Posted by Pauletta

Those of you who have been keeping up with Beverly's progress this year likely already know that today is the one-year anniversary of Beverly's life-changing accident. I write this update today with tears in my eyes, lumps in my throat and aches in my heart. But when I look back at the many changes in all of our lives.....changes no one could have ever imagined, I mostly reflect on the amazing progress Beverly has made.

From the early days when the only time she opened her eyes was when the nurses reduced her sedation drip, right before we were allowed in to visit, so that we could see her look up at us and smile because we were there - from our elation in watching her lift one arm a few inches off the bed - through the surgeries and procedures - through the feeding tube and pacemaker - through the inability to breathe on her own - through the long nights of staring at the ventilator and hoping that each minute she would take just one less machine-assisted breath and just one more on her own - and then finally seeing that she was going to make it. Every step of the way was a testament to her determination and her never-ending faith.

So, today, I think we all agreed without ever verbalizing it to each other, we would face this day as a great celebration of how far she has come. When Janie sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers today, we hugged and cried, then wiped our eyes and blew our noses, and said.....we are not stopping now! There is still a lot of work to be done. Eventually, throughout our normal daily activities, we found ourselves laughing more than usual. Everything we did seemed funny, and at one point, Beverly said that she could not remember the last time she had laughed that deep and hard.....you know the kind of laugh you try to suppress when in church , but the harder you try to stop, the more you laugh? Eventually, we were even laughing at our laughing!

Beverly sends her love and gratitude to each and every one of you who have supported her so much this year. She keeps saying she would not have made it through this ordeal without her family, but we know that she also could not have made it without you!

We will have some more good news soon! Thanks for checking in, but mostly for your love, friendship and prayers for her.