Sunday Update

July 20
By Linda

(Oops! We goofed. Uncle Jay and Aunt Peg are NOT here in Indiana this weekend. They are coming in August. Dad and I were so eager we jumped ahead too fast. We'll be tickled to visit with them in a few weeks.)

All the photos posted of me (with Kelsey, Parker, and Lee) this week have been from some event here in North Manchester over the last couple years. Way to go, Clay! You have now established a precedent. Can you sustain it?

Attending church here in North Manchester was such a kick. We knew BILLIONS of people there this morning whom we have known sometime during our 51 years in Northern Illinois (47 of those years in Elgin). Coworkers (Dad's and mine from each of our days at the church offices), camp director, elementary school principal, junior high cafeteria cook, music director, friends' parents, kids I babysat who are now parents, neighbors, yoga classmate, and on. The hugs and supportive atmosphere gave a really pleasant start to the day.

Mom had a reduced therapy schedule today because of Sunday staffing but progress was still achieved. We experienced the "Alexander" method (I'll have to google it) of respecting the way one uses one's body. Mom ate some part of all her supper offerings---salmon, rice, green and yellow beans, peaches, apple juice and hot tea (both thickened with modied corn starch to prevent choking--I'm not kidding). Then I was feeling glum about the amount Mom eats when I calculated that growing from 15 bites of food at yesteray's meals to 18 bites today is a 20% increase. That perspective gives me a whole lot different attitude about measuring forward steps. It has been a challenge each day to find the cup half full but I guess I was not always looking at the right cup.

I leave for Elgin tomorrow as Karen returns from Kansas to spend two weeks here in North Manchester. And Judy is back in the country after her 9-day trip to India. She and Dick came for the afternoon and evening. We will all be richocheting back and forth until our full-time school responsibilties resume. Our big project now is to see about establishing a real home here for Dad while the rehabilitation and healing continue for Mom.