1st COPY HAS ARRIVED!

Tuesday, July 10th, I received my first copy of the book! The first batch is being printed now, and I should have them to sign and send out within 2 weeks. Thank you to all for your patience.

Wednesday we went to the Thornton's and I showed Turk the book. He immediately sat down and began reading. "This is the part that brings water to my eyes" he said, and read aloud:

"Our journey over the following months has changed our lives forever. . . We will never be the same. We have learned so much about other people, about compassion and respect, how others think and live, trust and not being too quick to judge those around us."

Turk went on to elaborate on how he felt as though everyone assumed that he was a criminal. From the police officers at the large shelter who hung over them as they tried to sleep, to the church sponsored shelter where they were instructed to "hand over all your weapons right now!"

The hurt and trauma that was inflicted after being evacuated seems more raw than what they had to endure at the convention center in New Orleans. It came from those who made assumptions and from those who tried to help in a misguided way.

EYEGLASSES FIASCO:

Since we were in town yesterday anyway, Randy took Turk to get his eyes checked and new glasses ordered, while I stayed at their house with the kids. Five hours later, Randy and Turk came back, looking very tired and frustrated. After going to 4 different places, they had accomplished nothing. They had heard different reasons for rejection at each optical place.

For us to navigate the Medicare and Medicaid issues is impossible, and it seems to be almost as impossible for the medical community. One place went so far as to tell him that he would have to pay his $100 deductible. I guess they figured in this way they would get paid the going rate instead of settling for what Medicare and Medicaid would pay. I suppose most people fall for it and pay out of their pocket.

So today I made some phone calls until I found an optical place that seemed to know what they were doing. He explained that they would submit the claim to Medicare and then Medicaid would cover the difference. I was glad to find someone who knew what he was doing, and so we will try again tomorrow to get Turk some glasses!

Turk has commented many times that he could not imagine where he would be now if we had not come along. And in all honesty, we can't imagine what they would have done either, except that we believe God was watching out for him and his family.