From Michelle. 15 August, 2010 9:30 p.m.
Dear friends and family,
Finally, I write from our new home, where the house is quiet with the dreams of my boys, and I am blissfully drinking in a rare moment of solitude. It is amazing how quickly the little ones have commandeered this space, filling it with the random paraphernalia of their young lives: toys, stained and sweaty clothes, wrappers, crafts and half begun projects soon forgotten. It is messy but lived in, and attests to the laughter (mostly), fighting (rare) and tears (few) that make up their lives. How quickly and willingly they adapt! We are thankful. A friend said that in Rwanda they say, “sempre Gumby,” or in other words, “be adaptable,” or as we would say here, “go with the flow.” The children are leading the way!
We follow. Steve continues to improve in small but steady increments. He can now with great effort raise and move his foot and lower leg while sitting in the wheelchair, balance on a right leg and a left arm in order to heave his body back more comfortably into his chair, and his fingers move slightly up and out as well as down and in. The doctors call him a moving target. We love that he is so difficult to pin down! They have granted us one more week at the hospital, a welcome reprieve as we seek to arrange for caregivers and await the equipment needed for his life in the home.
I too am gaining some skills, some mentionable and some not! I can now get Steve hooked up in the van with relative ease (a tether for each wheel of the chair and the seatbelt still required and laboriously wrapped through chair and around chest!), and today I resolved that I will learn how to give his daily blood thinning injection – we shall see if I can do it without fainting! We are entering normal daily life with greater boldness with each frontier conquered (amazing how daunting these simple activities now are!): yesterday, a movie theater and a restaurant with the boys; today, the home with just the five of us and church.
Church. Ah. It had been so long, not from a lack of desire to worship (on the contrary!)or see beloved faces, but from the sheer wave of emotion evoked by all of that kindness and all of those memories all at once. I had to do it the first time with Steve and today, he and I were finally able and ready. An unexpected joy swept over me as I sang my favorite hymn: “In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song, This Cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm, What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease, My Comforter, my All in All, Here in the love of Christ I stand,” and then my other favorite line, “No power of hell, no scheme of man, could ever pluck me from His hand, ‘til He returns or calls me home…” Great comfort it was indeed to affirm the ground of faith firm beneath my feet and His hand ever holding me to that beloved tune! Better yet to do it with Steve’s hand in mine, though his grasp is different and the ungainly chair between us! Thank you to all of the kind faces that greeted us today and made it so special!
Thank you all for your continued prayers. Our house is on the market at a less than ideal time but for a good price: http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=648014. We hope that, God willing, it sells quickly and blesses someone else in turn. Please continue to pray for all of the details, especially as we prepare to bring Steve home in ten short days. The boys miss him and we will be glad to have him among us, but his care will also require some real adjustments and a learning curve as we master life with a wheelchair in the home. Please pray especially that Steve would remain strong and encouraged as he continues to heal, under the hand of mercy and grace.
We love you!
Michelle