Wow is is slippery out! I drove the girls to School this morning and on the way home did a 180 into on-coming traffic in Joanne's Expedition. I missed hitting a utility van by about a foot. So scary! I was in the "school zone" so we were all going about 20 mph which definitely saved me. If cars had been coming full speed from the other direction I would have gotten plastered. Thank you Jesus for getting me home safe. Haven't seen roads this bad in Denver in years.
Ryan let me off the hook today so I wouldn't have to drive to the Springs. On top of that Gran has taken ill and isn't here to help Joanne out with the few things that only Gran and I can do for Joanne. God has truly blessed me with an understanding employer. I need to write more about this at some point. Ryan, Grounded Radio and Family Talk has been with me ever step of the way on this journey. Not sure what I would do without them!
The snow continues to fall and it looks like the roads are only going to get worse. Should be an interesting trip back to school this afternoon.
Erika the OT is here today but Speech had to cancel. So Papa and Joanne worked out in the garage/gym for about and hour and then came in to work on Joanne's one handed typing. Now Joanne is getting her shoulder worked on. Erika says that you have to start at the top and work your way down. First the shoulder, then the elbow then the wrist and fingers. Besides that, Joanne is wearing her wrist DynaSplint for a number of hours a day. All of this is supposed to work together to decrease tone and make her arm flexible/usable again. Would love prayer for some progress int his area.
I am thinking about how weird and difficult things get normalized over time. We have slept int he living roon for almost three weeks now--Joanne on the couch and me on the love seat. Emma has joined us and is now sleeping in the big chair. If you take th eback cushion off and put the giant ottoman at the end of it it fits Emma just right. So the three of us spend the night in here and it is feeling pretty normal. The first few nights felt anything but.
Joanne is sleeping well. What an answer to prayer. The first nights after surgery she didn't sleep much at all and was miserable. But now she is at least getting a decent night's sleep in. That makes all the difference.
Oh, Joanne got her stitches out a couple of days ago. They removed that cast and everything looked good. Papa took a picture of the scar and it is WAY bigger than I anticipated. It's a honker! But they said it looks fine and taped it up before re-casting it. This time her cast is red and someone sent "cast-toos" that are like stick on tattoos for a cast. They are of Christmas lights so her cast looks very festive now for the season.
Prayer Requests:
1. Praise that Joanne is getting some sleep! Everything goes better with good night sleep. We are still awaiting the day when Joanne gets her walking cast and we can get upstairs to our room, but for now we are making it work.
2. Praise for the friends and family that have so faithfully stood with us through this process. It has taken a team to make life work and we are lucky to have an amazing team around us. I won't name names but you know who you are.
3. The girls are heavy on my heart these days. They, like the rest of us, are trying to make the best of it, but I know their little hearts are hurting. Please pray that they would be able to express their concerns and let those of us who love them help them through a very emotionally difficult time.
Toben
