Thanksgiving 2011 - Much to be thankful for!!

Well we (the Fife family) all had a great Thanksgiving!  We all went south to St George to spend the holiday with Opa.  Casey, Kevin and Braxton joined us as well.  Time spent with family is always a good time, especially when the grand baby is involved!

Elder Fife is still serving on the Floria State University campas  and the other colleges in the area with Elder Snow.  He is really excited with this transfer because they have a baptism scheduled for Dec. 8th and he didn't want to miss it due to transfers.  Also he and Elder Snow are getting along really well and working as one so it is a win win situation.  There was one little change for Elder Fife this transfer though, he was made District Leader!  He says he is a little nervous because he is not only responsible for himself and his companion but now he is also  responsible for other missionaries as well.  President must feel he is up for the task.  We here at home know that he will be fine and he is up for the task.  Dave emailed Cory back with some words of encouragement, "Remember how you have learned trust the Lord in all you do? Well there you go! Trust in the Lord and all will work out."  If we have learned anything this past year, this is it! :)  Trust in the Lord and all will work out.

We wish you all a fabulous holiday season!  It is a season filled with much love, joy and a ton of gratitude here at our home.

May the Lord bless us all and may we all show our love for him the beautiful holiday season.  Reach out to those near you and to those who may not be so near to you.  Share your love for Christ with all those you come in contact with, you will not be sorry we promise you.  People notice your love for Christ. :)

Love you all!!

The Fife Family and Elder Fife

October 24, 2011 Update

Well Elder Fife is doing great!  He is now serving on the FSU campus and is in a college ward.  He is loving it there and he is so glad  to be surrounded by people. He loves getting out wallking and talking with people.  Being in the car most of the time in his last area was a little hard for him and he said it made him pretty tired, but now he and his new companion walk everywhere they need to go and he is loving it!  His endurance is getting better everyday and he is learning much in Florida.  It has been a little bit of an adjustment, but he is taking all the good from the Macon Georgia Mission and the Florida Tallahassee Mission and mixing it all together.   Elder Fife is getting his grove back and life is good! 

Often he expresses his love for his family, his ward family, his friends and the people he has and is serving.  He says his Mission President is a great man and he is enjoying serving with him.  Mission Presidents and their wives are truely a blessing to missionaries and their families.We here at home have to agree with him that life is good! 

We got a few new pictures today so I will try to post them, I just need directions from Dave.

We contiune to be sorry for our attention to this blog.  WE ARE TRYING BUT FAILING.  If you haven't heard from us please remind us, we could use the help. Thank you Sister Dalton. :)



Thank you everyone for you continued love and support.  We love you all some much. :)  We will really work at getting better about updating everyone. 


The Fife Family

Serving in Pensacola...

Elder Fife and Elder Lundgren

We are so grateful .....

Arriving at SLC Airport on 8/30/2011

 Getting our  last hugs in before he heads through security.

 The whole family together one last time until 2013.

And the long awaited farewell between Father and Son.


Elder Fife's flight left at a ridiculously early hour so we were all up by 4:00 am.  The girls had to get ready for school because they would be dropped off once we got back to town. Oh they were excited!  As Cory was going through security Corrine started to cry saying "I just lost my most best friend ever",  It was so sad to watch, I just hugged her and told her that she wasn't losing her best friend but that he was going away for a short while and he would be back real soon and not to worry because she would be able to write him and talk with him through email and on Christmas and Mothers day.

Since Elder Fife arrived he has called us to let us know that he arrived in Florida and the mission home safely and has his new companion Elder Lundgren.  He loves the work and he is excited to serve the people of Florida.  He is especially excited to serve with Elder Lundgren again.

They have a few baptisms scheduled for this month and they are hoping for more.  I know the people of Georgia were good member missionaries, they helped the missionaries quite a bit there.  I hope we all can work to become member missionaries and help the missionaries serving in our areas.  It is a work in progress in our home that is for sure.  May we all help the work move forward and help grow the Kingdom of God.

BY PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

General Conference—No Ordinary Blessing

A fine member of the Church was talking with a neighbor who was not of our faith. When the topic of discussion turned to general conference, the neighbor asked, “You say you have prophets and apostles? And twice a year in a worldwide conference they reveal the word of God?”

“Absolutely,” the member replied with confidence.

The neighbor thought about that for a moment. He seemed genuinely interested and then asked, “What did they say in the last general conference?”

At this point the good member of the Church went from feeling excited about sharing the gospel to feeling embarrassed. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of the details of a single talk.

His friend found this troubling and said, “You mean to tell me that God speaks to man in our day and you can’t remember what He said?”

The brother felt humbled by this exchange. He vowed that he would do better to remember the words spoken by the Lord’s servants in general conference.

We all know how hard it is to remember every message of general conference, and I’m confident that we need not be embarrassed if we don’t remember everything. Nevertheless, there are messages in each general conference given as a gift and a blessing from heaven specifically for our personal life situations.

As we prepare for General Conference may we all prepare ourselves to receive the gifts and blessing for our personal lives.  May we be grateful for the gift of General Conference and enjoy our time as well listen to and receive counsel from the leaders of the church.  We hope you all enjoy your Conference weekend.

We love you all so much!

The Fife Family

Elder Fife checks in

Tuesday afternoon we received a call from Elder Fife.  He was calling to let us know that he had arrived in Florida and the mission home safely.  He was so excited and he sounded so up beat and happy.  He was especially happy to tell us who his new companion was.  Elder Fife is serving with Elder Lundgren!  They had served together in Savannah so he is so excited and happy and ready to get to work.

Elder Fife's address:       Elder Cory Fife
                                       Florida Tallahassee Mission
                                       1535 Killeam Center Blvd. Ste. C-3
                                       Tallahassee, FL 32309-3467


Please share his address, we sure he would love to hear from you all.

Thanks for everything and we will keep you ll posted. Have a great holiday weekend!

David, Linda and the rest of the family. :)

And the blessings continue......

August 29th,2011

Well it is sad to say but we really haven't done a great job as of late with this blog.  We are so sorry for the gaps in our story, it is just some days it is hard to write because nothing has really changed much.  Well this last few weeks we have had some significant change.  First we were sent to a Neuro Surgeon who had time for us and wanted to see Cory.  This appointment took months to set up but it was well worth the wait.    We met a gentleman who was truly interested in Cory and his situation.  After a close look at everything and ordering some new xray, Cory was given a clean bill of health.  He will only need to  go back for follow up if he starts having headaches, vision problems, or any other problems with anything.  So this was a huge thing we finally got checked off the list.  Then we had the broken leg that was still broken.  Well since it took so long for us to be seen by the Neuro Surgeon, the 3 months he needed to wait for another xray of the leg was almost upon us.  Well then Cory needed to see his regular doctor for something else and he told Cory "We can just take an x-ray of you leg and see how it is doing and send it over to the Ortho Doc, there's really no reason to wait another week.  Well the results were great and Cory broken leg was finally healed all the way through.  This was big because now he could run and jump and climb the stairs like he always has! He has been slowly jogging with Dave since he got the ok!

Next Cory had a meeting with the Stake President.  He told Cory what was needed to get himself back out into the mission field so that day Cory contacted his doctor and asked for his release papers and sent him an example of what was needed.  The Dr.  provided what was asked for from the First Presidency.  Now Cory needed to do his part and get his letter together stating why he wanted to serve.  Cory then took both letters over to the Stake President who then got his letter together and sent them all off to Salt Lake to the Missionary Department.  Now we were told that it should only take  7 to 10 days max, but three weeks later there was nothing.  The Missionary dept doctor called and asked if we had heard anything yet but no we had not.  He said that he would be working at the Missionary Department tomorrow (Monday) and that he would check into it.  Well when he got to work he went over and asked a few people if they had seen the paperwork for an Elder Cory Fife and they all said no but that they new of him and were waiting for the paperwork from his Stake President.  The Missionary Doctor then called us and let us know that they hadn't received Cory's papers yet and asked us to check with the Stake President.  Well we called and we called and we had a hard time trying to get a hold of him.  So we just figured the papers got lost in the mail and we would need to get copies and resend them.  Dave had called the Stake President's Executive Secretary to get all the papers so we could fed-x  them to Salt Lake.  Well wednesday rolls around and Dave was looking at something for church and saw that Cory's letter had been sent out that day.  About an hour later Cory gets a call from the Stake President and he says,"Elder Cory Fife you have been called to serve in the Florida Tallahassee mission and you will be departing from Salt Lake City Airport on Tuesday morning.  Oh we were all screaming and hollering and so happy that this day had finally arrived.  Cory has had a smile on his face since he got the good news! So the day after tomorrow we will be dropping Elder Fife off at the airport so he can catch up with a group of missionaries who are heading to Tallahassee from the MTC. We have found out that one of the young men is a class mate of Cory's and he is excited to serve with him.  And the blessings continue.......

We are so blessed and this has been one crazy ride.  We have had much worry and concern, many tears and a lot of fears, long nights and days, many hours wondering what was next, but through it all we had faith in God and we knew he was in charge and that if we trusted him we were all going to be ok, one way or another we were all going to be ok.

As a family we have learned much, as individuals we have learned much, and as children of a loving Heavenly Father  we have learned the most.  This experience has definitely been the refiners fire working in our home and we are all so grateful for the opportunities it has given each of us.  We will all be forever changed and this is a good thing.  We have witnessed many spiritual and holy things these past months.  We are closer because of it, we are more grateful for the small simple things because of it,  and we know the truth of the gospel more fully because of it.  We are better people because of it.  This experience is truly a gift to us on so many levels.  Please hold your loved ones tight and tell them you love them, do this everyday because you never know it could be your last chance.

Thanks you for all you have done.  We are forever grateful!
We love you all!
The Fife Family & Elder Cory Fife.  

Life is good!

We went to the Orthopedic yesterday and we got good news.  The bone stimulator is working and the bone is healing!!  The doctor said it would be another three months before it is solid so he wants Cory to continue to wear the bone stimulator for another 3 months.  He also said he is ok with him going back out on his mission but he will need to be able to rest his leg when it begins to hurt from excessive walking and such.  He also said he would like him to stay in Utah but that is not set in stone.  Cory was glad to hear that his leg is finally beginning to heal but disappointed that it will take another 3 months before he is cleared completely for his leg.  We are still waiting to hear from the Neurologist, hopefully soon.  Next week Cory has his driving evaluation and he is really excited for that, he would like to be able to drive here soon.  The therapy is winding down too, we have one more session next week.   So as you can see we are still moving forward in the right direction, but of course it is not as fast as Elder Fife would like.  Linda and Cate are off to girls camp next week and we are hoping that Cory wil be heading back out somewhere to serve shortly after they get back.  We will keep you updated.

We love you.

Dave, Linda, Cory and girls

Still Waiting

Well we have gone to the Neuro Surgeon and all we got was an x-ray and CT scan order.  We are not quite sure why we had to wait 12 weeks or so to get this appointment but it was really disappointing.  So we just continue to move on one day at a time, but this too is getting difficult the better Cory is getting.  He is volunteering at the MTC 2 to 3 times a week and going to therapy 2 times a weeks.  We are surely burning the road to Provo that's for sure.  Tomorrow we see the rehab doctor and he will go over the head CT Scan that we had done today.  We will have to wait for the Neuro Surgeon to review the other  films before we get another appointment with him, hopefully we won't have to wait too long.  June 7th we go back to the Orthopedic to have a look at the broken leg.  We are thinking it is doing good because Cory's pain level has been a lot less, 0 to 2, since he starting wearing the bone stimulator, so we are very hopeful.

We hope everyone have a great holiday weekend and we will update again soon!

We love you all and are so grateful for all your support and love.
Love Dave, Linda, Cory and girls

Every Day a Little Better

Well the last few weeks Cory has been doing pretty good.  His leg is bothering him less and he will go see the orthopedic surgeon in about 3 weeks to check the process on that.  His pain level has been less with an occasional sharp shooting pain at the break site.  He has also been serving at the MTC twice a week which is helping his moral tremendously.   He loves to go there, he loves feeling closer to the work and the spirit is so strong there.  When he walks out he is on cloud 9!  We also finally got some good news, we got our appointment with the nero surgeon on  Thursday at 3:00.  We have been waiting for weeks for this appointment and we are all anxiously waiting to  her the results.  Cory is so ready to take off that collar he has to where all the time.  We aslo have an appointment with the rehab doctor on the 27th of May.  So as you can see we all have high hopes for the up coming weeks.  We are really excited and hoping for good news all around. It is amazing to see how far is has come.  It is a definite testimony of all the many  prayers being said on Cory's  behalf.  It is quite overwhelming  to be able to sit and watch events of the past so clear and then really see the present so clear and real.  The changes are unbelievable in such a sort time,

Thank you for all you do and for all of  your prayers and support.  There is no way we would have made it this far with out all of you.  We are so grateful and willing and able to help any of you out with anything you need.  What a gift to have so many people really cared about out family, care about people they don't even know or have ever meet.  We have really felt the grace of God in our lives in a way we have never experienced before,   This is a life altering event that will never be forgotten, it will stay at the forefront of our minds for ever,  I remember a saying that goes something like this, " Treat others the way you want to be treated, because you never know when you might need it:,


We love you all and you are forever friends to us here at the Fife house.


Until next post.


PS - Catylin lost her first game last week but won the second one so they are off to State Playoffs in St George next weekend.  Woo Hoo we have another chance to see the grandbaby!!


Talk to you seen
The Fife Family :)

It's Been a Good Week!

Well since last post things are looking up!  Cory got the "bone stimulator" last week, he wears it for about 23 hours a day, they say the more you wear it the better the results sooooo.  The pain in his leg is also getting better, the pain level is back down to 1 to 3.  Also this week we are starting to do therapy twice a week, one day less a week!  We have been to Provo more in the last 2 months then we have in the last 5 years, but it's all good.  More good news is Cory received a calling last Sunday, he is now a Ward Missionary!  He is pretty happy about that!  Oh, one more thing, Cory is also volunteering at the MTC 1 or 2 times a week and he is really happy about that!!  So as you can see this past week has been a good week!  Cory's spirits are up and he is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  He even got to mow the yard this week on the riding lawn mower.  Now he is talking about borrowing a friends tractor and cleaning up the pastures.  He is feeling much better and getting around really good as you can tell.

We are so sorry that our posting has not been fabulous since we have been home.  Between both of us working, rehab and doctors appointments along with the girls activities it has been tough to keep up.  Our intent is to post an update about once a week, we will try really hard to let you all know how everything is going more often.

We are so grateful for all of your prayers, love and support.  We are so blessed and we thank you for everything.

We hope you are all enjoying a beautiful spring.  The weather here in Utah can't seem do decide if it is spring yet!  So we just keep hoping for a little warmer weather.

We love you all and we will update you on Cory's continued progress next week.

Love
Dave, Linda and Cory

Broken Leg Still Broken

Well we went to the orthopedic doctor last Thursday and well the news wasn't great.  They found a little problem, the piece of bone that broke off of the tibia is not healing very well and there is probably movement there that is causing Cory increased pain.  The doctor said he can see some bone growth there but not what they would expect after 3 months.  So the plan is something called bone regeneration.  They use some kind of stem machine right on the break and this will increase blood flow in the area which should promote bone growth.  We will have to do this for 6 to 8 weeks and then x-ray it to see if it is working, if not they will have to replace the rod in Cory's leg with a bigger/strong rod.  We are praying that the bone regeneration will work so he doesn't have to go thru surgery again with anesthesia.

Everything else seems to be improving.  Speech therapy continues to go well and physical therapy is also expect for the pain in his leg.  We are hoping to see the Neuro Surgeon soon to see how his neck injury is doing.

Even though this past week has been a little rough Cory is doing very well.  He visited with our Stake President yesterday and the motto for this week is "Positive Thoughts".  This is not always easy and we must say that Cory is much better at it then us most days, but we continue to work on this everyday and try to remember that we must continue through this trail one day at a time.  One day at a time we continue to endure without feeling overwhelmed or defeated.  We feel grateful for one more day of progress and one more day of improvement.  Everyday we continue to feel the Lords tender mercies in our lives which brings us hope and peace.  We also feel all of your love and support and we are so grateful for all of you.

Even though our lives are different right now, "Life is still good".  We are so blessed and we love you all. Thanks for all you do!  We wouldn't be where we are without all of you.

Love The Fife Family.

Just a little bump!

The last few days Cory's leg has been bothering a lot more then normal.  His pain level has been at an 8 or 9 which is higher then it has been in weeks.  He said it feels like the the bone is shirring where it was broken, so we will be seeing an orthopedic surgeon Thursday morning to see if we can figure out what is going on.  The labs they took today all came back ok so it doesn't look like an infection, but his leg is a little warm to the touch.  So hopefully we can get this figured out here soon.  Cory is a little worried they might have to do surgery on his leg again, thus extending is medical leave, but we are trying to just take this one day at a time.  That is what we have been doing since day one and we have done pretty well, so why change now?  Blessings continue to come each and every day and we are all so grateful.  We feel the Lords tender mercies everyday.  We have known from the beginning that Heavenly Father is in charge and we just need to trust in him.  How can we not with all that we have experienced.  Life is GOOD!!  Everything will work out just fine, we just need to remain faithful and be patient each and everyday.  We are so grateful for your many prayers and for the love and support we continue to receive from all of you.

We wish ya'll a very happy Easter! We will keep you updated.

Love Dave, Linda, Cory and the whole Fife Family :)

Ok, so I know this is terribly late....

My apologies for not posting more often. Between, therapy, doctor appointments, Caytlin and Corrine's sports, both of us working full time... well, you get the idea. I know that there are many that are wondering how Elder Fife is doing. 

He is going to physical and speech therapy three days a week. His voice is finally sort of sounding like his own, just much quieter. He tries to yell at Stewart (our chubby black lab who ALWAYS barks!), but all that comes out is a whisper. He has been getting stronger and seems to have more endurance as well. His balance is better, but still off. 

He has been able to meet his nephew Braxton, who was born while he was in Georgia. 

Elder Sorensen (Cory's first companion) was able to come over a couple of weeks ago. It was great to see the way Cory's light up when he came. 

So, for General Conference weekend, we had Brother Chris fly out to stay with us and attend the Conference sessions. While we were at the Saturday morning session, the young woman that sat next to me asked Elder Sorensen if he served in the Macon, GA mission, to which he replied, "Yes". She then asked if he was Elder Sorensen, again "Yes". She then said, "I am from Statesboro, GA and my father is the Ward Mission Leader and I remember you. After a brief discussion, she then leaned forward and asked, "Did you guys hear about the missionary from Savannah that got hit on his bike?" Cory leaned forward and said, "Yeah, that was me!". She exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, I have been praying for you!" 

Of 20,000 people at a conference session, it was amazing that she was the one to sit next to us! 

It was an incredible experience for all of us. Brother Chris also got to play in some of the snow that fell, just for him!

We also got to have the Enosa's over for dinner (actually, we only made desert and Sister Enosa made a wonderful variety of Samoan food for us!). Elder Enosa was Elder Fife's companion on the day that he was injured. The two of them were (are) fast becoming great friends. And yes, everyone in the photo is standing on the ground, without shoes! (Elder Fife is about 6 foot tall!)

So, we are patiently waiting to see if the doctors will release him, to allow him to continue serving his mission (in the Referral center, or back in Georgia). 

We love and appreciate all of your prayers and will try to do a better job of updating everyone. 

Love, 

Dave, Linda and Cory

Progress Continues with The Lords help!

Life is good here in Heber City Utah.  We are figuring out our schedule and so far it is not too bad.  Cory and I go to therapy 3 times a week and his therapists are saying that he is doing great!  This past week he passed a balance test with flying colors and he is doing great with everything they ask him to do.  His voice is still a little weak but that too is improving a little every day.  Dave and Cory spoke this past Sunday in Sacrament meeting, it could not have gone better.  Cory was soft spoken but spoke powerfully and you could hear a pin drop during the whole meeting.  He talked about what he has learning since entering the mission field and how he has changed because of what he has learned.  He talked about all of the great people he had the privilege to meet while serving in Savannah Georgia.  He then talked about the many things he has come to learn more about since the accident; the importance of family, the power of the priesthood,  the importance of prayers and how they can really help and change lives, the reality that God really knows us all individually and that Christ not only took upon our sins he also suffered for our infirmities/sickness , he is learning how to humble himself and graciously accept help from others, to love his fellowman no matter what their circumstance, and to love more fully as his Savior does.  As parents we wish for the day when our children begin to show signs of spiritual growth, see a picture thru wiser eyes.  We long to see them notice a bigger picture, one where life is not all about them.  We have been blessed to begin to see this in our son Cory since the first week he entered the MTC and it continues today.  Cory has said many times since we have been home that "I will be a missionary forever.  I will serve The Lord everyday of my life to help bring salvation to each and every person who is willing and able. I am here to help build the Kingdom of God for the rest of my life."

Cory is stil Cory in so many ways but Cory is also different in so many ways.  Our 19 year old son is not a young man anymore he is a man with a heart centered in the gospel and the love of Christ.

Everyday since this whole chain of events was set into motion our family has felt Gods hand in our lives each and every day and many times a day.  We have been blessed with an ultimate gift and being grateful just does not fully describe the feelings we have, it just doesn't do it justice.

We are grateful for so many things.  We have been loved by some many near and far, there seems to be a direct prayer line set up in Elder Cory Fife's name and the line is connected and working each and everyday. We can not thank everyone enough for the love and support our family has received but please know that we love each and everyone of you and you are in our prays.

Thank you everyone, we love you all so much and we could not have gotten this far with out all of you and Heavenly Father and our Savior.

We hope ya'll enjoy General Conference this weekend, it is something we are all looking forward too.

Love you all.

Dave and Linda

Last couple of Savannah photos...

Below are some of the last photos we took in Savannah. 

Five missionaries and one soon to be...

One last good bye with God's Army!

Elder Fife surprised the Assistants by showing up to Zone Conference

Still progressing...

Elder Fife is still progressing fantastic. He is back in Utah for now and is doing rehab therapy three times a week down in Provo. He has a strong desire to serve at the Referral Center near the MTC. He can continue to rehab while he is there and will be able to serve his mission that he has been called to.
Our last week in Savannah, Leilani of Leilani K. Photography took some photos of Cory for us and the Ronald McDonald House.

As you can see, Cory's smile is coming back. I don't remember him being that much taller than me!
Elder Wirthlin gave a talk in General Conference of October 2008 Come What May, and Love It.
In it, he was providing counsel to a daughter that was facing some grave adversity. He wrote,

“The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him.”

A video of the talk can be viewed.
Our reaction to adversity in our lives determines how it impacts us. We can choose to allow this to devastate our lives, or we can look to the savior and the strength we can draw from this. Our son has taught us innumerable lessons these past months. We have been strengthened by so much love and compassion from people everywhere.
Thank you again,
Dave and Linda

Sorry for not posting...

I am sorry it has been so long since we last posted. With the speed that everything is going, I didn't realize it had been so long.
Thursday he continued with therapy. He tied us all in a word association game. I tried my best, but only ended up doing as well as he did. One of the therapists gave him a list of checks to write, deposits to be made and register to balance. The drill is supposed to take up to an hour. Cory did it in about 10 minutes! Another talked about the dimensions of a hole that was dug, handed Cory paper and asked him how much dirt was removed. He looked at her and said 8 cubic feet without writing a thing!
He still has some trouble remembering what certain items/objects are called, but seems to remember after you tell him. He also has some trouble with his short term memory, but that seems to be getting better as well. His voice is weak, but is not hoarse or raspy at all.
One of the doctors remarked that he had never had a patient recover from a traumatic brain injury this fast. While it has seemed like forever, we do realize that it is barely over six weeks since he was hurt, and he is recovering so well.
Cory was discharged from rehab on Friday morning. He was able to go to his zone conference meeting. The smiles in the room on all of the missionaries faces were heartwarming as they watched Elder Fife walk in, sit down, and prepare to be instructed.
We have traveled back to Utah and were able to attend church yesterday.
Cory's recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. To any that doubt God's hand in our lives, I testify that he knows each and every one of us, love us and cares about us.

In God's Time...

I was driving back to the hospital today and heard a song on the radio. The artist is Randy Houser and his new song is "In God's Time". While not all of the song fits Elder Fife's situation, the chorus of the song really struck home.

In God's time

Oh, but no one knows

Not you or me

It might be tomorrow or it might never be

Oh, but don't lose faith

Put it in His hands

'Cause it might be that

He might have a bigger plan

Than you had in mind

Miracles happen

In God's time

He might have a bigger plan than you had in mind. Miracles happen in God's time. 
I know that God has a bigger plan than any of us have in mind. I know with a surety that miracles happen. We need to trust in our Heavenly Father and his all encompassing love. In time, it will all work out.
Dave

Good Things to Come!

Cory is doing so incredibly well. He is resolved to just doing what is asked in his therapy sessions each day. Today, he climbed up (and back down) four flights of stairs! He is getting stronger and stronger.
We talked yesterday about going back out to finish his mission. He is very determined to be able to do just that. He even conceded that if he were asked to ride a bike again, he would. He had previously said the only way he would get back on a bike, is if President Thomas S. Monson (the Prophet of the LDS Church) told him to, and gave him a blessing of protection directly!
Late last night, he asked to read this blog about him. It was a tearful, spiritual experience. How hard it is to see him come to the realization of just how badly he was hurt. The blog provided just a glimpse, the candied version if you will, of just how bad he was.
He has not been able to understand how Linda and I just know that he is going to be better. After reading the blog, he was able to comprehend how we measure where he is at. That we look at where he has been, where he is, and only then, how much further he has to go. He said that when you look at how bad I was, I guess I am doing pretty good, huh!
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk in October of 1999. The Church has made a short Mormon Message from part of the talk (Located Here). In it he says;

Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. My declaration is that that is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us, especially in times of need.

Even if you cannot always see that silver lining on your clouds, God can, for He is the very source of the light you seek. He does love you, and He knows your fears. He hears your prayers. He is your Heavenly Father, and surely He matches with His own the tears His children shed.

Then, imagining speaking to himself, some 30 years earlier he continues;

Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead...... You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.

To my son, and any who are struggling, I echo, "Don't give up. Don't you quit. Trust God and believe in good things to come".
Our faith has been strengthened by this experience. Thank you all for your continued prayers.
We love you all so much,
Dave and Linda

So, even with everything that has happened...

Cory and I were talking last night. He was talking about some of the young men in our ward back home, and here in Savannah that he needed to make sure went on a mission. He talked about how great it is to serve the Lord.
So, from Elder Fife to Brandon, Seth, Alex, Chris and all of the young men (and women) contemplating serving a mission;

I would serve my mission again in a heartbeat, even if I knew everything that was going to happen to me because it allows others to receive the gospel and brings so much joy in their lives. My love of the people, God's children, is so immense. Being a missionary makes me a better man. It teaches me to be more compassionate. 

His testimony and strength are so inspirational to me!

The Bishop and his counselor were able to come by and provide the Sacrament for Cory this afternoon.

Cory was much happier than he looked in the photo but as his family is all aware, just having him look at the camera is a big thing (we had a family photo taken, and of over 150 photos, Cory was looking with his eyes open only 7 times....thank goodness for Photoshop!).
Through this whole experience my faith in the power of prayer and the power of Priesthood blessings has been strengthened.
Dave and Linda (and Cory now!)