Day by Day

In our journey with Ricki we have learned to take things day by day and see what the next day brings. I never know if a hard day will get better or worse so we just have to take it day by day. 

Starting last night Ricki started having some pretty severe hot flashes. She has experienced these for almost a year now and they come and go. The hot flashes came and went all through the night and made it so she couldn't sleep. When  I have hot flashes (which is normal for my age) it is sad when my young teenage daughter is able to quickly recognize when I am having one because she totally relates! Bless her sweet heart! She continued to have them all throughout the day and her chest hurt to the point she had a hard time breathing, and to top it off she was nauseous. The drs don't seem to think there is a problem but, She does have a tumor by her pituitary gland and I sure wonder if that isn't what is causing it but we are in the watch and wait game so in the meantime I will watch my daughter bravely face her daily challenges and Ricki will patiently wait for a cure.  

Sometimes like tonight  my heart just aches. Ricki went to dance tonight but called to come home early.. When she climbed in the car 

all she said was "Sometimes I just wish I could be normal." 

Hopefully,  tomorrow will be a better day. 

Amazing strength

Growing up my dad always loved to quote us scriptures for just about anything we were going through. I never really liked it when he would find a scripture that would explain that hard things were good for us and would make us stong.  This weekend Ricki has been the perfect example to me of overcoming adversity and becoming strong.  

Over the past 3 years it has been heartbreaking to watch our little girl go through so many challenges in her life at such a young age. We did begin to notice that little by little that she was handling the hard challenges with more patience ans grace. She began to see the world from a different perspective and we knew she was becoming a stronger young lady. 

Last night when she came home from a school dance she was laughing and telling me about her night.  I was amazed at the strength and grace that she had handled her challenges. These challenges would have devastated an average teenager but Ricki isn't your average teenager...  To begin with earlier in the day she had a sore on the ball of her foot and it was  painful and bleeding so we had put band aids on it and she was determined it would not prevent her from having a good time. Once at the dance just as they were walking in, someone In their group accidentally stepped on Ricki's dress and tore almost half of the top two layers of her skirt from its bodice. A young man in their group had some safety pins in his car and so she just pinned her dress together determined to not let it ruin her evening -and it didn't. She had a wonderful night with her friends. Once she was home, I looked at her foot and it was again covered in blood and she was hobbling around. Again I was even more amazed that she wasn't even complaining about her foot. 

Our sweet daughter has gained a perspective and grace that I am still working on myself.  Words can't explain how proud I am of her! 

Side note.... She has also learned that she can borrow from her energy bank :) but then she has to refill it. So she slept all day the day after the dance.

It is fun to see her work around her challenges and find ways to still find joy in her life!