June 14 Update

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

I have faith that God will renew Jodie's strength and allow her to walk, run and speak again! She sure is trying to and showing signs of it.

On this trip, Beth and I brought Candy with us. Candy is one of Jodie's best friends and she wanted to come and spend some time with Jodie and help us trigger some things for her. Jodie reacts so well to her friends and family. We were so anxious to get here after hearing of all the wonderful progress Jodie has had over the past 2 weeks. So, here's your update from the weekend....

Her surgery went great! The doctor said as soon as they put the incisions into her tendons, her feet popped right into place. Praise God! Meaning that no permanent damage had occurred in her feet. (this was due to the fact that her feet had "dropped" and had not been "moved" since the accident) They put casts on both her feet immediately following the surgery and these will stay on for 4 weeks. She's moving her legs all around even with those casts on! She's also very figitty with her feet and legs, so her therapist asked her if her feet were hurting and she pointed to "yes" on her sign. I'm sure they're driving her crazy and she wants to scratch them - I know I would. They gave her some medicine to help with the pain.

We've been asking her various questions and showing her pictures and asking her to point to the name we mention. She's been doing very well. I'll give you some examples:

· -Asked her if Candy was a Phi Mu? She pointed to YES.
-Asked her if Candy was a DG? She pointed to YES.
· -Showed her 2 pictures, one of Mary Allyn and John Hollis – asked her to point to John Hollis…..and she DID.
· -Showed her a picture of me (Jennifer) and a picture of her (Jodie) – asked her to point to Jennifer…..and she DID.
· - Showed her wedding picture of me & Hiram and one of Beth & Randy – asked her to point to Beth & Randy…. She had a hard time with this one – they were wallet size pictures so they may have been hard to see because she was unable to point to either picture.
· -Showed her PEOPLE magazine, asked her to point to Julia Roberts…and she DID. Also, asked her to point to picture of Laci Peterson….and she DID. Asked her to point to J.Lo but she didn’t (maybe since J.Lo has changed her nickname to Lola!).
· -Candy held up some chapstick and asked Jodie to reach for it and take it from her and Jodie took it from Candy.

Hope that gives you an idea of some of the responsiveness that Jodie is achieving. I think those are great things that she knows.

Every time we sit on the end of her bed, she tries to kick us off if we're in her way or if the person sitting on her bed stops paying attention to her, she'll kick you! Her friend, Brian, came to visit last night and printed some one-liner jokes off the internet. He kept us all quite entertained with those. He told Jodie if there was a bad one, then she could kick him - we saw her throw a leg at him a couple of times!! Brian brought his mom to visit Jodie the other day and he told us that his mom is convinced that Jodie can hear us and knows exactly what's going on - I think she's right!

One of her Phi Mu sisters, Maegan, and her mom, Linda, also came to visit Jodie. Maegan was in an accident several years ago and was told she may never walk. But, now she plays tennis on a college team! She was another inspiration for us to see and hear her story and see how far she's come.

Last night she threw her right leg over the side of her bed - we all sat up intently watching her. Then, she put her left leg over. So we decided to help her sit up on the side of the bed. I got behind her, Beth got on one side, Candy got on the other, and Mama got in front. We sat her up for a few minutes and then put her at a 40 degree angle - we did this a couple of times. We had to hold her and her head up, because she cannot hold them up herself. BUT, with God's strength and with everyone's prayers, we held up her head and slowly let go -- (get ready for this) Jodie held her head up for a few minutes on her own!!!! She didn't hold it all the way up, but she was holding it half way up - we were cheering her on the entire time! You cannot begin to imagine our excitement when she did it. We didn't want to exhaust her, so we laid her back down in the bed. After we left her last night, her nurses had to put a back board on the side of her bed to keep her from trying to get out.

Ya'll, she is getting there, we've just got to keeping praying her there! God is in complete and total control of Jodie's life and He is performing incredible miracles on Jodie. My family and I ask that you continue to pray for Jodie - don't give up and don't get discouraged. God is absolutely listening. Pray without ceasing!!

We will know after her medical staff's team meeting tomorrow afternoon more info on her extended stay. Please pray with us today that they decide that with this wonderful progress, that they'll keep her longer! That is our steadfast prayer and she is doing so good. We're so proud of her and thankful to God for all our blessings. We are also grateful to each of you for all your prayers and love and care for Jodie. You all keep praying and I will keep on updating you with her progress and recovery. We're going to pray her better!!! Also pray for God's guidance and wisdom on her doctors, nurses and therapists.

I also want to share with you this special story. There is a security guard here at Shepherd Center who is just the cutest older man (he said he's retired twice but he gets bored so he came back). He always speaks to us and asks about Jodie. On one of our earlier visits, he shared with Beth that his grandson was in a bad car accident and was in Shepherd's ICU. On our last visit, Beth asked about his grandson, and he shared with her the sad news that he had passed away and showed Beth the program from his funeral earlier that day. It was his only grandchild and he was so proud of him. He then told Beth he was continuing to pray for (Jodie) and that he knew she was going to get better - in his tragedy, he was still so kind to us and hopeful for our sister's recovery. Of course, it brought Beth to tears as she shared the story with us. We didn't even know this man's name but he had touched our lives in such a special way. Later in that visit, the man's name badge was turned where we could see his name and his name is HOPE! It sent chills all over us. He is God speaking to us for sure. We see him almost every day with a huge smile on his face and God's love in his heart.

May God bless you and give you peace,
jennifer