It goes something like this...
It all began on a hot Saturday afternoon in the summer of 2003.... It was 2:00 p.m. on July 12th and we were in the lovely little town of Natchitoches, LA when we said "I do" and began our journey together as the most blissful couple on planet Earth. :-) Our days were happy and our lives seemed perfect. We bought a little red brick house in Shreveport and had visions of starting a family of our own. I became pregnant after about a year, but miscarried in my 1st trimester; and though that was a huge disappointment, that didn't change the hopes, plans or dreams we had for our future.
In the summer of 2004, we bought a beautiful old two-story home (circa 1890) in the village of Grand Cane, LA, which we lovingly began to restore. We spent all of our extra time, money and energy working on that old house, transforming it into a home--our home. And then, just three and a half short years after our story began, our journey took a devastating turn.
January 29, 2007 is a day that we will never forget.
That cold Monday morning Kenny left for work as usual, headed for Calumet Lubricants (an oil refinery) in Haughton, Louisiana. About that same time I left for my teaching job at Grand Cane School, just one block from our house. It was 8:15 a.m. and I had just finished taking roll when I received "the call". A man's voice told me that Kenny had fallen from an oil tank and was being air lifted to LSU Medical Center for treatment. I rushed to the hospital and soon learned that he had broken his neck, paralyzing him from the armpits down.
And just like that, our lives were changed forever.
After spending 17 days at the trauma center in Shreveport, the two of us took an air ambulance to Denver, Colorado, where Kenny began his recovery program at Craig Hospital, an internationally renowned rehabilitation center. I lived at the facility with him for the entire 4 1/2 months that followed, and it was there that we began learning what life with SCI (spinal cord injury) is.
In June of 2007, just 5 months after Kenny's accident, we were released from the rehab center and returned to Louisiana. We spent the next 14 months living in an apartment in Bossier City while our home in Grand Cane was being modified for Kenny's wheelchair. And then...the long awaited day finally came! On July 29, 2008--a full year and a half after Kenny's accident--our house was completed and we moved back home. It really is true that "there's no place like home!"
These days we are enjoying our lives together and focusing on what's ahead of us. We still have a long way to go to get where we want to be, but rest assured, we will get there! Kenny is continuing to work hard and grow stronger everyday. I, too, am working harder than ever, caring for my precious husband and learning how to make our lives as normal and easy as possible. We've learned so much...books could not contain! But I suppose the most important thing we have experienced--and experience daily--is God's faithfulness to us!
We are praying and believing that God will heal Kenny and that he will walk again; and in the meantime, we are WALKING BY FAITH! We do not depend on what we see with our eyes, for those things are just temporary anyway, you know. We have discovered God's Grace in a new way... His Compassion, His Mercy, His Strength.... We know for sure that our purpose while on this journey--whether walking, running, or sitting--is to bring glory & honor to Him and Him alone; and that, my friends, we will do!
As a final note, I am eager to report that Kenny is STILL the most handsome man in the universe and that we are still enjoying marital bliss. :-) We've come to a deeper understanding of what unconditional love is all about and what true commitment means. We've learned, too, that it's not what happens to you on this journey ("stuff" happens to everybody!); it's how you respond to what happens to you on this journey that matters.
2 Corinthians 5:1-11 (The Message) says it best...
"...We know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like
tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in
heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our
"tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out
in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around
here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of
it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our
resurrection bodies!
The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less. That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.
But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad. That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure."
The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less. That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.
But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad. That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure."
What else can we say?
We hope you are inspired by our website and will come back often to see the progress we're making. We're on a wonderful journey and we know that the best is yet to be!
Walking By Faith Together,
Kenny & Julie Mills
~~~~~~~><>
