It's September 29

Today marks the one year anniversary of... (dun dun dun) THE CAR ACCIDENT.
The car accident was both a good and bad thing (that's being optimistic).

It's not ideal to be faced with a car accident right after getting married, but it provided us newly-weds with some great opportunities to learn and grow together. For example, we had to buy a car together. Through that, we learned about managing our finances together, and also discussing, agreeing, and compromising on ideas. That was only a minor part, but it was good (and the new car was worth less, so payments were cheaper and it's already paid off!!!). The bad stuff was of course my back injury, dealing with insurance, having piles of medical bills sitting in a box in our apartment, my head injury and emotional trauma from that, falling behind in school, and the list could go on. However, all that "bad stuff" was also good. It's funny how you can look back on what you thought was a horrible experience and see what good has come from it. We have learned patience and compromise. We have truly learned what it means to love. We have seen each other at our worst, and we still love each other. We have gotten to heal together and grow closer to each other and God. We have both developed a new talent in swimming (the fact that we can swim multiple laps is a talent in my opinion). We have learned to analyze situations. We have learned to serve each other--along with others around us. We have learned to manage time. THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD THAT COMES FROM A BAD EXPERIENCE! No matter what the experience. We are able to look back on many experiences and see what God has been trying to teach us. And we are still learning every day :) The most important thing we have learned through it all is to have faith in God and in each other. God has promised us some wonderful things, things that are way to personal to share. But I want everyone to know that I truly believe in God and that He knows each and every one of us and that Jesus Christ has felt our exact pain for every situation. I have been very, very blessed this year, despite the fact that I was in that awful car accident :)

Now, it's a year later and my back and neck are still struggling. I went to a different chiropractor, got new x-rays and an evaluation from him, and we learned that I really haven't made much progress in the past year. It's sad, but now we have a goal. With this new chiropractor, we have set the goal for 30 visits and are aiming to reach my maximum  healing potential. That's going to be approximately 4-5 months. I might even be able to run a full mile by next weekend (not sure. We still need to discuss that). One of my life goals is to run a marathon. I got to a point where I realized this year that I will probably never do that. I got really down on myself and thought I would not even be able to run a full mile ever again. But now I have hope, and that is why I am sharing this with you all. Dr. Erickson has told me that after a year, I should have progressed a lot more than I have. He says that after our 30 treatments I should be able to do whatever I want. We are giving him a 6 week trial and doing x-rays again to see if I'm making progress like he says I should. If I am, we are sticking with him until I reach my potential. And I'M GOING TO RUN A MARATHON ONE DAY. I'm also going to do a triathlon. So, if there are any of you in the Provo area who want to experience this joy with me and eventually run and train with me, let's do it :) I'll probably do a few small races next summer and maybe a sprint triathlon. Then work up from there.

And now I really want to thank everyone who has stood by us this year. You know who are you are. You have helped us get through hard times. We love you!