Brodie Winn Allen here.  I hope this finds you well.  (Do you realize just how hard it is to type one-handed??  Not easy!)

I have my bad days as well as the good; I still sometimes question God why He allowed me to go through this, but every day I am regaining lost strength and am learning to manage with having just one arm.  I still have my therapies; they have helped tremendously.  I am starting to get my life back in order, although it isn't easy by a longshot.

Thank God I have my family:  my mom and dad, my brother Michael, and my sisters Wandette, Taylor, and Precious.  I also have my church family at Olathe Christian Church and my pastor, Pastor Egan Thibodeaux.  I consider myself to be very blessed, even with everything I have had to endure for the past six months.  (Gosh, has it really been that long already??)

I am looking forward to the day where I will be released from my doctor's care and move on past my therapy sessions.  I want to get back to work and to have my life again.  I have too much living to do, and suddenly the fact that I have only one arm suddenly doesn't seem so bad, especially when I see people who are in so much worse shape than I am.  Suddenly, I feel very humbled, and I end up thanking God for the blessings He has already given me, most of all, allowing me to survive such a deadly illness like necrotizing fasciitis.

Last week we had some rough weather, including some tornadoes; that is usually the norm here in springtime in Kansas.  Thank God we didn't lose anything to the twisters, but we did have to spend some time in our storm shelter.  Speaking of tornadoes, the south got raked by some violent ones yesterday; people there in the affected areas are just starting to pick up the pieces and mourn the lost and missing.  They even had an EF-5 tornado rip through Yazoo City, Mississippi; at least ten people there were killed (at last count).

Today at church, Pastor Thibodeaux mentioned about the tornado victims, and we lifted them up in prayer.  I'm just glad I don't have anybody who lives there, although I do have a cousin in Nashville, Tennessee; I hope she is okay.  They probably had some rough weather there as well.  I will have to call her later to see if she's okay.

I really haven't been doing much excepting for my therapy and trying to get over the phantom pain I still experience.  The pain at times can be maddening, especially at night, when I am trying to sleep; I sincerely hope that one day the pain will go away for good!  My stupid brain keeps thinking my arm is still attached when it is as good as gone!!  It's horrible!!

As soon as I am released from Dr. Shah's care, I can go back to work.  I work at a daycare center with the four year olds; I have been doing it since I was twenty (ten years).  It will be a huge adjustment on all our parts, but it will be wonderful to see my co-workers, not to mention, the sweet kids, again; I have missed them all so much!

Well, I am going to go.  My sister Wandette played the lottery, adn she won $5,000.  She is taking all of us out for eat and then maybe shopping before we go back to church tonight.  I will write in here again; until then, this is Brodie Allen saying so long and God bless!

~Love, your friend in Kansas, Brodie Winn.  :)

*to be continued.*