Coming Home!

It has been a very LONG 90 days. We are very happy to announce that Mary is set to be discharged from the inpatient program on Wednesday afternoon. She is a completely different person coming out than she was going in. The changes in her are remarkable! She went into the hospital a scared little girl and is emerging a mature young lady. I know that we still have progress to make, and there will still be bumps in the road, and at the same time I am deeply thankful for this place of healing!

Our next step in this process will be an intensive outpatient program. This will involve her being at home with us during the night and attending her school, then returning to the hospital 3 afternoons a week for 3 - 4 hours each day. We will slowly decrease this time spent at the hospital as she continues to improve her stability and integrate into the community. I have to admit that it will be hard for me to say good-bye to this place as we move forward. Each person that works there has touched our lives in numerous ways and has offered such great support.

I can honestly say that this was one of the hardest 3 months of our lives. It never got any easier to drop her off after a therapeutic home visit or to leave her after visiting her there. We would just pray as we were leaving, pray for the hospital staff and residents, pray for the community that the hospital is in, pray for Mary's light to shine in the darkness. We can't express enough gratitude for those who have supported us through this process. All of your prayers, meals, cards & letters, emails, hugs, and financial contributions did not go without notice. We have truly felt loved and cared for by each and every one of you. So, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you!

Ways you can pray over the coming months:

- Pray for Mary's transition home, that it would be a smooth and peaceful one.

- Pray for continued progress as we enter the outpatient program.

- Pray for safety as we travel back and forth to the hospital more often during this transition time.

- Pray for good family relationships to continue and for healing to take place as a family unit.

- Pray for Mary as she leaves behind a place that feels secure. I think that for the first time she feels like she has a sense of belonging, that she is not "different" than everyone else.

- Pray that the skills that Mary has learned will continue to work effectively for her.

- Pray for continued medical stability. It is wonderful to see her stable after so many years of struggling.

- Pray that the insurance funding would come through for the intensive outpatient program. Praise that they did agree to pay for their portion of the inpatient program!