Monday, November 19th, 2007

9:45 PM PST

It was Thanksgiving again in Palo Alto. These Northern Californians eat all the time! I'm stayin' here!! A very patriotic and caring group fed us a turkey lunch with all the trimmings at the Fisher House and I'm embarrassed that I don't even know who they were. But poor David couldn't enjoy any of it.

This morning the respiratory and physical therapists battled it out and respiratory therapy won. Physical therapy had to come back after lunch. That is when, along with the speech pathologists, the PT guy took David outside in a wheel chair. We think that David liked it, but he doesn't really show emotions. We explained that David (before the accident) was quite proficient in a wheel chair, just ask some of his friends (Sean and the Chris's) about their Magic Mountain escapades. When I told David it was time to go he started pushing the right wheel on his chair and was ready to take off. But because his left hand is not working yet, the therapist kept pushing it for David (he said they were pushing 50/50) but I think David could have pushed a lot more if he was allowed to. When we got to a spot out of the wind (it was cool out) the speech therapists worked with him for a little bit, then we went back inside. It was a start, but we were hoping for more. Maybe we have to be more patient. The doctor said that we can start getting David in a wheel chair three times a day now.

Here are some cool thing that happened today. Patty arranged three word on the magnetic board (car, home, snow) and David kinda pointed to the correct ones. All ready he can read as good as me. Patty used a back scratcher on David, and he took it and was playing with it. Patty turned her back to him and asked for a back scratch and he turned it in his hand so it was at the correct angle and scratched her back. When we arrived this morning we were informed that we no longer have to wear the masks in his room. They were the worst! If he tests negative two more time he will no longer be in isolation, but the doctor said he would be surprised if it happened that quickly. We will see about that.

Christa and her girls drove part way up today. They stopped in Bakersfield to visit the girls great grandmother (Mikes grandma) and spend the night. They will probably arrive here in the early afternoon. We will pick up Laura and Brea at the San Jose airport at 3:30 PM tomorrow. We will nearly have a full house. Wednesday night their husbands (Mike and Brian) will fly in, and then we will have a perfectly full house. It will be a great Thanksgiving even if we can't cook. Also tomorrow, Travis Osborne, David's old high school youth pastor (easily the best that has ever lived) will stop by in the morning to visit him in the hospital. We are looking forward to that.

God is faithful, and he reminds me when I'm feeling frustrated of just how far David has come (we didn't know if he would even live) and we can trust Him to continue to work out His perfect will in David's life. Exactly what that will mean is a mystery to us now, but we know that God loves David and through faith we trust Him.

Good Night. Steve