Plant Sale

Good day everyone!

This is Gord & Esther Van Egmond here - Al let us highjack the blog to give you an update on the plant sale we had. First of all we would like to thank our plant suppliers for working with us and giving us exceptional pricing and donations and also bringing us more product so quickly when we ran out. Also a huge thank you to those who helped us "man" the sale, we really appreciate it. But most of all thank you to all of you who took the time out of your busy long weekend to buy your plants and give donations to help out the Bethlehems. Some of you drove a long way to Grimsby to lend your support.

In just 4 days we were able to raise $8,000.00 !!! I won't try to describe Al & Debbie's faces last night but I will say they are overwhelmed with the support you have all shown to Shawna and the entire Bethlehem family. Thank you!

God Bless!

Gord & Es

p.s.

sorry for got to post.....posted two videos of homecoming to "Friends and Family of Shawna Bethlehem" on Facebook

Saturday ( day 114)

Good Evening All. This is the day we were anxiously waiting for. It took almost 4 months but Shawna finally made it into our house. A whole season has passed. We thank God that this was possible. He has been steadily healing her so she would be able to come home. She was very animated and trying very hard to make noises to the point she was almost choking. This makes us work harder on the renovations to make sure we are ready for taking care of her at home as soon as possible. She wasn't too upset when she had to go back to the hospital because we told her this was the stepping stone to getting her home more often for a longer time. We are extremely thankful to our insurance company for making this visit possible, as they work quietly and compassionately behind the scenes taking care of Shawna's needs as well. The physiotherapist again was able to get more response from Shawna. Her right side is very responsive and she moves it and does leg lift reps with her cast to build strength on her own. He electro stimulated her left leg with good results of muscle movement even after stimulation stopped. He did the same to her left arm with some results but not to the same extent as the leg. One other interesting point of note is when she was being worked on for recasting on Wednesday the doctor asked Shawna to move independant muscles by calling them by their medical names and she moved those precise muscles when asked. She is falling back on her kinesiology training and knows what she has to do to get mobile. We thank all those who made the plant sale a resounding success. Gord sold out of many varieties of plants and was quickly on the phone to his suppliers to bring more so no-one would be disappointed when they showed up. He still has managed to procure more plants for Monday. A heartfelt thanks to the family for "manning" the sale. We continue to be richly blessed by God with Shawna's continued healing and by the outporing of the community through this sale. God bless you all and have a blessed Sunday of praise and worship to our God and King. Al and Deb

Wednesday (day 111)

Good evening all. Shawna had a good workout Monday with the physiotherapist. She was sitting up quite long for him. He was looking for the muscle responses on her left side. He was very encouraging that she is starting to use her left side leg, and back muscles. She also during the exercises centered her head without the use of a brace. They tried to stand her up at a walker but that wasnt very successful yet. Shawna enjoyed it though and was very alert during the session. She didn't seem to be overworked either as she was not totally exhausted when she was finished. They took her casts off yesterday and she responded by moving her legs and feet a lot. She was a bit upset when they recasted her today. Saturday draws closer when she can come home for a few hours. We are so excited. We continue to recieve these blessings from the Lord and are very thankful for them. We also thank you for your support and prayers Al and Deb

Saturday (day 107)

Good evening all. Everything is coming together for having Shawna come home even if only for a couple of hours at a time. The ramp is finished and the doorways widened to enable her to be inside to most of our home. When I told the doctor today that all was ready for her to come home for these short stints he readily agreed it would be a good thing and will set it up for starting next Saturday. Shawna meanwhile is continuing to develop her muscle tone. She also can move her left leg quite a bit on command which is a very encouraging development we were waiting for. She has mapped out some of the muscles and can now voluntarily control them. She is working with small barbells to increase her wrist strength. She is swallowing succesfully and making more and more noises (not talking). Sometimes she gets a coughing fit when she makes them and is therefore a bit reluctant to do so. We stand amazed at what God has given us through Shawna. Many times we take the parenting of children for granted when everything is fine. These times deepen your relationship to your children. Nothing can be taken for granted and everything that occurs new is a blessing. We continue to wait patiently as God unfolds his plan and pray for strength spiritually and physically for Shawna. Our brother-in-law Gord
VanEgmond is holding a perrenial and plant sale at his residence 92 Kemp rd Grimsby(just east of mountain rd). He will have thousands of plants available from thursday may 15 evening to Monday may 19 evening (not on sunday). Profit from the sale will be donated to assist us in the renovations not covered by insurance to enable Shawna to be home. Thank you for your prayers and support have a blessed sunday. Al and Deb

Wednesday (day 104)

Good evening all. We thought Shawna was all worked out from her last physio/assesment on last wednesday. Well she proved us wrong. During her physio on Monday she now stayed sitting unsupported for 3 and 1/2 minutes and did various other exercises including lifting a 1 lb barbel for 17 seconds with her wrist extended flat. She is subtly telling us she's not giving up and is trying to her utmost to work her muscles. She was very exhausted after the session and couldn't warm up after her bath until she received a warm towel. Again showing the extent of her exertion. We are thankful that God is strengthening her and providing her with a real inner strength which she can tap into. Her feet have again been casted with the next series which are bringing her feet closer to 90 degrees. The ramp is under construction as well as the door widening to enable Shawna to come home for a short period of time during the week. An occupational therapist has been enlisted to ensure that everything will be in place for her homecoming on the weekends and eventually for good after the first three months of aggressive therapy. We have been richly blessed by God that we can speak about Shawnas eventual homecoming. We have been praying for that for a long time and it is becoming an excitable thing for us in this part of planning. Our family can once again be all together in our home. How beautifull is that? Praise God. Al and Deb

Sunday (day 101)

Hello all. What a beautiful day we have been given. As I look out the front window at one of our trees blossoming I reflect on the few days gone by since the last posting. We've been very busy with scheduled events friday and saturday and trying to maximize our time with Shawna. God continues to provide all things in its time. As we wait and pray for Shawnas recovery we realize that he also gives us all that we need in His time as well. Shawna had a very good assesment day as I wrote last Wednesday but since then she's been more tired and seems to need a lot of rest. It must have been a major event for her and seemingly taxed her quite a bit. She is continuing to improve slowly but nothing new except communicating her need. Once she was moaning softly when I came in at 500 after she had been transfered from her wheelchair and I thought she was trying to tell me something because she kept it up for a while. I checked her positioning for comfort and massaged her neck before I realized her air mattress was not being inflated. She was only resting on a hard mattress. As soon as I activated the airpump and her mattress inflated she smiled and was again comfortable. I told her how important that incident was towards communicating her needs and she slowly slipped off to sleep. She continues to swallow successfully and play notes on her keyboard. We've recieved a few small weights for her to lift to build strength in her arm. That is something she was familiar with in her exercise routine. She moves her right leg more and more and also her left but not as much. That is quite a feat as her feet are fully casted. She will be going for the next progressive casting on tuesday. Sometimes these appointments take all day at Chedoke. It will be a blessing when she can stay there full time. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Al and Deb