8 weeks

Holy smokes. No way has it been 8 weeks!!

8 weeks too long if you ask me haha. Britt has been a busy boy as usual today. Lots of physical therapy, standing up, moving around, sitting in the chair. He did really well with it all. The therapy is really intense here! Its really good for him! He has been doing this thing lately where he struggs the left side of his face and kind of makes a crying sound. He only does it when he is in pain, we think he is trying to cry when he does it. It always makes us really sad to watch, but at least he is able to show that he is in pain.

His hair is growing in over his scars and they're looking so good!! He was responding to all of my commands today. I told him to raise his eyebrow, wiggle his toes, and stick out his tongue and he did all of them! I asked him if he wanted to open his eyes and he just started moving all around. I really think he wants to so bad, and he is trying, but just can't! Poor guy.

My grandma aunt and cousin came down to visit today, and it was fun to see them! And one of Britton's nurses from the ICU dropped by too to check in on him!

8 weeks. 2 months. 56 days. If you think too much about those numbers, you start to get discouraged, scared, fearful, you start questioning things. I try not to look at it like how long it has been...but more like how far he has come.

 I remember the first time i saw Britton after his accident. I walked into his room and his chest was going up down up down a million miles an hour, tubes down his throat and up his nose, with big machines hooked up to them. Colorful wires and lines hooked all over him. Iv's lining his arms, tons of medications and fluids hanging next to him. A swollen, bloody, bandaged head, discolored face, dark eyes, cold body, no movement. Thinking back to that moment. The feelings, the emotions, it's so hard to relive it, and to remember it. I've never seen someone in such bad shape in my entire life, in pictures, on tv, no where, had I seen such a horrific sight. And it didn't help that it was my little brother. My sweet, perfect, 16 year old little brother. Who the last time I had seen, was a healthy, strong, and charismatic boy. How it had all changed so drastically. Nothing was for certain that night. No one knew what the next minute, hour, night or day might hold for him. I did though. A feeling so strong in my heart, that it would be okay, that he, would be okay. Over the next few days and weeks, I feared, I questioned, but I never doubted. As many highs and as many lows that there has been, doubt has never overpowered the faith and trust that I have of the miracle and happy ending that will take place.

It has been 8 weeks since I walked into that room and saw him for the first time. It brings me so much joy and happiness to see him and how far he has come from that night. His head is no longer swollen and wrapped in bandages. He no longer has tubes running through his nose and mouth feeding him and  breathing for him. He breathes completely on his own through a trach in his neck. He has a feeding tube in his belly that is able to give him the nutrition he needs. His face is the perfect color, his hands warm and firm. He moves. On his own. He hears us, and he responds. He recognizes pain. His scars are healing, his hair is growing. His organs are all working properly. His immune system is working the way it should. He swallows, has a gag reflex, contracts his own muscles. He's here, he is alive, and he is well. Obviously not as well as we would all wish him to be, but he is getting there. Slowly, he is getting there.

He still needs your prayers, very much. He needs you to keep believing in him. Time might go on, and he might still be sleeping, but please don't give up on him. Don't forget about him, because he needs us, all of us. Thank you for all you've done. Thank you for sticking by him all this time. Our family is incredibly grateful for all of you and everything you've done:)

In Jeffrey R. Hollands book, "To My Friends" I read,

"If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

"In this church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith."