my song

Okay guys, so I wrote a song describing how I feel, especially the past little while. And I decided to share it on here. Just know that it's written to almost all of you. It also probably needs some tweaking in the placement of things, but I didn't really care. So yeah, anyway, here it is.....

We once had a relationship so strong,

But where did it go?

You’ve abandoned me,

And I’m not sure why.

All I know, is that I wish,

We could be friends again.

You’ve hurt me more than you may ever know.

Even if you say you’re here,

It doesn’t really matter, because you’re really not.

I must be in the middle of the ocean,

With no ships around to save me.

When before, I was the captain of our ship.

But now I am sinking,

And you’re not here to rescue me,

I feel like I am drowning,

Why have you left me?

I remember when I felt that deep love,

And now I just have to wonder where it went.

I must replace you now,

Even though you once promised you’d always be here for me.

I believed you then,

Turns out that was a mistake,

What can I believe now?

Shannon

School once again

Hey there guys, so I’m sorry I haven’t been updating my blog recently. But anywho, I’m here to tell you about school. So I’m so incredibly excited to say, thanks to Mr. Louder (my AP Bio teacher), that I now have another 4.0! This happened by the kindness of Mr. Louder, because I was supposed to get an A- in that class but he added a few free extra credit points to me, just so I could get my straight As! Oh man, he’s AMAZING! Okay, so that’s last semester. Then as for this upcoming semester, I’m totally excited about it. I really essentially only have 3 real classes. I mean hey, they’re all AP classes, but whatever. Okay, so this is how it works. On A days, I have no first period, then AP Stats, then AP Psych and then internship. You see the reason why internship doesn’t really count as a class is because I only have to go 4 times a whole term… so yeah, basically I get credit for hardly ever showing up there. Then On B days, I have no first period, then AP Biology, then seminary, then I’m done and I can just go home! It’s so exciting! Lol. But yeah, that’s basically my life right now. Any other questions?

Shannon

Brooklynn, Emma, and Austin

So, visiting North Carolina. The scenery was beautiful especially the beautiful houses all lit up with Christmas lights. Yeah, no. I didn’t even pay one bit of attention to the scenery because I was too involved with my sweet little nieces! My nephew was there too, he just didn’t always want much of anything to do with me. So anyway, we did a lot of things when I was out there. Some of those things include getting new coats, going shopping, and making gingerbread houses. But what we did the very mostest was make these small little bead animals. It’s where you take some beads and you put them on a string in a certain way so they come out as animals….. I don’t really know how to explain it, but if you want to go see, we got all of our patterns from beadiecritters.com. Anywho, so we did that a lot! In fact, I found out that we did over 20 of these little critters.

Austin was SO cute! Oh man, it kills me how cute he is! But yeah it’s adorable because the two things he will randomly say all the time would be NO! and daddy. It’s so cute how he says them, I don’t know how to explain it, just say it like a two year old would say it. Lol. And yep, I think that’s just about it. At least for now.

Just another update

Hey guys, I’m here again, because I decided that for the time being, this will be my journal, essentially. Anywho, so I wanted to say that one, I have been SO excited about my glasses all day! Lol. It’s been great. And the other thing I thought I ought to mention is that I get the opportunity to go out to North Carolina this Saturday! Then my mommy also thinks I should update you on school and my volunteer job, so yeah, I guess I’ll do that too.

So yeah, about me and my new glasses. It’s just been funny how obsessive I’ve been with my new glasses. I can actually see things now. It’s crazy! I often times will push my glasses down to remind me of what I saw yesterday, then put my glasses back on to see how I can see now! Omg, it’s amazing! I wish I could better describe to you the miracle that has just taken place in my life, but oh man, it’s been a miracle. Anyway, so I’ve been super happy all day today (which is unusual). It was kind of funny, in my drama class today I went up to some people and I just said, all peppy, “hi guys!” and this girl in my class named Kimmy was like, “wow, Shannon you’re really happy.” Haha I thought it was great. But yeah it’s just been like that almost all day, just because I can finally see, and I’m so excited about it!

Anywho, so enough about my glasses (for now). Let’s talk about my adventure! I get to go to North Carolina to see my brother, sister-in-law, 2 nieces and my nephew this Saturday! I’m so jazzed! It really is my sweet, little, adorable nephew that has kept me going through some of these hard times (besides Brian Regan of course). Austin’s SO cute! Anyway, so I get to fly out there on my own on Saturday and then I come home on the 23^rd, so I’m still here for Christmas. But yeah, I’m so super excited.

So about school. I surprisingly enough have all As once again. Except one A- but it’s in an AP class, it’s not the end of the term and it’s because I haven’t taken this one test but as soon as I take that it should go up to an A! So yeah, it’s okay that I have one A-. The most amazing thing I think about all of this though would be that I have an A in AP Biology, which would for sure be my hardest class. Anywho, I think that’s it about school……

Finally, volunteer job. I don’t know if we ever told you that I volunteer at the hospital every week, but I do. However, I think it would be the most boring thing EVER. I am on the pediatrics unit so I thought I could maybe play with the kids or something. Turns out, I was flat out wrong. Instead, all I get to do is push a button when a visitor comes and wants to get in to the pediatrics unit of the hospital. So I guess you could say that I am in charge of the security for the pediatrics unit on Mondays from 1:30 to 4:30 but I wouldn’t necessarily call it that. That sounds much more exciting than it really is. But it looks really good on college applications! Lol.

Yeah so I’m pretty sure that’s it. At least for right now. But please, let me know if you have any other questions!

Shannon

I CAN SEE!!!

Dear blog-readers. Today I would just like to update you on one of the most exciting things that happened to me today. I can now see! Oh my gosh, I’m so excited! It’s crazy the difference it makes when I put these glasses on and off, it’s like black and white. That’s how bad my vision has gotten since this injury. Anyway, I should probably back up for just a second. So today we finally got to go see the eye doctor. The reason why I say “finally” and “got to” is because I have wanted to see him for SO long. Just so that I could see again, and not always have to go like 2 feet away from the board to see anything and stuff like that. Anywho, so we finally got to go see him today. He did what I thought he would do, he gave me a prescription for glasses. I think I look SO ugly in glasses, but if it makes it so I can see finally, it’s worth it. So yeah, that would be my big important update for today. But oh my gosh, I’m so excited. It was funny, as we drove around today I just could not stop obsessing about how I can finally see things! Oh man, it’s so great!

Shannon

Brian and progress

So I decided that we don’t need to be so lazy about updating my blog all the time and maybe I should start to update it more often. That is, if anyone still reads it. Because I’m not sure if anyone still even does. So anyway, there are 3 main things I would like to address to you today. First would be BRIAN REGAN!! Second would be standing, and third would be running!

So anyway Brian Regan. Oh man, this was the best thing ever! So my Bishop, who is a CFO for NuSkin, had a business party for their company with a Brian Regan entertainment. So my bishop could get a whole bunch of tickets for this thing so he gave me 6 flipping tickets to go see Brian Regan!!! Oh my gosh, it was incredible! He had quite a few new jokes that I hadn’t heard before, but he also did have some I knew very well. Including this one joke he has that goes something like this: My teacher once asked me what the I before E rule was and I said I before E, always. Okay? So he was forgetting his own lines for this joke but it was great because I was on the third row and I said always before him so he looked down at me and then said always. Oh man it was great. Even though, I unfortunately didn’t see it, my friends and family still told me that was what happened. Anywho, so yeah I got to bring my family and two of my closest friends. It was pretty exciting. And although I did not get to go back and meet him or anything, its ok because I’m still counting on his promise that next time he comes in town we can get backstage passes.

So about standing. If you don’t remember, it was not very long ago when I couldn’t walk without assistance let alone stand for very long. So I still have quite a few issues with standing, like I really just can’t stand for very long but it was so great what happened to me the other day. So I was in seminary and I just didn’t feel like sitting. Which is really weird for me because I ALWAYS feel like sitting. But yeah so anyway, I asked my teacher if I could maybe just stand reverently during class. And he said that would be fine so I did. He eventually said something about having a new calling, being the reverent child, then he also had me come stand at the front of the class to show everyone how reverent I was being. Anywho, so then I got kind of tired not too long after I was up there, but I decided I needed to stick it out to practice standing so I could get better at it. So I then stood up for almost all of the class. At like 2:05 I finally sat down, but yeah, that would mean that I would have been standing for over a whole freaking hour! Which is incredible, by the way. I still can’t do that, unless I force myself to, but I just get tired way too quickly.

So running. Running was great. I found out the other day that I can totally run again! Which is kind of a miracle, no wait, it is a miracle. I totally ran from McDonalds, which is right across the street from the school, into the school! It was great. And granted, I still did kind of feel like the whole world around me was just like bouncing up and down and stuff but I still ran! And that’s really all that matters. Lol. So yeah, I’m jazzed to start playing football again once spring comes back around. I don’t really know who I’d play with but still, it’d still be totally awesome! Anywho, so I think that’s just about it.

Shannon

The big miracle is still emerging!

I keep thinking that I will find the time to post something to the blog. But there always seems to be more to do than can be humanly accomplished. Then I think back on how we dropped everything and lived at the hospital for 7 weeks. Why do we forget such important lessons??

Tonight this entry was prompted by an experience Shan and I had. Shannon still struggles to go to sleep at night. Her dad or I usually spend time with her, reading scriptures, telling her stories (especially about her hospital stay), etc. I guess if you lose a whole month or more from your life, you kind of want to know what was happening to you. A few days ago, Shannon started printing out the blog we have written with all the messages and we started reading it. For me, it has brought back a whole array of emotions that we experienced at the time. As I was reading to Shan tonight, what came back so strongly was all the love and support that we got from so many many people. Many of the posts I had a very hard time getting through for the tears that were in the way! My heart just swelled with gratitude and love for all who have been there for us. It is mind boggling to think of so many.

I was also reminded that we are on a journey towards our one big miracle. In the hospital, we looked for and saw every little miracle along the way. One entry talked about the baby steps we take on the road towards the big miracle. That big miracle is Shannon's full recovery. We aren't there yet. And when I stop to reflect on our daily happenings, I realize that there still are many tender mercies and little miracles coming from our Father in Heaven on our way to that big miracle. We are so close to that big miracle and we see it happening every day. Shannon's strong determination is a great asset to her. She truly is in control of this miracle now!

Early on, when Shannon was slowly coming out of the drug induced coma, several people commented on how Shannon would now have control. Through her hard work and determination, we certainly are seeing that now. She is amazing. The time in the hospital is pretty blurry to her but life today is very real and in her mind, (and it is her experience), this time now is much harder than in the hospital. And still she keeps working to improve and do better and to keep the faith. She is amazing.

Just for the record, I will give you a few updates. Shannon's eyes continue to improve albeit very slowly. Her balance is really doing well most of the time. Her awareness of people and things around her continues to increase. Due to the doctor's comments, we are letting Shannon drive occasionally when she is with us. She is doing rather well but her reflexes and awareness are still not quite strong enough to take the needed driving test. As she mentioned, she got a 4.0 last term but she had to really work hard. She had lots of support from her Dad and her teachers but she did it. Her moods are stabelizing and her coping skills are increasing. As I said, she really is amazing and is making ongoing progress.

It puts things into perspective when you see the doctors. 6 weeks ago when we saw the neurosurgeon after a month, he walked in, looked at her and his eyes began to fill with tears, just seeing her there. Last week when we told him about her grades, he looked at her, slowly began to shake his head and said, "Unbelievable!". Yes, when we remember where she was a little over 6 months ago, we all know that it is a miracle. That miracle continues to happen and the end in not here yet. We are grateful to know that the Lord is still very mindful of Shannon and our family. We know that prayers continue to be answered. It is never as fast as she (or any of us for that matter) would like, but the answers do come!

Congratulations Shannon on your 6 month mark! You continue to defy all odds! And we are so glad! We love you!