New things each day...

Our apologies for the length of time between posts. Dad is improving one way or another each day. Since the last post, here are a few of the things that have taken place: he has walked with a walker -- by himself -- from one end of the hall to the other; he has had his trach capped and no longer has extra oxygen used; he has started saying words here and there; and some of his words have turned into sentences.

We have been working on getting some of the more "automatic words" to come out with hopes that it leads to purposeful speaking. An example would be a phone conversation between him and one of us where we would say often used phrases like "hey dad, it's jay" and he would respond with "ya" -- it even got to "hey dad, i've gotta go, have a good night; could i please talk to joe" to which he would respond with "ok, goodnight" and then hand the phone back to joe.

Now, with all the good stuff comes some tough stuff. Over the weekend, dad looked mom square in the eyes and said, "I don't know what happened". He is finally coming to the realization of what is going on. With this realization comes tough stuff to deal with. Dad seems to be more down over the past few days, we are assuming that he is realizing what is going on and dealing with it. Please pray for his courage and encouragement to keep fighting.

Finally, there are some unresolved administrative issues that need to be worked out and we'd appreciate the prayers for wisdom. Thanks for your love and encouragement.