Rachael's Blog

Sorry I've not posted an update I've been busy with my first semester a Clemson University. Go Tigers! It has been a great year so far; I really like it up here. My first semester I took: American Literature, Spanish 201, Sociology, CU 101 (a course to familiarize you with the resources at Clemson), and ED C (a peer counseling course). I did pretty well and ended with a 3.35 GPA. I am really enjoying life on campus. I attended all but one foot ball game this season, joined the Psychology Club and a Christian group, RUF. I have made a good amount of friends through the many different groups I have visited. One thing that has changed since the accident is that I really enjoy meeting new people, and Clemson gives me many opportunities to do this because it is so large. The foot surgery was a great success! I began my first semester driving to each of my classes, but by mid-semester I had begun walking to them. I have felt each of your prayers helping me through this transition.

As I begin my second semester at Clemson I would appreciate your prayers in a few areas. First off, since I am primarily at college to learn, pray for my studies. Please continue to pray for me over this semester so that I may be able to maintain above a 3.0 and receive the LIFE scholarship again. Unfortunately, the course that I struggled with most last semester was Spanish. Ironically, one of my greatest desires is to be bilingual. I want so badly to be able to communicate in Spanish. Please pray that some mysterious button will click next semester and the Spanish will begin to flow. Although I have made a good number of friends I have not really made deep connections with many, I am still unsure of my roommate for next year. Please pray for this. Finding the right roommate is a large concern on my heart as well. I’m starting to look at job options for this summer and I am considering working at a camp near Clemson. This could be a challenge for me physically; but you know me, always up for a new challenge! My physical challenges have greatly decreased but I still struggle in a few smaller areas. My foot still wants to drop from time to time. This makes long distances and hills more difficult for me. My hand is working at about 60% now and I know I could easily improve upon that number but I truthfully lack the motivation to constantly work with it. Please pray that I will be motivated to improve in these areas.
As I continue to improve and look back to where I was, I appreciate all the prayers that you have lifted up for me. Others going through similar experiences have become more visible to me and I see how much each of your prayers was needed for me as well as my family. In Particular, a man named Dustin Salter, who is a father to three young children as well as a RUF leader at a neighboring college, has sustained a brain injury. My heart just cries for this young family as I read about his recovery. I will also establish a link to Dustin Salter’s recovery page on my web site so you are able to pray for Gods will in their situation as well as mine.

Love and Thanks to all,
Rachael

Wow! Can you believe it?! I sure can’t, my freshman year of college just flew by!! Francis Marion was a great school to start at! There are, unfortunately, some people I will greatly miss after I leave for Clemson. It’s mostly sad I have to leave one friend in particular that has become one of my best friends!
I did much better than I was expecting in school this year. I was able to keep better than a 3.0 GPA for the whole year, which will allow me to continue receiving the LIFE scholarship. South Carolina gives to students who are able to keep a 3.0 or higher some scholarship money. This was not at all an easy task to achieve! Especially with the Biology classes that I needed to take for my major, science is not my area.
I am very excited yet scared about living in Clemson. I assume that I am just going through many of the fears most go through before leaving their homes. Leaving home may be a little more difficult for me after these past two years because I grew so close to my family. Luckily, my oldest sister and her husband live in Anderson which is only about thirty minutes away from Clemson. Having two family member close by is small in comparison with living close to seven. The difference between living with family members and friends is a big one that I will have to adjust to also.
As you all should be aware of, I'm unsure about how clear I made it in my last blog, I had “pretty major” surgery on my foot and ankle on March 7th. The doctor who preformed this surgery for me and did a great job! I was very skeptical as to what they would be able to do to help me but when I heard his plan I became very excited! Dr. James removed most of the knuckles in my toes, fused my big toe, and split the tendon that was causing me to only walk on the side of my foot. He then connected the tendon to both sides of my foot so that the pressure would be distributed evenly. I was in a cast with pins in my toes for quite a while but I now have advanced to a “boot”. My walk greatly improved already!! I only have a few more weeks in the boot then I get to walk free!!
This summer will be some what of a busy one but I am very excited about it all. For the first half of the summer I will be staying at home. I am again attending therapy but this time only to assist my leg to heal properly. Two of the girls I will be living with in the on campus apartment are also from Florence so I assume we will be planning for the fall. I will be spending much of my time with the friends I've made in the past year and old friends returning for the summer also. In addition, I will be busy shadowing two Psychologists as they work in Carolinas hospital. I am very excited about doing this. I will be lucky enough to watch them as they diagnosis the various patients and also be able to receive feed back from them as to how they came to that conclusion. I can’t wait to begin learning from these established Psychologists.
During the second half of my summer I will move into my sister’s house in Anderson and attend one class in Clemson’s second summer session. I will also be volunteering at the place Rose works, Anderson’s rape crisis center, to gain some additional psychological experience. I will most likely be doing things such as posting fliers for others to see around the town. I will also be taking a Statistics Class during summer school. I have heard things implying that either you love this math course or hate it. Let’s pray that I will love it! Haha
While my walk has greatly improved, there are still a few minuscule things I am uneasy about. The land around Clemson is very hilly. Which is a big difference from here and I worry that will be a problem for me. Also, I continue to walk at a very slow pace and have not been able to improve. I think being able to pick up the pace would help me greatly in college. My arm/hand will continuously need prayers. There are many things that I still have trouble with now that may cause me problems in the future. So if you could continue to pray for me in these two areas I would greatly appreciate it.
Above all else I would like you to praise God with me for all the wonderful miracles he has given to me so far!! He really has showered many upon me! Thank you so much for your prayers!
Rachael

Hey, I know you can guess what this blog is about from the title! Great news! I got a letter in the mail two weeks ago telling me that I am already accepted as a transfer to Clemson!! There is only one exception though, I must do well this semester at FMU, which will be difficult because I am taking so many more hours.... and some of them are from biology. I am planning to live with my sister, Rose, in Anderson and attend Clemson during summer session II so that I can familiarize myself with the big campus before I move on in the fall. Right now, I am working towards a Psychology degree to go onto a masters program for Christian counseling. Counseling has always been the passion in my heart. I also have some more great news! :D About a week ago I had an appointment with a foot surgeon to evaluate what we could do to improve my walk. The surgeon told us that he would be able to fix my toes and move some tendons around in order to correct my foot’s turning. Hopefully after this I will no longer need to wear a brace! I am going to have this surgery over my spring break on March 7th. Please pray that all goes well with the surgery and recovery. After the surgery I will need to wear a foot cast possibly on crutches for 6 to 9 weeks. I pray that the surgery on my foot will work beautifully and that even though this semester is a very tough semester my grades will be adequate in order for me to transfer this summer! Thank you so much for each of your continued prayers!
With Love,
Rachael

My friends,
Things have become better and better for me. There are of course some definite prayer requests that I do still have. First off, my first real (not summer) semester in college went very smoothly! I ended up making two As, a B+, and a B!! So those prayers that ya’ll made for my study habits etc. really did a good job. Thank you. I will still need your prayers in this area because next semester I am going to try to carry a full load, 15 hours. Making friends has begun to become less of a hassle for me also. I feel as though I have found some real good friends but, of course, these are few and far between. College for me, like many others, has really been an adjustment. It’s just difficult to go from a small private school where you have known everyone for years, to college with all totally new people. I have enjoyed this aspect of college to a certain extent but it’s also difficult not to always have a long term friend around. Over my Christmas break I was able to return to therapy for some fine tuning. My toes have still not improved very much and my therapist told me that my walk would not be able to return to “normal” until my toes cooperated. So that is a definite prayer request for me. I continue to fight the tone I have all over my body but I believe the tone in my arm may not be as much of a problem any more. I am still unable to properly use my hand for every day things. I want to thank all of you, once again, for your outstanding loyalty to praying for me! It’s really comforting to know that each of you still thinks of me in your prayers!

With love,
Rachael


P.S. We had to get a new e-mail address after my dad sold Triple R Farms. rachweb@sc.rr.com :D Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!