Friday, August 21st

Hello to all. There have been many things going on in our life. Summer is winding down and school starts back Monday. We made a trip to South Texas last weekend so Clay could go to the ocean and see Grandma and Pappy. He had a good time and was able to walk on the beach late in the day and fish off the pier at night. There were several people that came to see Clay while we were there. He has gained much of his strength back and decided that it was time to ride a bike again. He has not been on one since the accident. Grandma was filming the first ride, which turned into a race, and she witnessed a spectacular crash. Clay was racing his brothers when he lost control and fell over. He now has scraps on his knee. He was lucky in his landing and does not seem to be suffering any ill effects. We had another surprise while in Corpus. We had contacted the Shriners burn hospital for a consultation and they called the Friday we were there and said they could see Clay on Monday in Houston. We made plans to spend an extra night and drove up the coast on Monday morning to a 1:00 appointment in downtown Houston. The people at the hospital were very gracious and they explained a lot of different thoughts about Clay. The most interesting portion of our visit was what we were told about his left hand. They took X-rays while we were there and thought they could take the remaining portion of the index finger and stack it on the top of the thumb to give it more length and function. They have a plastics specialist that was on vacation. As soon as he returns they are going to explain the case to him and contact use if this is feasible. Clay is already on the surgery schedule for September 18th at Children's in Dallas. They were going to work on the hand and release the eyes. We hope to have discussions this week with the doctor from Children's. Clay went to burn clinic at Parkland yesterday. They want to schedule a neck release early in October. Mom takes him to Wichita Falls every day for therapy. Deidra will homeschool Clay this year. We have also enrolled him in kindergarten but he will participate as a homebound student. Through this program, a teacher will come to the house 4 hours a week and OT/PT will come as well. The teacher that is sent out has to be certified in Special Education. Deidra has her teaching certification (1st grade-7th grade) but is not certified in Special Ed. One of the education diagnosticians mentioned that if Deidra was certified in Special Ed., she could be contracted and paid to teach Clay. Deidra is trying to figure out how she is going to get all of Clay's lessons taught, take him to his daily appts., and be back home to meet Carson and Cody when they get off the bus (along with washing clothes, cooking meals, helping with homework, grocery shopping, etc.) As a family, we will all come together and help (many hands make light work). Deidra mentioned that she would like to have more time to send e-mails and stay in touch. Instead of turning on the computer at night, we try to get as many hours of sleep as we can. Please know that we are grateful for all your comments and care. Hopefully, one of these days, we will have time to respond to you individually. Many thanks to all who have continued to pray. We pray each day for strength from God. We will try to post more frequently after school begins and we get into a routine. Take Care.