I have been a total failure at 'Blogging' and at keeping in contact with everyone. I apologize. I have been extremely- happily busy but also, admittedly, overwhelmed. It began this past summer when we had wonderful family & friends spend time with us due to the fires in Colorado. Then we quickly began to get ready for school to begin & Mom went back to work. Since then it has been a crazy busy ride with lots of happy moments and a few that have almost blown our socks off. About the time that the kids went back to school Rick was diagnosed with an Axonal Brain Injury. We have been dealing with emotional problems, memory problems, focus and temperament problems and almost total personality changes in some areas. We are not sure if it was from the accident in 2009 that he should not have walked away from at all, if it was from a fender bender in February of this year or if it is a combination of the two but the complications & side effects have taken a devastating toll on him & our family. We started looking into help right after the fender bender in February & are headed down what the Neurologist calls a' long, exhausting, expensive & very difficult road'. But we are happy to have a 'diagnosis' for what we have been dealing with and we are very happy to have a game plan or at least the beginning steps of one. We just wish it were a little easier to find & afford the help that we need. There are so many programs for people struggling with Brain Injuries but most of them we do not qualify for because we are not military and because the injury was not the result of military service. While we understand that it is so important to care for & heal our military who struggle because of injuries they received in serving us and our great nation, we cant help but wish there were a little more room in some of the programs for someone like Rick.
It was decided that with all of the stress of college, doctors appointments and just the day to day struggles Rick faces that he would no longer work , that he would try to just focus on college and recovery. So- I decided that I better look for something. We started praying for help to begin the 'job search' process & I was gifted an opportunity to put in an application with a local company 'Stat Apparel' that is run by my friend, Desiree, here in town. It is a Medical clothing, shoe, supply & gift store. I shopped for uniforms for Rick there long before I knew that I would ever be looking for a job and LOVED how friendly, well decorated & how well supplied the store was. I was more than excited to get the job there & have LOVED every single day of work- who gets to say that?!? I LOVE everything about my job from the same every day tasks like dusting to the challenge of meeting, talking to & helping people that I have never met before. I LOVE the inventory that comes in, I LOVE my boss & the days that I get to work with her & I LOVE our customers who become friends. It is the worlds best job and for once in my life I feel like I have found something that I am actually good at.
Between work, every day problems, Ricks injury and other things like our Minivan dying on us, Sarah being diagnosed with H-Pylori disease, my Kidneys struggling to function properly & the awesome things like my parents returning from Russia, family visits & kids visiting Utah and Florida I have failed to keep up. I will make a serious effort to do better. So... here are some of my favorite recent pictures as a peace offering for sucking at communication lately.
