This morning I read the Facebook post of a friend. I wish you knew her; she and her soul are simply beautiful. She is as stunning as she is humble.

Last year this time, Amy was searching for new ways to recycle leftover Thanksgiving dinner leftovers while simultaneously planning the family festivities for the upcoming Christmas holiday. Wearing the many hats of a young wife and mother, and balancing both her family's meals and a toddler on her knee, she started her holiday wish list.

Amy's list was long; awesome toys for her two kids, that "perfect gift" for her husband, parents and siblings, attending a Christmas Eve church service while the kids sit still and remain on their best behavior, and a joyous Christmas Day accompanied by an expertly prepared Christmas dinner. Oh, and one more thing- that everyone would remain safe and healthy throughout the holiday season and all year-round.

Here we are one year later, and many of us have a similar wish list for the upcoming holidays. Not Amy. This year, her greatest wish is for a new set of hands. Oh- and, if it were a perfect world and the field of medicine was perfected enough to perform successful foot transplants, two new feet would top her list as well. Sadly, this Christmas will bring neither replacement hands nor feet for this recent quadruple amputee.

While an infection ran rampant through her bloodstream, Amy hovered near death. She survived; only to watch alongside her family, in horror, as her hands and the lower part of both legs slowly died- soon requiring amputation. All four necessary body parts GONE- along with so many dreams that were never before in question. How do ANY of us EVER prepare for such an unequivocally life-altering loss?

Fortunately Amy is surrounded by supportive, loving friends and family. Her husband has learned to not only ensure that their children's needs are met, he has learned to style Amy's hair and even apply her makeup. He gets it. He understands how important it is to do for his wife what she cannot yet do for herself. In time, she will adapt. After all, she is a survivor.

Let me tell you about this brave, determined woman. We are not talking about someone who lays across the railroad tracks in defeat. We are talking about someone who WILL LAY the railroad tracks, and one way or another, get to wherever she wants to go, no matter what. For her, “surrender” is simply a term, not an option. Being a survivor is her only option- because Amy has replaced the term "never" with "not yet."

Why, you might wonder, do I write such a profoundly sad blog entry at this holiday time when we are thankful for all we have? For me, reading and assimilating Amy's Facebook post was beyond riveting. While attempting to gain a real sense of all the physical and emotions that followed her unimaginable losses, I began to see the beautiful flowers that emerged and now bloom in the aftermath. Her husband stepped in to do things he previously took for granted; things she did for him, their family, and herself. He became all he and she were- and in the process, realized how self-focused he had been, and how selfless she was, and still is! Her children now have a profound understanding of a world outside their own. They have learned to become adept at sensing the challenges their mother faces. In their innocence, they have taken on mountains! Daily, they are learning to exercise patience and respect for a mother who no longer can do what was never even considered a challenge. From Amy, they have learned that you somehow FIND a way to cope and persevere; it's not always easy- but it is the only option she will allow for herself and them. That is what survivors do. They learn that "not yet" is better than "never."

More than anything else, the most amazing thing is this: while the list of losses grows daily with each new challenged task, her gratitude list overwhelms it! She finds it fruitless to focus on the "if only’s;" if only she had questioned and acted on her symptoms, the medical decisions made, and all the factors that led to her becoming a quadruple amputee. Amazingly, her tears of frustration are no match for her determination to focus on what she never lost--- her audience of one. While the concept of who she WAS has been shaken, her concept of who she continues to become- is more solid than steel. Her faith in her God is non-negotiable. How beautiful is that?

Every step Amy takes on her new prosthetic legs brings her a reminder that she survived. Without hands, she cannot attach her prosthetic legs; but her family helps her, and she chooses to see their joy in assisting with her walk of faith. Not yet, but one day, sooner than later, she will run.

You see, Amy has learned that the concept of TIME is no longer an issue. She cannot go back in time to retrieve her losses. She cannot force time to hurry up and make her new adjustments instantaneous. Had she not survived, TIME would have been the dash that forever rests between the year of her birth and the year of her death on her tombstone.

These days, Amy is busy with her list...of gratitude. This list has only two columns; "Not Yet" and "If Only." The concept of "if only" now strictly applies to facing challenges without your former limbs. If only you take the first step, another can, and will, follow. If only you rely on your faith, you will endure. If only you open your heart to realize you are a survivor, you will celebrate that you are still HERE...to make wish lists, to share joy with loved ones, and even reach out to show others what happens if only you choose to make survival your only option, and believe that "not yet" is only a relative term.

So… What will be on your wish list this year?