SCREEEECH!!

SCREEECH!!  That's the sound of us putting the brakes on our already seemingly "paused" life.  Today Jon went in for his first 3 hour session of outpatient rehab at Mission Hospital.  Each therapist spent about an hour with him, evaluating his condition.  All 3 were blown away by how strong Jon is and how well he is doing physically.  However, they also all said that Jon's brain needs more rest.  More sleep.  Those are key ingredients to Jon's healing.  We thought we were doing a good job of that.  I mean, he's not working, so to us that is a really big change of pace.  We even took 3 weeks off of the kids sports.  But because Jon is getting so physically strong from the neck down, we have been translating that into a green light for more opportunity to engage in life.  Unfortunately, those things just don't leave the margin needed for his brain to rest.  Man, it's so much easier to have a cast on your arm.  You can physically see that it shouldn't be used.  You can physically see when it's healed and when it's strong enough to perform.  But the brain?  Much more complex.  Much harder to gauge.  SO...  this basically means that we are really going to have to limit visitors.  We are going to have to schedule his naps.  We are going to accept play dates for the kids, to give them a place to be loud and active outside of the house.  These are things we were really good about right after surgery, but as Jon's body strengthened, we got a little too casual.  I wasn't going to post about this, but my amazing mother-in-law hinted that it might be a good thing to mention... and she's right.  It's an important part of Jon's journey.  Rest.  Sounds so simple.  So boring.  So minor.  But it really is a powerful thing.  What's interesting is that this past year, Jon has been leading our family in taking a true sabbath once a week.  It has been a beautiful thing.  We weren't designed to "go go go."  We were designed to rest.  Breathe.  And now God has put Jon in a whole season of rest.  One day is tough enough!  But a season??  Who knew this would be so difficult!  I can't wait to see what learnings we will have from this time.  God has been so faithful to reveal more about Himself to us through all of the different aspects of this journey.  I can't wait to experience more of Him through us slowing down even more.  So this is us, saying it out loud so you can help us do this, and you can hold us accountable.  Intentional rest starts (again) now.  Do you hear it??  SCREEEECH!!  :)