Wow!  There is such power in prayer.  Tonight we opened the Pray for Lydia gmail account, and we were amazed to see 500 emails!  Thank you, thank you for your prayers!  Lydia is progressing faster than the usual course for brain injury patients.  She is amazing her therapists, nurses and doctors.  We love the way one nurse expressed it : "She's on the miracle track!"
Psalm 139:14 I will give thanks to You because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made.  Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.  (God's word translation)  Lydia is healing at God's pace and, by His hand.  We praise him for her recovery each day.  She is being made new.
Today has been a wonderful day for Lydia and for our family.  She has not been sad, fearful or angry, but joyful, alert and making good cognitive connections.  She is sorting out many thing in her mind.  She makes very thorough introductions!  In prayer, she thanked God "for Daddy, whose name is James, and who is married to Mommy, whose name is Michelle, and for their two sons, who are Sam and Ben, and for their one daughter whose name is Lydia, and that is me." Today she told me about the names and gender of the four children in our friend's family, naming them as she did.  It seemed random, as we had not been discussing them at all today, but gave proof of her sorting through information stored.   There was even repeated evidence of short term memory improvements today!  This morning, she wanted to see if she could still do the splits, and she was elated that she could.  Throughout the day, she would say, "I can do the splits" to anyone she talked to.  At one time, when I thought she was almost a sleep at nap time, she sat straight up in bed, and exclaimed "I can do the splits, do you want to see?"  She was certainly remembering her accomplishment!  (Lydia worked very hard on her flexibility last year, so that she would be able to do the splits for cheerleading.)
Go Lydia, go!  We will cheer lead for you!