Colorado Visit

Trev and I finally got to visit his parents this past weekend. It was a nice relaxing visit. I love Colorado, especially the Colorado Springs area. It is so peaceful and surrounded by my favorite thing, trees. All the leaves were turning and it was so beautiful.





We also had fun spending time with a very fun puppy, who is not so much a puppy anymore.



We love visiting beautiful Colorado and Trev's parents. We hope to go back again soon.

For Jude

It seems that the last few months everyone around me is suffering. Whether it be health, accidents, jobs, losing some0ne, trials are all around us. In a song I am in the process of writing I wrote a line, "But it's funny how God uses these hard times, to draw you close." And how true that has been lately. When I found out about the trials my friends would be facing with their new born baby it was devastating. If you are interested in their story look at their blog.

www.mandypelton.blogspot.com

I have never prayed so much for anything in my life. I was consistently praying more than I ever had before. And even though it was a fearful situation, I was at peace. I talked to God, asked Him to heal this baby, but it was unsure what the outcome would be. It is amazing how baby Jude's parents have handled this situation. Their strength and total faith in God can not be described with words. While baby Jude only lived 67 days it is a fact that he changed many lives forever. How can such a heartbreaking situation be looked at in a positive light at all? I really do believe so many drew closer to God during this time, and even though the outcome was not what so many were praying for, this baby's short life will be used for the glory of God.

All of this has got me to thinking on the big question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I have found some verses that have been very helpful.

~Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ~James 1:2-4~

~Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. ~James 1:12~

~In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.~1 Peter 1:6-9~

~Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
~Proverbs 19:21~

So to sum it up, we suffer for a greater purpose. Bad things will and do happen, but we must perservere. God is faithful and our hope endures in Him. His promises are true and while baby Jude passing on gives us heavy hearts, my heart has hope and I will draw closer sitll to God in this time. I am inspired by the Peltons faith and their trail has made my realationship with God stronger. Jude lived 67 days and his story changed the lives of many. I hope that my life can be for the glory of God as much as Jude's story has been. I love you Brandon, Mandy, Caleb, and Jude.

Doctors visit

Trevor had his appointment with the spine specialist and it went great! Aside from being there for 3 hours we were very pleased with the outcome. The doctor was super nice which is a bonus. He confirmed that it is a compression fracture 0n L1. He also confirmed that Trevor will not be fully back in action for 3 months. However, he said with Trevor's young age and how strong and healthy he is it should heal just fine. He will have to wear the brace pretty much the whole 3 months except for in bed. He upped his weight lifting limit from 10 to 20, but said he can lift whatever unless it hurts. He just said 20 pounds is what he would be most comfortable with Trevor lifting. He wants Trev to take is easy and keep his back as straight as possible so it heals close to what it was before. He said Trevor will deal with some back pain lifelong, but normalized it as we all deal with stuff like this as we get older.

Some exciting things are that Trevor can drive on his own now. He can pretty much start doing a lot more on his own. He gets stronger each day. Trevor asked about exercise and swimming and the doctor encouraged Trev to swim. He is excited that he will have something active he can do during these 3 months. I will return to my normal schedule and work next week as I feel better now that Trevor can function mostly on his own. There are a few things he still needs help with but we only live 10 minutes from my office so I can get home quickly should I need to. The doctor also gave him a note for work, saying he is able to work if there is not heavy lifting. This also made Trev feel better.

We are so thankful that this injury was not more serious. While it was very scary and we were nervous, the specialist made us both feel more comfortable that Trevor is not super fragile and can be more independent now. Thanks to everyone who has helped, brought food, prayed, and thought about us. We have been spoiled and everything you all have done has been so helpful to us. Love you all!

Feeling loved!

Today Trevor woke up with pain and has been taking pain medicine as much as it is allotted. If he stays consistent with his meds his day is much more tolerable. I was pretty exhausted today, physically and emotionally. I tend to take on everything and forget to give it to God. I was able to take a much needed nap and that helped a lot. I will probably go by work tomorrow to get some stuff to bring home.

Trevor's parents stopped by on their way back to Colorado and brought him some special pillows to help him sit better. Sitting can be painful for him. It is mostly when he stands up and has to use the muscles. My mom came by and made us dinner and, then my good friend and band mate Chrystal brought some epsom salt. It is a natural muscle relaxer. She is a massage therapist and has used this before. I am excited for Trevor to try it out. We are feeling pretty loved by our friends and family who have be gracious to help. My dear friend Emily set up a care calendar. If you would like to sign up to bring a meal here is the info:

www.CareCalendar.org
Calendar ID: 89194
Security Code: 9271

I have to share a funny story. Trevor has been so bored we went to Walmart today to get some games. I didn't want him trecking around Walmart on foot because I know it would hurt him in the long run (considering he mostly just walks a little around the hosue). So, he rode one of those motorized carts. It was pretty funny because he was having so much fun doing it. He was so glad to be out of bed and was zipping around Walmart. We got some strage looks because he doesn't look at all like he would need to ride one of those. I thought about having him take off his jacket so people could see his back brace, but mostly we just laughed about it.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Pray that we get rest and that his pain becomes less and less.

Got the brace!

Today we were able to get into the place right away to get Trevor's brace. He actually was able to come home with it. It is not the most comfortable contraption by far, but it allows him to be a little more mobile. We have an appointment on Friday morning with a spine specialist and hope to learn more than as to what recovery will look like.

Some of you have asked what you can do. I will be working on moving my office home this week so I can be with Trevor to help him as there are some things he cannot do on his own. He spends most of his time in bed and is really bored. We would welcome visitors. Trevor expressed an interest in playing board games with friends, or even if you just want to stop by and say hi he would love company. Just give me a call first so we know you are coming and if he is awake. Also, I don't like leaving him alone at this point so when there are people here I am able to run errands. It also helps because I can focus on cooking meals or cleaning while someone else is with him. One of my friends is setting up an online care calender if anyone is interested in bringing us a meal. I will put the link on the blog and facebook when it is set up.

We are finding that Trevor may not be able to work for a while because people are worried about him being a liability. He feels that he may be up to doing some non-manual labor, like editing and what not, but some of the jobs he had lined up like this told him that they don't want him working with his injury due to liability reasons. As the man of our family, this is hard for him because he wants to provide for us. Please pray that he has a peace about it and we are able to make it by while he is not working.

I wanted to share something cool about all of this. Something cool you say? What is cool about your husband breaking his back Cassie? Well, it is no secret that I struggle with anxiety. When I was driving to meet Trevor and the others at the lake on Saturday I had this huge peace come over me. The drive was so beautiful and relaxing and I felt a peace I have not had in a long time. I think that God was preparing me for what would happen that evening. Everyone keeps asking how did you handle the accident and the ER. I feel like I just got into "work mode" or social worker mode, and was able to get through it that way. Don't get me wrong I have had a few moments of weakness, like when I see him hurting or reacting to pain, or when we were driving to get his brace, but for the most part I have been doing pretty well with this. I am thankful for that.

I will keep you all posted as we find out more.

Trevor's Back Injury

Here is a more detailed explanation of Trevor's back injury for those of you who are interested.

We were going to spend the weekend at Navajo Lake camping. Towards the end of the day Saturday Trevor and some friends went to go cliff jumping. I stayed back at camp to watch our stuff. One of the cliffs they were jumping from was nearly 60 feet high. Trevor has cliff jumped before and knows the correct way to do it. However, he had some shoes on which prevented him from pointing his toes well when landing in the water. The impact shot up his body and he instantly knew something was wrong. My brother and another friend were in the water and they helped Trevor to shore. They had to hike back up the canyon to get to the road. They could not carry Trevor because it was so steep but they helped him the best they could. They got him to the car and decided to take him to urgent care.

Luckily we had cell phone service. My brother's girlfriend Holly called me and said that Trevor hurt his back and to meet them at the road. My brother and some friends stayed behind to pack up camp and Holly drove us to Farmington. When we got there urgent care was closed so we had to find the hospital. We went to the ER and were seen after about an hour and a half. Trevor was in tremendous pain and I have never seen him like that before. They did an assessment and finally gave him something for the pain, as well as some muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory. He was taken back for an x-ray. The doctor said one of his vertebra looked "kinda funky," so she ordered a cat scan. I really didn't think it was anything at this point. The nurse even came in and said the doctor (our 2nd one after a shift change) didn't think it was, but they have to send the cat scan to another place the has another machine to look at it. After a while the doctor came in and surprized me.

He said that Trevor has a compressed fracture on his L1 vertebra. In other words Trevor broke his back. On the relm of things it is not a huge break and should heal. However, he will be in a TLSO back brace for 10-12 weeks and he can not lift more than 10 pounds. He also has to get a lot of rest and not be as mobile as he is used to being. Nothing strenuous, that would jar his back. We got the a hotel at 3am.

So tomorrow I am making an appoitment to get his brace. They have to mold it and it should be ready within 24 hours. Also, we will try and get him into see a specialist to learn more about what is recovery will look like exactly. We are optamistic and thankful because it could have been far worse. The biggest struggle now is Trevor will be spending a lot of time in bed and this is not easy for him as he is a really active person. :) My parents brought us dinner and got him a computer tray for the bed so he can still do some work from bed. I'll keep everyone up to date as we find out more. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

What's happened since February?

Trevor and I celebrated our first anniversary in June. It was pretty low key, but very special. We ate at a fancy restaurant and exchanged gifts. I love that I don't have to try to impress him. I am reminded of this by our messy house and non-traditional marriage. When I feel like I am not meeting the wife standards of the world he just says "that's just not us babe." I'm just so overjoyed that God brought me a man who is able to be patient and understanding with me. We are not always perfect, but I know Trevor's love is unconditional.

So last I blogged we had moved into our new place and I was still jobless. God provided an amazing job for me working at a pre-school and I had so much fun there. My last day there was Friday as I was recently provided with an amazing opportunity.

In 2006 I decided to move to Las Cruces and declare a major in Social Work. I had been inspired by a woman in my church to work in adoption. It was my dream to work in her agency someday as an adoption case worker. Well, today that dream came true. I still can't believe it and probably won't until I get my first case there. Sometimes I feel so undeserving to be provided for over and over again. I just walked around today feeling giddy. In today's economy being able to have my dream job is pretty awesome.

Things are going really awesome with the band. We've been playing a lot of shows and are working on our 3rd CD. I'm excited to get to have this experience. I really am playing with a great group of people and am looking forward to what God has in store for us.