Joy.  Joy is my word for 2020 and my focus for the year and it’s been apparent that JOY is what I’m feeling as we close out the month of January.  It has been a busy month, but a month full or progress and exciting new adventures, so let me recap!

My last blog post was right before Christmas.  I was looking forward to 2 full weeks off from work, Brandon had a lighter therapy schedule, we were planning a trip to the beach, and lots of time spent with family and friends.  We started off our first week with chest pain and wondering if Brandon had a broken or bruised rib.  We rolled into NextStep and due to the concern, we decided to try out an Urgent Care and get an x-ray first.  Urgent Care wasn’t helpful.  I feel like they took one look at Brandon, got nervous and sent us over to the ER.  Ugh.

We got over to WakeMed and as we sat in triage waiting for a room and test results to come back, I asked for prayer.  I posted our situation on Facebook and asked for prayer.  Seriously, by the Grace of God, and the answer to our prayers, we had 3 doctors in Brandon’s room trying to figure out whether we should stay or go.  We ultimately decided to stay and get a CT Scan to see if there was a blood clot.  There was no blood clot, but they did see that the pneumonia looked worse than they had originally thought.  They switched his antibiotics and sent us home on Christmas Eve!  It was a Christmas miracle!  We were still able to enjoy our planned Christmas festivities.

If you are STILL doubting this whole God thing and the power of prayer, come talk to me.  I have no doubt that our prayers were instantly answered, and it was a great reminder that God’s got this!

We celebrated New Year’s at Harkers Island together and it was a nice and quiet evening, and we made it to midnight!  I don’t know how you feel about starting a new year, but it’s always very bittersweet and emotional to me.  We had so much to celebrate in 2019 and we overcame so much, but I am overwhelmed with excitement to see what 2020 brings.  See, here’s the JOY!

We picked up right where we left off on January 6th.  I started the week off going to the gym and to the office, and Brandon started right back at his two-a-days!  We were grateful for some extra help the week of January 13th since my company had its kickoff meetings and this was a big week for us.

As I’ve mentioned before, Brandon and I are in this every single day and it’s easy for us to miss the small improvements.  When we miss these small wins, we wonder if progress is being made and we begin to question what we’re doing.  There was some doubt that filled us but by Thursday we were reminded in a big way, how far Brandon has come.

It was “thigh” Thursday at NextStep, and Brandon was on something called the total gym and they had him doing partial squats.  In the video we hear that BRANDON is initiating the movement in his legs.  No one else is doing it for him, and there is no stim.  It’s just Brandon doing his thing.  The other major milestone about this, is that he is on an exercise bench, holding himself up with no support.  We found a video of him from a year ago and he had 3 people around him to stabilize him, and they had his arms strapped down!  It was as amazing comparison and the boost we needed.

Brandon is feeling healthy and strong.  I’ve loved hearing him tell people that he’s feeling good, he’s feeling strong, and is feeling like things are progressing.  It’s not Brandon just saying that to comfort others, but I can hear in his voice that he is genuinely feeling these things.  It makes this wife’s heart burst with JOY!

I am so THRILLED to announce that our website is LIVE!  A couple of important things for you to know:

·        This is my LAST CaringBridge post!  This site has been a great outlet as I journaled our lives over the last year and a half but it’s time to take that next step. 

·        If you registered your email address with CaringBridge I was able to export that list so you will be getting an email from me telling you about the website.  I promise it isn’t spam and it’s really coming from me!

·        We’ve linked EVERYTHING!  Our website, Facebook, and Instagram are all linked so you can now have many ways to connect with us!

 How to follow:

·        www.bstrongnc.com

·        Facebook: Search for Bstrong NC – I am going to like the page on my personal Facebook feed and share it, so you should have easy access to get to it.

·        Instagram: bstrongnc

Are you seeing the pattern?  It’s all about being strong and we are going to work hard to create a bstrong movement.  More on that to come later.

I hope you continue to follow us and this journey that we’re on.  I hope you find our sites as a place of hope, inspiration and worship.  We’re praying for a movement because this is so much bigger than me and Brandon.  This is a road that we’re on and we have chosen to use it as an outlet for HIS GLORY.  I am literally bursting with JOY, and a tremendous amount of faith as I write this because God is using us, and I pray that we continue to be obedient to His calling.

Finally, a HUGE THANK YOU, to my girl Tara at Goodness who helped develop our website and will continue to help build out my dream for this.  Tara is a once in a lifetime friend, who is kind, bubbly, and someone that you can sit with for hours.  We talked about how we met, through mutual friends sometime in college, and our paths have continued to cross.  We were meant to know each other, and I am truly grateful for her gifts and God-given talents!

We’ve unintentionally spent a lot of time reflecting this month.  We’ve done a lot of “remember this time last year?!”  I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a few folks who are in the beginning stages of a spinal cord injury.  I tell them that it’s hard, its life changing, and it sucks, but I also tell them, and I promise them this, that it absolutely will get better.  It’s amazing to me that we are out of the house by 9 or 9:30 during the week.  I’m stunned that we’re serving once a month.  I am in utter belief that I am up and out of the house to be at the gym at 5:30am.  I am determined to cook meals where Brandon can eat himself.  I am filled with JOY knowing that this injury no longer consumes our conversations and it is no longer our focus.  We eat dinner at a table together.  We watch TV, we laugh and flirt with each other again.  Sure, we avoid certain outings because it’s hard and challenging, but I feel like we are back to being Angi and Brandon, and I am so excited to see where we are a year from now.

Joshua 1:9
This is my command – BE STRONG and courageous!  Do not be afraid or discouraged.  For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.