your Mum yesterday. It was a beautiful day, the stream was moderately fast as we have had a good bit of rain,not too hot, not too cold, there were LOTS of bugs, not much out of the ordinary, except we had a hellgrammite with a leach stuck on its eye... kinda weird... Rebekah let the kneeling pad fly in to the creek (said it wasn't her fault)... luckily it got caught in a fairly large ripple(she said it was a small waterfall)so we were able to retrieve it ...but, we sure did miss your leadership and it certainly took us a lot longer to sort and count without our experts with us! We are looking forward to our next count when you can lead us through our charge! I'll send some pictures to your Mum to show you.
Hugs, Viki Plowman
Oh, the great progress you're making!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing WONDERFUL, Forrest. I'm so sorry it takes so much effort on your part to accomplish these things, but you have such determination that we all know that you WILL CONQUER THEM! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteLove You!
Joyce and Wilbur
Forrest!! It's almost impossible to tell you how proud I am of you. You truly, are leading the pack of grandchildren for AWESOME!! The rest of the pack following close behind. You have some wonderful cousins and a brother. They are all following your wonderful, hardfought progress. As your grandma, I fall so far behind keeping up with you. ~~~~~~~~~
ReplyDeleteFor my Mother's Day I called a couple of friends and am taking them to a wonderful Mother's Day Brunch at 11am, immediately after church. That will be nice as the have no family here. Meanwhile I'm waiting for the mail to arrice because I'm looking for that
hot pink envelope I saw a picture of a Special grandson dropping in the mail.If it's in the mail today do I wait until Sunday or open it when it comes?? I don't know how you managed that but I have a real good idea.
The most Special, Awesome, Wonderful MOTHER this year is; I'll bet sitting right beside you
reading your blog comments to you. She has truly won 'Mother of The Year'!! this time.
I'm heading out for a short walk to soak up some of this great sunshine, just like you are having there. Until next time: Hugs and Kisses & I love you. Grandmom Allen
Wow! Keep up the great work! I'm sure its a bit frustrating sometimes, but if you just look back a week or two, your progress is awesome!
ReplyDeleteYou know, there are great apps for the IPAD for aug communication, too (Caroline bought herself one under that guise, but there seems to be a lot of other fun stuff going on on there). I am sure your bro can discover them with you.
Hope you are listening to a lot of classical music, too- supposed to get those neurons firing!
Its a lovely, breezy day in Virginia and we look forward to having you all back.
The Elgins of Mountain Hollow Farm
Carina, Caroline and Sajen
Dear Forrest,
ReplyDeleteAs we wait for our Shannon's new baby girl to be born any day now, we are reminded that, in matters of life, growth, and healing, we must be patient. It's so easy to get excited and to want things NOW but we can't (and probably shouldn't try) to rush our bodies. The human body and mind are amazing and their natural states are healthy and whole. We need to provide the right conditions for our bodies and minds to be healthy and whole and you have a whole team of dedicated people who love you to help ensure all the right external conditions. Within you are all the right internal conditions for complete healing, too. We just have to be patient and allow the wonders of the passage of time to quietly do its part, too.
Just think of the subtle changes that take place over time in the woods by your house. I know you have spent many wonderful hours exploring and playing in those woods so you know them intimately. You know that you cannot always see the changes that are occuring inside the trees or under the ground. But then, one bright day, some tiny green leaves appear on the bare branches of winter. No matter how much we might long for the full shady leaves of summer and to hear the breeze rustling those leaves, we cannot rush them. We have to be patient and, in their own time, the trees unfold their glorious canopies.
So it is with the processes of healing and birth. Your body and mind have been through multiple assults and we know that healing is continuously taking place, much of it on the microscopic and cellular level that we cannot see, within your wonderful young body. We must patiently allow this miraculous work to progress in its own time.
Knowing that Shannon's baby is quietly growing, even though we can't see her directly, and that she will be born when the time is right for her, gives us the opportunity to practice patience, too. Important things are happening inside of Shannon and inside of you, Forrest, and we honor the important role that the passage of time plays in the amazing processes of healing and birth.
We love you, Forrest, and look forward to gathering around a toasty fire in your family room, nibbling on pistacios, and sharing stories and many laughs once again, once you're back to full health. We'll have a beautiful new little girl toddling around to keep us all on our toes as we bask in the glow of family love.
Happy Mother's Day to you, Rae!
Love,
Diane and Jay
forrest i just wanted to say hello and that i am thinking of you! im going to be coming down through atlanta again soon and i want to see you again :) love and miss you
ReplyDeleteDear Forrest. I bet you just can't wait to throw your arms around the worlds best mom sitting next to you. She anxiously awaits your every smile and touch and I can tell she feels so incredibly lucky to be by your side in this journey. Looking forward to my own hug from my favorite manny!
ReplyDeleteHappy mothers day Rae. Luv you Forrest.
Michelle, Caden and chase.
Forrest,
ReplyDeleteI love the picture of you and your Mom, you are so blessed to have her beside you everyday.
As you know bec. of our believe we do not celebrate mother's day today, because we believe tocelebrate our mothers EVERYDAY not only on May the 8th, that is what i see about your mom that she should be celebrated everyday, everyday and every moment she is with you and every time she looks at you bec she is an incredible Mom to have, along with your Dad and Big brother Austin. I got to give him a big hug yesterday for the picture, i hope he can share that hug for you from me.
Love you Forr,
Hazel, James and Rebekah