There's not too much more to relate right now in the line of updates...Kimberly Anne is doing GREAT - far beyond the hopes of anyone concerned, especially her Drs. and therapists! :)

Mary wrote me an e-mail yesterday. I don't think she'd mind if I copied & pasted it here for you all:
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Hey everyone! Hope all is well with you. We just learned today that Kimberly has about 3 weeks left of therapy. To start with, nobody thought that she would ever make it this far...As she said to me one day on the front steps, "they don't know how stubborn I am!"  So Miss Stubborn has done in 4 months time what most do in l8 months to life. I have no doubts that she will again be teaching within a year or two. She leaves the 2 7th for an 8 day cruise. Perhaps she and Joel will come back a married couple. Ya see, sometimes there is a good ending or a happily ever after! Ya'll take care and I'll keep ya posted.
Love always, Mary
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Kimmie is now walking with a normal gait (alternating arm swings with footsteps) and is taking the stairs normally (one foot after the other). Her driving is good and she's been practicing every chance she gets. She even managed to drive a stick-shift (standard)...which is something a lot of "normal" people can't do! :)  Her right side/arm is good and strong now - a blessing in itself. For so long, we thought she'd "lost" that side for good. Her voice is improving more and more as time goes on. She still sounds "different", but it is improving and she works hard at clearing it up.

She and Mary went to Manhattan, Kansas (where Kimmie lived before the accident) last week. They visited her students and teacher-friends, making for a wonderful day! Kimmie was so happy to see her "kids" again. She said it most definitely made her want to return to teaching as soon as possible. Someow, I had a feeling that it would. :) Mary said that everyone was crying - the students, the other teachers, some of the parents...and that Kimberly was positively beaming from ear to ear!

Kimmie's recovery has been so out of the ordinary...her therapists have been amazed not only at her speedy progress, but at the lack of "normal" things they see happen to patients recovering from severe head trauma such as Kimmie's. They seemed disbelieving that she had never once fallen down since learning to stand and walk. They would ask her every time she went to therapy if she had fallen yet...*laughs*  Mary was telling me the following story on the phone and laughing so hard at Kimmie. She had taken her dog(s) out for a walk...she and Mary did...and Mary heard Kim laughing herself silly...saw her lying in the road laughing...'cause the dog had taken off with her (it's a BIG dog) and pulled her to the ground...she said "NOW the therapist will be happy!!!!! I fell down!!"  :)

Kimmie's writing has also improved greatly. Her mind was apparently not affected when it comes to education, use of language, spelling, grammar, etc...but her handwriting suffered because of the muscle weakness and lack of fine motor coordination. Here is another letter to her grandparents (my parents) - postmarked Sept. 11th. (She cancelled her flight to Phoenix mentioned in the letter - due to the attacks in N.Y., PA, and Washington, DC)

You can see the obvious improvement over the previous letter I posted... (sorry the image quality isn't the greatest - I'm having a heck of a time with my scanner recently!)

NOTE: You can no longer send Kimmie e-mails at the above address...she has changed her address twice since this was originally published online (not for any reason dealing with people writing, mind you... she just got a new provider...and then changed once again when she moved).  Signing the guestbook is always welcome...and you can even post questions there, if you want to. I will try to answer them if I can...and Kimmie does read the guestbook...so you can write to her "directly" that way.

Well, I am going for now... I'll write more when anything new happens.  We are all worried about Kimmie & Joel going on this cruise (considering the recent attacks and all)...so I will most definitely update this site when she returns home safely, if not before then.
 

Please continue praying for Kimmie until the day she once again stands in front of a classroom full of students as their teacher!
The Drs said "it would take a miracle" for Kimmie to ever wake up & regain a productive life...our miracle has happened!!

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