I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, but we have been busy around here. Busy moving in! We finally got moved in to our new house on Saturday. And we had so many people show up to help, I think I only carried one thing into the house. We even got the beds set up and stayed the night on Saturday. Rick was here and he pedalled his wheelchair from one end of the house to the other....wherever he wanted to go, he got there. I think he was a little overwhelmed and was really tired at the end of the day, but very glad to get this behind us. Now, I have a ton of boxes to unpack, but that's okay, I'm just so glad that we're able to have a home, because there were times in this journey that I didn't know if we ever would. We have never lived in town, so thats different, but luckily we're on a big lot away from the road and I aslo bought the vacant lot behind the house so it's not so bad. There is still not a horse on the place, so we're not quite back to where we were, but we are one more step closer.

Rick is doing so good. We had his team meeting on Friday and everyone had marvelous things to say about him...especially about his attitude and motivation. Both are much better and because of that, he has made a lot of progress. PT is now working with him on using a cane to walk. He was opposed to it at first because he sees it as a weakness, but we were able to convince him that it is just a part of the process. In ST he's working on his "s" sounds and just being able to get the volume turned up. In OT his money managment is a lot better. I can't remember if I told y'all or not, but he originally told the OT he didn't need to work on money mgmt because he's married to a CPA! Ha...he'll say anything to get out of work. His handwriting is better, too. We are still concerned about the range he has in his left shoulder, but hoping it will get addressed with an increase in the baclofen pump and some more attention to it.

We also got a visit from some one we haven't seen since Sept of 2009. Olivia Zokai was Rick's PT at Baylor Rehab. We thought she was so awesome...she was so intense and determined to beat the tone that Rick has. WEll, nowadays she works for Medtronic which is the company that makes the pump that Rick has. She goes all over giving seminars on tone and spasticity managment and she is a wealth of knowledge in this area. Well she had a seminar in Lubbock on Saturday and flew in on Friday night. We have kept in touch ever since we left Baylor and I have sent her videos of Rick along the way. She uses these videos in her presentations. Rick doesn't remember her, but was happy to see someone who believed in him from the minute she met him. It was wonderful to see her. Rick's therapists from TLC attended her seminar on Saturday and took the time to visit with her about Rick afterwards. Based on that, they decided to increase Rick's pump which is something I've wanted to do for awhile. I'm still amazed at how God works these situations out...even after all He has done for us, He still amazes me.

I don't know if y'all saw the comment from the last post made by Martha Marsh, but we met her in Dec '09 at Trustpoint and she transferred to TLC too. She has made an amazing recovery from her TBI and has discharged. She is another great example of how you can recover from a TBI...it can happen.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us move in....I think Rick promised a few of you a case of beer and I'll try to make good on that promise! But, you may have to take a chocolate cake instead! Hopefully it won't be so long between posts! Love y'all and appreciate all you've done...you've prayed us through this.

Love,
Crystal