Thomas received his final prosthetic two weeks ago. The "real fake eye", as Thomas calls it, is painted to match Thomas's other eye and is incredibly detailed, right down to the small red blood vessels usually visible in a normal eye, and Thomas seems happy with result. It apparently fits him well as he hasn't complained of any discomfort.

The one challenge we do face is that he needs to flush the eye every morning, and then once per week the eye must actually be removed and cleaned. When we tackled the first cleaning last week, Thomas was scared but approached the process courageously. For now the task of actually removing, cleaning, and then reinserting the eye has fallen upon Dad, and last week it took me a few tries to get the prosthetic out of the socket. Overall it went smoothly, though, and when we tackled the process for the second time last night, the whole thing took only a few minutes. For now Thomas is more comfortable with me doing this for him, but we believe it won't be long before he's willing and able to handle this himself.

Our next step now is to return to Dr. Kazim, Thomas's ophthalmic surgeon, so that he can asses what further reconstruction needs to take place on the eye socket. Even though the prosthetic matches his other eye almost perfectly, the eyelids droop and the eye generally appears in a perpetual state of being only about half open. Given that all the muscles that control the eyelids were removed in the exenteration, Thomas can actually manage quite a bit of movement of the eyelids, but not enough for the eye to appear truly open. We'll know more about how this might be addressed following Thomas's meeting with Dr. Kazim next week. For now, all of us, Thomas included, are simply thankful we have reached this point, and we continue to be encouraged and uplifted by your thoughts and prayers.

One year ago today our lives changed forever. March 7, 2002 was the day our world was destroyed. And per the ancient wisdom, it did get worse, much worse, before it got better. Yet here we are, a year later, far down a road none of us thought we could travel. The physical and emotional and spiritual obstacles on that road have been many. Each time we reached a point that seemed impassable, though, the love of family and friends and even complete strangers was there, and though none could travel the road for us, they cleared the obstacles and gave us strength to go on.

Our lives truly have changed forever. We have renewed views of the things that truly matter in this world, and we have learned much about ourselves as individuals and as a family. For most of that road we travelled, most of us were just visitors. The truly tough parts were the places where only Thomas alone could go and the rest of us could only watch. What amazing things our own child taught us about life and attitude as he conquered those places without once looking back!

We are thankful, more than anything. We are thankful that Thomas was given a conquering spirit, we are thankful that we were entrusted with Thomas, and most of all we are thankful he has prevailed. We met others on the road, many with their own roads far more difficult than ours, and some with roads that in the end they were unable to conquer. We've seen enough pain and suffering in the past year to last a lifetime, and that it was suffered by children truly weighs upon our hearts.

Though our road has been difficult and has been anything but a blessing, through it all we have been blessed beyond imagining. There are doctors and nurses and social workers and friends and teachers and neighbors and strangers and so many, many people whose lives have touched and become intertwined with our own that I cannot now imagine life without them. I personally have learned that when you enter the world of those who face the challenge of the suffering of children, you enter the world where live the people with the biggest hearts of all.

Our "touch of hope" is now a full-fledged embrace of hope, and if you're reading this, it is likely that you are one of the reasons. As I remember how our world was devasted a year ago today, I offer a prayer to God that He would bless and rebuild the lives of any family with a suffering child as He has done ours.

One year ago today I don't know what I expected to think or feel a year later, but I certainly do not think I expected I would look back with humility and thanksgiving. What a difference a year makes! What a difference God makes!