Christmas in Wichita...Dad WALKING!

I think one more post will just about catch me up!

So...on Christmas day, after worship services and cleaning up the house, we were off to Wichita to celebrate Christmas with my parents and my brother and his family. We were so excited to go to the hospital and watch my dad walk. He did!

Here he is contemplating the standing up.

Here he is taking a few steps.

And now he's resting! He would walk 4-8 feet, then sit down and rest. It is such hard work. He was telling me that one thing he is working on in the pool where it is easier to walk, is reminding his body how to do it! Which arm swings with which foot. Which muscle to contract to make his leg move. How to put the weight on his foot, and of course balance is an issue. It's amazing how easily we walk, not even thinking about which muscle is moving at what time...but after months in bed, and everything his body has been through this year...it doesn't remember. I am so proud of him for working SOOO HARD! I am afraid I would have given up a long time ago!

Of course, that's my mom holding his wheelchair. She has been such a pillar of strength this year. Warren had back surgery a few years ago, and I was a wreck! He was only in the hospital for 2-3 days...my Dad has been in the hospital for almost 7 months of the 12. She has been there nearly constantly. While he was in the ICU, and most of the "big hospital" stay, she stayed with him 24/7. Only going home to shower and change clothes, do a load of laundry, and go back. She used all her vacation/sick time she had built up for the past 20 years and so she retired in May...truthfully she was planning this change in advance, but the change has helped so much with her guilt about not being able to do her job...her job this year has been to be there for dad, and she has done an excellent job! She definitely deserves a raise! :o) I admire her strength, patience, strength, love, endurance, strength, and faith. (Did I mention how strong she is? Mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, she's one STRONG Chick!) She is the most Godly woman I know...I hope I can be like her one day.

We also were able to have our family Christmas in the dining room at the hospital. Bethany and Ella helped Bobbie (my mom) bring in some of the gifts. (I hope they weren't the breakable ones!!)

Abbigail and Bethany love their little cousins, and I think they love them, too!

My Dad and my Little Man...two of my favorite guys!