We wore Ray out today, and all he had to do was watch. Well, watch -- and wheel himself out of the way of the piece of furniture currently on the move! After complaining for months that there just wasn't enough room to fit 6 people around our dinner table in the current living room-dining room configuration, today turned out to MOVING day. This used to be something Ray and I could tackle together whenever the mood struck us. Not any more!

I tried one arrangement on my own -- and moved several pieces of furniture myself before I realized that what I had in mind simply wasn't going to work until one specific piece got moved -- and it is just to heavy for me to move alone. So everything went back to the way it had started out and I was plenty discouraged. We decided that we would wait until Saturday when Sarah (Jeff's daughter) arrives and she can help move stuff around.

About that time I looked out the front window and -- it was snowing! Not enough to stick or have to shovel, but enough to be pretty falling out of the sky. Next thing we knew there were stamp-stamp-stamps up the front deck, in in walked Jeff and Joy!!!

Now Ray REALLY had to keep himself moving, because nobody else had time to make that chair move! Dodge this. Get out of the way of that. Could this new path accommodate the wheel chair? Yes! Had we left enough wood floor to accommodate the walker? Try again. We tried my version of rearranging. Disaster. Then we tried Jeff's version. Perfect! So now the house is rearranged, the dining table can comfortably expand to it's maximum size, and I am happy again. Just have to find places for all those things that were stuffed under, behind and between all those things that got moved ... and consequently no longer have homes! Many will find their way to the local thrift shop or garbage cans.

The improvement steps are tiny, but Ray keeps moving in the right direction. Give thanks! Keep praying.

After missing the last two series' of storms to hit Northern California, the southern Mother Lode has been drenched in cold rain all weekend so that it really is beginning to feel like Christmas, and weather for pizza and hot cider.

Ray celebrated by getting his hair cut, so that he looks like a civilized human being again. Amazing what a good hair cut does to the looks! He looks in the mirror and says he looks bald, his hair is so thin. But there is still hair there, and it is still growing. He still has eyebrows and eyelashes and a little beard; the rest of us are not having to endure the bald image we new a couple of years ago. Never again will I agree with his shaving his head!

Mike from across the street called yesterday to check on us. We should be checking on him! Aside from a bad case of bed sores he seems little worse for his own ICU bout and 8 days on full life support. He admits freely that he prayed for death, but God has other plans for Mike and he is still among the living. His sons are rejoicing and now praying that their father will quit smoking.

Give thanks! Keep praying!!

We still measure very tiny steps, but each day is better and better. Ray gets stronger. He is more willing to try new skills. He is willing to adventure out just a little bit in the wheelchair -- new that he is comfortable getting between it and the truck, either at home or out shopping. We haven't tried Wal-Mart or the grocery store yet, but that time will come, too. He is still not strong enough to shop without the chair. He would run out of energy just getting from an available parking place to the nearest bench using the walker! He runs out of energy just riding to Sonora and waiting in the truck while I shop. On a cool, sunny day like we've had for the past week, that has been a reasonable option. When it is too hot or too cold, it is no longer a good choice. And getting between truck and wheelchair (which has to ride in the bed of the pick-up) would be grim in the rain!!

Another one of those baby-step milestones happened yesterday. Ray stood up without his walker to adjust his trousers. He stood again without his walker to move from his recliner to the wheelchair. Yes, we're only talking a distance of 1.5 steps, and yes, he is securely backed by the bed in one instance and by two chairs and a wife in the other, but it was the first time since September that he has stood unassisted.

We give thanks for Ray's continuing recovery ... and we keep praying!

It has been a long week. I have worked all week covering in the law office while Judee has been on vacation. Joy, Ray's other care-giver has been here and has taken good care of him. But it is nice to be back together again, to do those things you don't really like to have someone else do, and to have our house back.

Ray is very much stronger than he was even a week ago. He was happy to get up and have a shower this morning. He is still a long way from standing in the shower, and I don't know how we would have gotten along without the shower bench. The assurance of sitting, and of being able to sit while you lift your legs over the side of the tub, is a big part of what makes using the tub/shower combo possible and a big factor in allowing him to come home. We get water all over, but the bathroom is small and its a good way to get the floor mopped!

He is drawing again. It's just exercises to get control over his hands, but it is a large step in the right direction. At least he WANTS to get up and draw. Circles and lines, lines and circles, all moving him back in the direction of re-mastering the Dremel and his Knotty Old Men.

Mike, our neighbor who was on life support, is back at home and even seems stronger than Ray. Thank you for your prayers which helped that miracle to happen.

Give thanks! Keep praying!!!