Anna's Rocky Mountain Adventure

 At the beginning of May, we moved Anna to Estes Park (to live with Aaron's parents) to work her dream summer job as a wrangler/trail guide! She was excited to spend her days on the back of a horse in the Rocky Mountains!! It ended up being such a challenging few months. Her boss was verbally abusive to the wranglers, especially Anna, and abused the new horses during "training", refused to hire more help (they had half the number of wranglers they normally staff), and made them all work very long hours with no extra days off. It was a rocky start with her co-workers as well, all of whom came from VERY different backgrounds, but her integrity & kindness earned the respect of every single co-worker by the end of the summer. God really stretched and grew her and I'm really proud of her for fulfilling her commitment to the company (even though no one would have faulted her for quitting under such circumstances). I promised Anna we would come visit her every month, and we got pretty close to that!

At the end of June, for Anna's 19th birthday, we surprised her by bringing Papa & Binga and her 2 best friends along for our monthly-ish trip to visit her. It was so fun and it was just what she needed to keep going!

She took us (well, those of us who wanted to ride!) on a trail ride and gave a perfect ride!

It was so fun to see her in her element.

She really missed her friends, though!!

Showing them all the horses (over 120 of them!), naming them off, and giving random facts about each one.

We had NEVER heard her talk so much in one sitting!!!

Papa and Binga rented an AirBnB for us and the girls to all stay at...it was the perfect "weekend away" that Anna needed!

A trip downtown for shopping and matching hoodies for the girls!

At the beginning of August, we took a quick trip to see her again. She was so homesick and really struggling with the awful work environment. We kept encouraging her to find the good every day, look for ways to be kind to others, and cling to the Truth of God's word (little did we know how much all of us would need that advice in the weeks to come!!!).

We went to the Alluvial Fan that Sunday to have our own church service overlooking God's incredible creation.

She also asked that I fix a homecooked meal for all the wranglers, so I made BBQ meatballs, baked potatoes, and green beans...one of her favorite meals! They all appreciated something other than microwave dinners and Hot Pockets!

At the end of August, Anna sustained a severe double concussion, just 2 weeks before she was done, when a draft horse kicked a solid steel gate into her head. She had a small cut on her forehead which required 5 stitches. Only by a miracle is she still alive. The force of the kick and the solid gate alone could've killed her, not to mention she could have easily been trampled because she was in the sorting pen when it happened. She was able to get right up and shut the gate and then passed out. Her co-workers sprang into action and carried her to the barn where they stopped the bleeding, but she passed out 2 more times and threw up 7 times by the time they got her to the ER (probably only took 15 minutes from the time it happened to when she was at the ER). I got an unexpected call from Anna at 10:30am but it was a co-worker, letting me know that Anna took a gate to the head, and they had taken her to the ER. She kind of left out a lot of details so I didn't actually know how bad it was. The next week was full of hard. Praise God she did not have a fracture or brain bleed, but the double concussion was so severe. She had no depth perception, so riding in a car was torture especially since she gets car sick in the mountains anyway. She couldn't go up and down stairs. She really couldn't even walk without assistance. I could not go bring her home because she wouldn't have made it down the canyon, let alone an entire 8-hour drive back home. After about a week, it became apparent that she had to come home. She wasn't improving a lot, and she just needed a place that was very familiar and comforting without stress as her brain tried to make sense of everything. She had long- and short-term memory loss, had a very hard time focusing and comprehending and even speaking. Mom, Dad, and I finally drove through the night to go pack up all her stuff (she also took Sadie with her, because Sadie would have literally died of loneliness without Anna) and bring her home. She was in bad shape by the time she finished with a follow-up doctor appointment before she could be released to go home (work comp mess). We gave her some nausea meds and drove halfway home, staying with family. Getting her home went a long way in helping her brain be comfortable enough to start healing, but we're still on the road to healing 7 weeks later.

Saying goodbye to some of her co-workers

Thankful for Papa's pickup so we could fit all the humans, the dog, and Anna's stuff!

After an all-night drive, I enjoyed a Ziggi's latte while I walked around the lake waiting for Anna to wake up and letting my folks take a nap in the truck.

It was a really rough ride home. We only went halfway (4 hours). She was finally able to sleep a bit and then slept pretty good that night with me. For a long time after we got her home, she would wake up and forget where she was and not know where anyone was. It was quite terrifying for her.

Sadie was an incredible comfort to Anna. When her world seemed in total chaos after the accident, Sadie was the only safe & familiar thing her brain could remember. And Sadie knew that Anna needed her. What a blessing that dog has been!! There will never be another like Sadie.

There were lots of people happy to have Anna home. Grace probably missed her the most!

But this sweet kiddo was a close second! Miles has loved Anna from the day we started going to Maranatha!! He missed her all summer and asked about her often. He is SO happy to have her back!

Daddy was more than happy to have his girl back.

She still hasn't been cleared to work. She hasn't been able to join the worship team again. She can't ride her horse or start breaking June. She can drive, but not toward evening or after dark because she gets tired and easily confused still. It's so frustrating for her to do nothing but rest. Having to deal with work comp adds another layer to the whole ordeal. Thankfully they have been okay to work with for the most part. She is having progressively worse/more frequent headaches and still has significant short- and long-term memory loss. We are all frustrated with the stall-out in her healing. My brother and sister-in-law recommended a brain therapy place that seems like it would be very beneficial, so she has started that. We are praying that this will help her brain open up those neuropathways and finish up the healing process!