Hello all,

The six-month post-surgery mark has arrived with much to celebrate but still plenty to frustrate.

The majority of nerve recovery is expected in the first six months. My eye doctor (specifically my oculoplastic surgeon)  partially opened my eye last week (yay!), and we met with Dr. Mattox (one of my neurosurgeons) this week. He was excited to see that I am regaining some control of my mouth. (I can now soft smile, very softly.) Dr. Mattox has a colleague who specializes in facial reanimation, so we will be meeting with him in February. Dr. Mattox says no surgeon can do better than nature, so we will continue to “wait and see” how much of my facial muscles I regain.

One highlight of this journey has been meeting Katherine Wolf. One of my best friends had a connection (Thank you Brinkley!), so Clint and I got to meet Katherine and her husband Jay (authors of Hope Heals) for coffee in September. If you don’t know her story, Katherine suffered a brain stroke when she was 26. She has been living with facial paralysis and other disabilities since. She has been so inspiring, and meeting them gave Clint and I a lot of hope for whatever lies ahead in this medical journey.

Katherine and Jay are expanding their Hope Heals website to include contributors, and they invited me to be one of them! I am thrilled to be doing some freelance writing for such a special organization. If you would like to read my sample article (which will be published on their website next year!), you can find it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1axzbj4rZ6grIKgG9RPGkHJl4gzpKbnf6W6T_Eo9-ew4/edit?usp=sharing

The artist’s market in October was a success! Thank you to everyone who donated a book. I had a great collection with lots of variety, thanks to you! For such a small market (it was only advertised to residents in our neighborhood), I sold a lot of books! And Clint was even tasked with popping the popcorn. Dreams do come true!

In other news, Clint and I are closing on a home in Newnan on December 10. We  are looking forward to being closer to our families and beginning a new chapter. We have had so much to be thankful for this season—specifically YOU. Thank you for all the love you’ve shown us—from meals, to books, to the many prayers. We are so thankful to have witnessed the Body of Christ in action this year.

Merry Christmas!