Happy Horizons

Almost a month has passed since Amanda moved in to Horizons Residential Care Center. She seems to be adjusting well.

Amanda shares a room with another girl named Christine, who is very close in age. We are in the process of fixing up the girls’ room, to make it colorful and homey. We will have bulletin boards—so please send cards, photos, and drawings! If you send photos, a brief caption written on the back would be nice—that way Amanda’s helpers can share the photos with Amanda and be able to talk to her about them. The eighth-grade girls’ Sunday school class at Calvary Baptist made a wonderful fall banner to decorate the door to Amanda and Christine’s room.

Amanda Mohler

c/o Horizons Residential Care Center

100 Horizons Lane

Rural Hall, NC 27045

Amanda resides in the “B-wing” with 9 other children. Most of them share a room with one other child. Each morning, they are all wheeled down to another wing, where the classrooms are located. They stay here for most of the day, doing educational activities that are tailored to their individual needs. This is when Amanda will spend time in the stander and experiment with various communication devices. They do adaptive PE, art projects, and music activities and occasionally take field trips.

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, the children are moved into the den. Here they stretch out on different beds and mats and relax through the evening. Then later they are moved to their bedrooms and settled in for the night.

Mom and Dad and Cynthia have been taking turns going out to visit Amanda. Amanda’s cousins visited from Washington, DC a few weeks ago and we picked up Amanda and all went to see the movie “Open Season” together. Amanda really seemed to enjoy going to the movie. She came home for a short visit that weekend, too.

  Horizons just had their Halloween Festival. Mom took Amanda through the Haunted House and they did the Cake Walk and won a yummy chocolate cake! Amanda’s face was painted like a kitty and she had kitty ears on—she looked awfully cute! The folks at Horizon’s went all out for the festival and did a great job.

Amanda is home with us, as we write this update. This has been a very emotional time for her family. The release from the intensive responsibility and relentless routine involved with keeping Amanda at home has been refreshing and liberating. At the same time, however, it has been hard to enjoy this newfound freedom with the realization that Amanda is not with us. We have entered a new kind of mourning period—as we begin to comprehend the permanence of Amanda’s condition. Despite the sadness we have felt, we know we are truly blessed. We are grateful that a facility of high caliber, like Horizons, is so close to home. We are thankful for the friends and family who have continued to visit Amanda or send cards. And we are very appreciative of our friends, neighbors, and families who have supported us and helped us come to terms with this decision. Thank you. Everyone!

“And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.”

--Genesis 28:15