Paul's Update - 12/23/07

Dear Friends:

This has been another busy week. I’m not sure I mentioned that Dora has gone to Ghana to be with her family since her father passed away a couple of weeks ago. She will be gone for four weeks and Gradis (our weekend nurse) has been filling in for her while she is gone. It has been interesting for us (and for Gradis) to have a new routine for the week. It is amazing how much we have gotten use to Dora doing certain things while she is here. She does LOTS of laundry during the week and Gradis almost NEVER has to do laundry ... she did this week!! Dora also keeps up with the trash better than Gradis needs to on the weekends ... but she did that this week too! She enjoys doing domestic chores which has been very helpful!!

Monday we had an appointment in Richmond at VCU. Gradis has never gone with us before so I instructed her to bring a good book since there is about 2 hours that she has to sit and wait on us to meet with the program counselor, Taryn. We have about a two hour ride down there and Gradis didn’t realize it was so far!! After we finished our session we headed back towards home and stopped in Ashland Virginia for lunch at a great little BBQ place. We didn’t get home until almost 5pm.

Tuesday and Wednesday are therapy days. Again ... Gradis doesn’t usually come to therapy with Paul! She was very amazed at the things that the therapists work on with Paul. Tuesday Paul had PT at 2pm and 10:30am on Wednesday. They continue to work on increasing Paul’s speed in walking. He increased his speed by a minute going forward and about 30 seconds going backwards. Wednesday they worked on basically the same walking skills. He continues to do well and gets better all the time. She also had Paul climb some stairs by holding onto the rail on one side with both hands and stepping up. He did twelve steps on his own! Occupational Therapy was 3pm on Tuesday and 9:30am on Wednesday. The therapist had Paul do some free standing and she tossed a ball back and forth to him. She would toss the ball just a little to the side for him to catch and he was able to do that. She also had him create (actually copy) a design with blocks. She arranged them in a design and he had to recreate the design. He usually does well with copying and sometimes gets creative with it!!

Thursday and Friday were days at home. We have been trying to get ready for Christmas while we also fight colds and flu. I stayed home from work on Wednesday and Thursday! Dad had Max at our house on Thursday and Friday since Mommy needed a babysitter. The regular daycare lady is taking some time off for Christmas! Max is a typical toddler and Pap-Paw had his hands full ... but he LOVES it! At one point Max went over to Paul’s chair and was standing in front of Paul. Paul had one of Max’s toys in his hand and I told Paul “Give it to Max”. Paul held it out and gave it to Max. It sounded like Max said “thank you”! I told Max “give Daddy a kiss” and he puckered up, leaned over and Paul reached down and kissed Max!! It was a very precious exchange between Father & Son!!! Gradis made dinner for us Friday evening. She loves to cook but most of her dinners consist of Chicken with a tomato sauce of some kind and rice. She loves spices and this dinner was no exception! We were suppose to go to a Christmas Open House at the O’Dell’s house but Paul’s dinner disagreed with him and he got sick on the drive over to their house. We ended up turning around and going home for the evening.

Saturday we went to El Agave in Warrenton for lunch. Carolyn, Alysa & Chris came along as well as Bill, Ronda & Lew. We haven’t been there for several weeks and it was a nice treat. Dad had to take Gradis home at 7pm and he went out to do some Christmas shopping. Paul and I stayed home and watched Field of Dreams (one of MY favorites ... I love James Earl Jones!!).

Sunday we had most of the kids at church. Bobby & Jen came for worship. Carolyn, Alysa & Chris were there (Billy was at home ... sleeping ... since he works a night shift). Max was with us ... he really enjoys the nursery class! The kids did a special Christmas song during the children’s moments and it was great having all of our grandchildren there! After church we had lunch ... Pizza ... and then Carolyn too me to the mall with the grandchildren to have pictures taken. I hope to have pictures to share! Pap-Paw and I kept Max for the day and had a great time with him! Mommy did lots of wrapping while Max was gone today! Pap-Paw and I will be doing that on Monday! Gradis is off on Monday and Tuesday for the Christmas holidays so we will be on our own! Many of our friends will get this message AFTER Christmas but I wanted to wish all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! We have many things to celebrate as we look back over the year 2007. It is because of God’s grace that we have come so far. Paul continues to amaze us all the time and we are so blessed to have great family and friends! I pray that you will spend special time with your family and enjoy the holidays.

God Bless You and your family! ... Lynne & Carl