Homecoming

Pastor is finally home! With a deep sigh of relief and a smile, he settled into his new room, only nineteen days from the last time he slept here and 23 pounds lighter. Hospital food and bad side effects from pain medication are not a preferred way of losing weight, but certainly effective. Louise is so glad to be cooking for him again and he is happy to eat whatever she gives him as best he can handle. It may take the rest of the winter and some exercise to gain back the bulk he lost, but by spring he should fit back into his old suits. He says he feels ten times better to be home.

The transition to home has been smooth, with a physical therapist coming to make sure all is going well. Louise is an excellent nurse. After being offered a job at the hospital several times, she (of course) declined in order to continue caring for him at home. Showering, dressing, and getting around in general take MUCH longer now. He is still feeling pain and discomfort, as is to be expected. All in all the progress is steady and the current medication mix seems to be just right. He can no longer feel or hear the "click-click-click" of his ribs each time he breathes deeply. This is thanks to the design of an almighty Creator, who designed a "natural glue" to begin to gel at the fracture site and hold the bones together.

The recently installed steel handrails are wonderful! They line the walkway up to their home, and with the icy weather already here, they will be used and appreciated many times over.

The T.V. room has been converted to a make shift bedroom that nicely accomodates his hospital bed and assorted accessories, as well as the couch for visitors. He loves being able to see out the front window and yesterday was blessed to have a view of Lanny and Sue raking up the front yard's pine needles and plums from his trees. We all know that he is nearly the hardest working man we know and would be doing all the fall jobs himself if he were able. But he knows that each person who takes one of these jobs is showing their love and care for him in a tangible way and he is ever grateful for the work done, as well as the hands that do them. To that end, we are all looking forward to an All-Church Work Day tomorrow, where hopefully we can complete the list of fall projects and take that load of care off of him and Louise.

As you can see above, he did not give in to popular opinion and keep his bushy white beard. We think he looks much healthier and several years younger without it anyway. He never was one to give in to peer pressure.

The abundance of blessings that we can see in every part of this experience, we fully credit to the hand of our great God and Saviour, who hears the prayers of the faithful. Your prayers are needed even more now, as the healing will be slow and difficult. We will continue to keep you updated and thank you so much for your love.