mayo

i feel very blessed that i have been given an opportunity to go to the mayo clinic, i know that the Lord has opened this door for us and i am hoping good things come of it.  i have a appt on july 13th with 2 dr's that are interested in doing my surgery together. one is an orthopedic surgeon and one is a neurosurgeon. i have a friend that was on a waiting list for a year to get in at mayo, so its pretty amazing that i got in so quickly.  one plus to having such a freak medical  situation is that dr's are pretty interested in getting their hands on me, which is great and scary all at the same time!   there is one other dr in miami named dr green that i am also trying to get in with. some sweet friends who have been patients of his are working on getting me in with him... after i meet with the drs at mayo and hopefully the dr in miami, will and i will make our decision on what dr to go with.  please pray for wisdom and clarity for us on which dr to choose.  this is a very overwhelming and scary process, but i know it has to happen.  all i really want is for things to go back to normal, it is sort of hard to go anywhere these days without people asking me about my neck and my surgery (which i know is all coming from a very caring and loving place) but sometimes i just want to feel normal, i want to do normal things and have normal conversations that dont always center around my neck or my daddy.  it is too hard to think about these things all the time, my mind really cant handle it! i guess what i am asking is, if you see me, i would love to hear what is going on with you, or if you want to pass on something positive or encouraging to say, thats awesome! i would love to hear it!  i would really just adore some normalcy in the midst of this crazy, hard season.  please know how much i appreciate all the sweet notes, letters, encouraging and thoughtful words, and i hold those things very close to my heart... i am just trying to be better at expressing my needs.  and what i need right now is all the normalcy i can get:) so if anyone in nashville ever wants to just hang out or do something fun, i would love that!  thanks again so much for reading this and caring about me.  i am so humbled by the love and care i have in my friends and family. you guys are amazing!!!!

photo gallery

here is a link to a photo gallery of the benefit, taken by laura dart...i was so blessed to have laura and cade and marcia truett take the most AMAZING pics of the night! i love being able to have that special event captured in film! it will forever be one of the best nights of my life! enjoy the pics!  http://dartphotographie.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=8628578&AlbumKey=veqhS

the show! and video from the news!!!

i have not come down yet from last nights glorious benefit! it was truly one of the most special nights in my life next to the day i married my precious boy will.  the show was AMAZING! the turn out was fabulous, the auction was unreal and the love and care i felt was out of this world!!!!  i have never in my life had so many people from so many different seasons of my life be together in one place.  my heart could barely take it!  so so so many friends and family members that i love and adore! the night was dedicated to my daddy, which felt so appropriate to me.  i feel like in some way he had a huge hand in making last night the amazing night that it was!  THANK YOU THANK YOU! to all the wonderful friends and fam that made last night happen, donated your precious time and money and auction items, and to all the artists and their bands for doing such a special show for me, thank you!  i seriously feel silly trying to put words to how blessed and loved i feel for all that has been done/given to will and i. bc their truly arent words big or strong enough to tell you how thankful and blessed i feel to have the most amazing friends/family/community a girl could ever dream or ask for!  much love, ruthie

ps, the pic is of me and my sweet friend asher, he surprised me with that amazing photo of my precious daddy...he completely captured his joy and light...i was completely touched and floored..i will forever cherish that gift! 

this is a clip of the show from fox: http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/music_beat

/videos/vid_4.shtml

birds of hope

my dear friends kim and rachel pepper have set this beautiful website up for me to sell these adorable onesies to raise money for my surgery! honestly when i first saw the website i started crying so hard...i was so deeply touched that these girls would go thru all this trouble to do something like this for me!  it truly blows my mind!  when i read the sweet things she had to say i honestly didnt know who she was talking about!!! it was so undeserved!  i have been completely blown away by the thoughtfulness and generosity of our friends and our community! i am completely convinced that i have the GREATEST friends in the world! the Lord has so blessed me with such tenderness in giving me these wonderful people in my life....check out this website when you get a chance.  kim is so so talented! she makes the most precious clothing for children...if you want to order anything her email is on the left side of the page and you just email her what you want:) thanks for taking time to read this! much love, ruthie

http://www.birdofhope.blogspot.com

update

hey guys! sorry it has been a while since i have written..it has been a very full week! last thur will and i went to see his grandma in gatlinburg...she is so precious! she lives on the main strip of g-town right next to Ripley's Believe It or Not!! its so awesome! will has so many great memories growing up going to visit his grandparents, so its always so fun to go visit his family in east tenn. they are all such precious people...it was a fun, laid back long weekend~ 

wed. was such a neat day, i had lunch with my girls leslie and abby then i got a message from my sweet friends kellyann and claire indie at anthropology to come on over. when i got there they had already picked out about 15-20 dresses for me to try on in my size...they ended up buying my favorite dress for me to wear to my benefit show!!! we were all in tears, it was seriously one of the MOST thoughtful sweet gifts i could ever imagine! they both made me feel so pretty and so loved!! it has been such a treat in the midst of everything to have such fun things to look forward to and to do! THANK YOU SWEET FRIENDS!!! i seriously have the greatest friends in the world!  

the latest with dr visits is: a friend that lives in rochester, mn sent me a message last week saying that her husband is a pastor of a church there and they have an elder in their church who is a dr at the Mayo clinic...she has told him my story and he is going to try and help me get in with a good neck dr there...i sent my friend kellie my scans this week so she can give them to the elder...we are really hoping and praying that this works out...i have been told over and over that mayo is the best and that i should try and get in there~ i feel so blessed to have this chance bc it is SO hard to get in...i have another friend that was on a wait list for a whole year before she got in! so please pray that the Lord would open doors for me to go and that He would chose the right dr for my case...thanks so much! love, ruthie

benefit show june 4th

i forgot to mention earlier about the benefit show my precious friends are putting on here in nashville for me.  reason being, my insurance has a pre existing condition on it with my neck and back so they wont cover anything that has to do either~ pretty crazy!  the show is going to be so amazing, so far the artists playing are landon pigg, brooke waggoner, sixpence none the richer, griffin house,  mindy smith and erin mccarley! im beyond floored and honored! the show is going to be on june 4th at rocket town.  i believe there is also going to be a silent auction during the show.  kristen dabbs, talitha moak, kellie lutito and matthew morgan are all working so hard on this and it means so much to me to have these friends and artists doing this for me!  what a gift! im truly honored~ 

another dr visit

i had another dr visit in nashville today that was also very hard.  this dr agreed that the wire needed to come out soon, but what was confusing was he thinks i may need to also get the sort of fusion that will connect my neck to my skull, i would have no movement whatsoever up, down, left or right.  he also said that the wire removal is really risky and hard and he also has never seen it.  i know all of the dangers and how rare it is but it still doesnt make it any easier to hear again.   i had also been told previously that i could possibly need another fusion but i never heard that it would be such a drastic one...im so scared and sad about the whole thing.  its also so hard to hear different things from different dr's and to know who is right~ i have no clue!  it is all just too overwhelming for words~ all i could keep thinking while i was in the dr app was how much i wished my daddy was with me. somehow he could always make me feel safe, like everything would be ok.  i miss him so much it hurts. please just pray for wisdom to know what we are suppose to do and for me to not lose hope.  thanks again so much for taking time to read this.