Monday am

Sunday was a fun day, as we brought the whole family up for a visit. My brother James and his wife Eryn and two of their kids were headed back to St. Louis so they came with us and had a quick visit with Katie. Again, with Sawyer there, Katie was able to do a little snuggling and fed him his bottle. Dawn had previously brought some fun stuff for the girls to do (games, crayons, etc...) so the kids all drew pictures for Katie while we visited. It was so good to have James and Eryn as they took the night feedings so that Karen and I could get some rest. Also, James is still a kid at heart and he spent a lot of time tiring out the older kids.

Kyle and Karen's 6th anniversary was on Sunday, so they went to a movie, had a nice dinner, and spent the night in a hotel. Sue came home and watched Ava (Kyle and Karen's daughter, almost 2yrs old) and I took the night feedings. Man do I appreciate Karen!

This morning our neighbor Jen took the girls to school (their school is on our street so they walk to school) and I headed to my office to take care of a few things. I got to the hospital around 10 to find Katie in the middle of therapy. She was doing some strength exercises, and said, "this is too easy." So I suggested they get heavier weights, Katie said that wasn't necessary. After Occupational therapy we were off to Speech. Speech is kind of deceiving as it really is more of cognitive therapy as they really work with memory, reading, writing, and problem solving. Other than being tired, Katie is doing very well.

Katie's Dr of internal medicine is going to take her off of the muscle relaxers they have been giving her for her stiff neck as they think it's making her tired. They are increasing her blood thinners as her blood is too thick right now. Other than that, everything on the medical front is going very well. We are still waiting on her swelling to go the rest of the way down to see how her eyes will respond. Not sure when the next CT scan will be, but it should be in the next week or so. Katie told Dawn this morning that she wants Mark, Rob, and myself (leaders of Two Rivers Church) to come and pray for her eye (based on James 5). Dawn prayed over her and when she was done, Katie prayed for herself.

Katie's memory does seem to be improving as there are times that see really surprises us. Sue was taking Katie back to her room yesterday when Katie started yelling (in a nice voice) at a couple walking away from them down the hall. It turns out they were recent clients of hers, and she recognized them from a distance, walking away from her! This next week at church we are have a baptism at Saylorville Lake, and we were planning on having Aubree baptized as she excepted Christ as her savior this last year. I decided to hold off as I want Katie to be there. However, Katie did remember that when Tayler was baptized that we helped her write her "testimony" to be read at the baptism, as she was concerned about getting that done for Aubs.

Katie does struggle with "immediate" things. Mostly like what time of day it is. She typically thinks it's afternoon when it's morning. She has a hard time with current date, year, etc...

Things are going so well and we couldn't be happier. We continue to praise God for all that He is doing. We are also so thankful to all you out there that are praying and supporting us.