Family Update #5

Paul was released from the hospital on the day after Christmas. Jon's phone is on the fritz, so we didn't find out until we found an empty room when we went to visit on Saturday. It was welcome news.

We went down to visit on Sunday. He looks so much better and is happy to be home. He is actually putting some weight back on too. He lost 50 pounds from his month long hospital stay (shy a day or two). He has been moving around a little and working on getting his muscles (especially his legs) to work again.

Paul's family made the most of him being in the hospital on Christmas. They went up Christmas Eve and spent the night in the hotel provided for the patients' families. Christmas morning they stayed in their pajamas and took the gifts to the hospital to open as a family.

When they found out he was being released on Friday, they called Joe and let him know they were coming. The trip was rough. When they got there, preparations had been made. Family had managed to lift the bed a foot. Ben, Paul's daughter Heather's boyfriend (did that make any sense?), cleared a path to the back door so they could get almost to the bedroom by car. Let me explain this "path". When we got there, it looked like he had used a tractor. It was ~12 feet wide and completely cleared. He used a shovel. Impressive, most impressive.

Anyway, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We are continuing to pray for Paul and Jeff and their recovery.

As far as Russ and Cary and their family, we continue to pray for them, too. We stopped by last night, but no one was home. It has been a couple weeks since we saw them last. I still can't fathom what they have to face every morning they wake up...especially with Christmas. It is doubtful that the next few weeks will be any easier. January 12 is Alex's birthday. He would have been 12.

Sorry to end on a sad note. Thanks again for your prayers.