Beautiful Plan

Shea's surgery was almost eight weeks ago. It's hard to believe the time has passed so quickly, and even though it seems slow, it's good to see the healing take place from week to week.

Shea spent the first four weeks without her three front teeth, but surprisingly that didn't stop her from living life. She went to an Atlanta Braves game, church, Salon 124 to get her hair trimmed and out to coffee with friends. This may be a little crass, but sometimes we all just need a little comic relief! We were driving to an appointment on the 85 and passed a trucker who had a sign taped to his window -- "FLASH ME!" Do you dare me, mom? Next thing I knew Shea smashed her face to the window and flashed the biggest toothless smile!! She loved his reaction -- "Scared him to death!"

Shea finally got temporary teeth again. Dr. Mills did an excellent job, and just this week Shea went to Dr. Salama's to get braces . . . again! We did have trouble with the palate expander as it expanded her palate too far, especially on one side. So now she has to turn the "key" the opposite direction every other day. The concern is that if this does not work, they will have to rebreak her hard palate.

We are surprised that Shea has considerable swelling in her face. Her left cheek bone still appears to jut out, making it appear that her cheek bones still are not symmetrical. According to the x-rays it looks good, and we probably won't really see much change until after her jaw surgery. Shea has an appointment soon with Dr. Nunn who will give us an honest evaluation of her progress.

None of this seems to be of much concern to Shea. She continues to surprise and delight us. God has blessed her life with the most amazing and unexpected blessing, and even now, Shea continues to say that all she has endured, even though the path has twisted and turned, is part of God's beautiful plan for her life. Psalm 119:71 -- "The suffering you sent was good for me . . ."

Love and thanks to all of you --

The Hickoks