April 30, 2006

Dear Family and Friends,

          I posted Ryan's schedule a few minutes ago and it's amazing how busy he is!  It's a far cry from even six weeks ago when he was still so sick.  Over the past week, we've had a chance to look at the journal we kept for Ryan during the beginning of his time at Craig.  The doctors and therapists kept telling us how well he would do once he felt stable enough to begin his rehabilitation.  I can still remember the first few times the physical therapist tried to sit Ryan up in bed at Littleton Hospital . . . it was so painful to watch.  Now he is wheeling around in his manual chair, learning to drive, doing "para" style transfers without a slide board, feeding himself, dressing himself with a little help, showering, etc.  We are so grateful for the progress he is making and his independent spirit.  He is such a remarkable young man!  (I think its okay for Moms to say that!)

          Today was Stake Conference with our first televised session from Salt Lake.  Elder Oaks, L. Tom Perry and President Monson were the speakers and the broadcast was for all of the stakes in Colorado, Montana and Wyoming.  Their messages were inspiring.  Ryan spoke in the 9:00am Youth Session and really enjoyed preparing for his topic, "What I Am Grateful For."  He narrowed it down to 'Being Grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ' and more specifically his feelings about the gifts of Agency, the Atonement and Resurrection.

          Following are a couple of the quotes Ryan used for during his talk.

 

 Sacrifice is never convenient.

In fact, the truer measure of sacrifice

isn't so much what one gives to

sacrifice as what one sacrifices to give.

 Faith isn't tested so much when the

 cupboard is full as when it is bare.

 In these defining moments,

the crisis doesn't create one's

character it reveals it.

The crisis is the test.

Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy

May 2005, Ensign

Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1916

But to every mind there openeth,
A way, and way, and away,
A high soul climbs the highway,
And the low soul gropes the low,
And in between on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.

But to every man there openeth,
A high way and a low,
And every mind decideth,
The way his soul shall go.

One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
'Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
'Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.

 
We hope you all have a great week.

 
Love, Bridgette, Barry, Ryan and Kaitlyn