The Summer of 2009

I'm catching up...

This summer has been a pretty good summer. And, looking back to last summer, and even this past spring, we can really see that Jessica is doing so much better. Last summer (2008), I remember when Jessica so badly wanted to get out of the house if just to go to Target or the store with me, but wasn't up to it. This summer, she's done more than I thought she'd be able to. And I'm glad she's been able to enjoy being a teenager, enjoy her horse again, get out and do some things, have some independences, spend time with friends, etc...

She took a Leadership Class at church that met one day a week for about six weeks. This included writing three or four essays; one overnight canoe/camping trip to the Buffalo River developing team skills; and one day trip to the University of Arkansas Athletic Department in Northwest Arkansas to meet several leaders in the athletic field. She may have slept the next day, but she survived it all, had good experiences through it, and graduated with her team winning overall.

This summer she got to do the summer job she had to give up last summer (because of her illness). She worked at the stables in exchange for lessons. She would've liked to have been able to work every day, but we settled for what we hoped she could handle - Monday and Friday mornings only - 7:30a.m. to 11:00a.m. Her job usually consisted of feeding and watering the horses, and maybe working a horse… (The feeding usually took an hour and a half since some had to be sat with so the more dominant ones didn't eat all their food.) Jessica was in her element, and she got a riding lesson out of it too.

Jessica may have been tired here or there, and had the one real crash, but the summer overall has been good, and we've seen much improvement. We hope it continues.