DINOmite!

Monday, my Angel baby, Zachary turned four (4). To celebrate, we had a DINOmite dinosaur birthday party this past weekend. We tried to infuse the dinosaur theme into everything. We had a ROARing good time and friends & family made it EGGstra special. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing home from the hospital. It is so hard to believe he's already four. So grown up! I remember last year, I was still unable to swallow & hoping to have some of the birthday party food, Moose's Tooth pizza. Unfortunately, I was unable, but this year, I partook fully.

In addition to the birthday party, I also have 31 Teddy bears to finish dressing for Salvation Army's Teddy bear tea.

I also volunteered at Zach's preschool and that was an interesting experience. I am amazed at the patience his teachers have. It was great to see what Zach does at school. I really enjoyed it despite one little girl commenting on my voice and one little boy growling, hissing & gnashing his teeth at me when I broke him and another boy apart.

I learned Tuesday that I'm mostly done with speech therapy. My therapist and I plan to meet occasionally. I am really not sure how to feel about this. It's definitely a milestone, but I had dreams that I'd sound like I use to. I guess I'll have to accept the truth, it just makes me really sad. I also had to say farewell to Anne, my therapist, who played such a significant role in my recovery. Anne believed in me and encouraged me when I wasn't sure I'd swallow and I was so convinced that I'd never get better. She has been such a big Blessing in my life and I'm grateful she took me on as a patient.

Thank you Anne! Your gift of encouragement, support, guidance, kindness, and love were so uplifting to me. I'll never forget that.

Although I'm still processing how I feel about this new stage, I'm not only reminded of where I've been, but I'm grieving the part of me that will never be. As I'm looking at my life and the course I've travelled these last two years, I find myself confused. I'm such a planner by nature and before all this happened, I had everything planned & mapped out. Now, it's different. I'm not saying, I don't have hopes & dreams for the future, I just have a realization of who holds my future. God says in Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Here's to the road that lies ahead! I can't wait to see where God leads me. Thank you God for getting me this far!

Blessings