Dad & Baby

 
John with his first born. 

Mount Joshua

 
John & Jean's baby. 

Grinnin' Gal

 
Here is a pic of your oldest, Jean. 

Family Pics

 
Jean, you asked for pictures of your whole family at Christmas. Well, I would post them if I had taken them. But I could not get the bunch of you all to stand still. So I will post pics I have of some of your family members.

Here, I will start with your middle child. 

Sean's Walking Today!

I haven't been to the hospital yet today myself, because I'm still at work, but I'm told that Sean has been up and walking down the hallway of the hospital today - with a body brace on. Very difficult, but you know him with a challenge.... They're playing around with his pain meds because they want him to back off, but he's fighting that. He would like to stay with the heavy meds, but as we all know, these pain medicines can be pretty harsh to the rest of your system. He has a new hard cast on his arm, and the wrist is a non-issue because we think it's an old fracture they're looking at. His wrist just doesn't hurt like it would if it was a new break. The elbow and forearm are hurting enuf for one extremity. There are a few other concerns, but we're dealing with them as they come. Yesterday, he was in incredible pain, but Joe tells me today is some better. He would LOVE to get some real good sleep, but that's difficult. I'll update after I go over there - if I can stay up that late! Dani has been running back and forth with Austin, so -- keep praying for both of them.

Great Quote

I have tried and I cannot find, either in Scripture or in history, a strong-willed individual whom God used greatly until he allowed them to be hurt deeply.....Charles Swindoll

Update on Sean

Today is Saturday, it's 10:30 pm, and Joe and I are heading off to bed. We have been to the hospital twice today. This morning we found Sean sitting up in the ICU bed. The neurosurgeon had just given him and Daniela the news that many vertabrae in his back have been broken and it is extremely unusual for him not to be paralyzed. Thank the Good Lord for his protection. The only reason the doctor could give is that maybe Sean's strong back muscles have helped keep him safe from paralysis. The arm is surgically repaired, altho today they xray-ed for a wrist fracture. We have not heard if that is an additional problem, but we're hoping they are looking at an old fracture. Anyhow, his lungs seem to be ok now and tonight he was even in a better frame of mind. The nurse was giving him a bath while we were there, and he really appreciated that. Especially the massaging of his back - he thought that was wonderful. He is still in some pain, and they will be fitting him for a hard body cast thing - like a turtle shell - for him to wear for a while. This is going to be a fairly long recovery. In the meantime, they're still watching him in ICU, and it will be a few more days of hospital stay. That's the news for now. Daniela is sleeping at our house tonight so she didn't have to drive all the way home. We'll know more tomorrow. Until then.......shoot up a prayer! TX!

(Continued) Bad News

I just heard from Joanne regarding Sean's condition.

He is in the ICU still. It appears he has fractured ribs in addition to his other injuries. His heart rate has not stablized, it is a concern for the doctors. Half of his tounge is numb, this indicates a nerve problem. That is consistant with the bruising and problems with his backbone. It appears that the only thing that prevented him from damaging his backbone is that his muscles in the back are very strong. There still is concern about his spine.

He is currently taking advantage of the morphine drip but is still in discomfort and making life interesting for the Intesive Care Unit nurses.

I will update as I find out more details and am informed myself.

Here we go again

Sean has had another motorcycle accident. He is in North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach. On thier website they claim to have the best Orthodedic Units in the area. Sean has been operated on by that unit.

My understanding is that he was on his dirt bike and went airborne. He has damaged his right arm and shoulder and back. Doctors performed surgury on him and expect him to recover but to suffer some pain for the next couple of weeks.

I am lacking in details but know that he is being tended to and that Dani and his parents were with him this evening. The title of this post is a link to the hospital with addresses and phone numbers, but you might call his wife or his parents if you need more detail.

I would hope that you would pray for Sean, Dani, Austin, Carolyn and Joe.

Testing 1 2 3

just testing to see if the blog is working these days. last time I posted, it was broken.

In your Easter Bonnet....

Joanne and Carolyn are sowing their Easter dresses so they look like sisters. Let's hope they do as well as Grandma did here. 

North to Alaska

Well, Becki and George went North to Alaska after this shot. He returned, she stayed in the Northwest. So how is she doing these days? 

Dandy Lion

This is a picture of a dandilion. No big deal right? Some of you in the south may not be too familiar with them. Dandilions are a lawn weed that grows around here, like it or not. Some people like the leaves for salad. Some people make wine from the flowers. Some people (kids) pick them for their mothers. Some people (mostly kids again) like to pick them and blow on them to spread the seeds that float in the wind. But most of us consider them a nusiance, they just are a fact of summer.

What is so interesting about this one is that I took this picture on the first day of FEBRUARY! Again, that may not be a shock to those of you condemed to live in Florida, but IT IS. Some of us enjoy the change of seasons, the yin and yang of winter, spring, summer and fall. We normally do not see dandilions till April or May around here. This has been the third warmest January since they started keeping records around here, about 1880. We had an exceptionally warm and dry summer followed by one of the warmest and driest falls. December started with one of the largest early snowfalls on record then turned bitterly cold. It was 6 the day we left for Florida a week before Christmas. Now we are having an early spring.

We have seen Canadian geese migrating north already. We have been outside playing in the yard when we should ahve been out cross country skiing. Valerie is afraid that this means we will have another warm summer, too hot to go out and enjoy. If we wanted to stay inside all summer we could move to Florida. But we enjoy summer, not too warm, not too humid. We like the fact that when the days are long we get to enjoy them and when the days are short we stay inside and sleep.

Anyway, here is a pretty flower; way before its time