Look what Emma Got?!!

After months of waiting, it finally came! Emma's wheelchair got here Thursday afternoon. She looks like such a big kid in it. Her therapists have been working with her in a little cart, trying to teach her how to push the wheels to move around. The first time she sat in it, she knew just what to do and started cruising around. Of course, she could only go a few inches as the wheelchair guy was still adjusting the seat and the straps and all. She is still learning to walk, and still will walk someday. It was explained to us that the wheelchair will be a way for her to budget her energy. It takes so much effort and energy for her to move. Instead of her using all her energy to walk to the playground, she can ride there, and use her energy to actually play with her friends. It will also help her in school to sit up for long periods of time (she'll be starting a special needs preschool in March.)

We are incredibly grateful to the Golden Spike Elks here in Roy. Our insurance is good, it paid 80% but wheelchairs are custom made for their owners, and very expensive. It seemed like every time we talked to the medical supply company, the amount of our portion increased. We didn't have any idea how we were going to come up with all the money. They do have a payment plan.....You've got three months to pay, after that, they start charging interest. (18% yikes!) Luckily for us, there was a nice lady who works at the Children's Justice Center with Bub who happens to be a member of the Elks club. She approached him, not knowing that we were worried about payment. And told him that if any of our family members had been Elks, that the elks club could help us take care of expenses for medical equipment. We weren't sure at first if we should take them up on the offer. We are so blessed, and there are so many other people who need help so much more than we do. But as time went on, we just couldn't see how we would possibly be able to do it. It's so hard to admit that you need help to take care of your family, and even harder to ask for help. At first I thought to myself, "This is humiliating" then I realized, no, It's humbling. There is a difference. We found that Bub's grandpa was an elk, as well as our own Grandpa Carr. I got a strong feeling that Grandpa Carr really wanted to help Emma and would be honored for us to use his name to ask the Elks for help. So we did it. It was humbling. very humbling. But they were so kind, and so loving. They 'passed around the hat' and immediately came up with even more than we thought we needed. They told us they wanted us to keep the excess for anything else Emma might need. (Turns out the final bill will take all of it anyway.) It's hard to put into words, but I think Heavenly Father wanted us to have this experience. I feel so much more grateful for everything we have, and everything we have earned on our own after having had to ask for help. Long Story short: We are REALLY grateful to the Elks. We couldn't have done it without them.

Long post, but I just wanted to share the news, and I can't help but be grateful.
Love you all! Sooz