Well, it finally snowed here yesterday...at least more than a dusting. We had several inches yesterday evening and overnight it continued. Our girl from Oz was absolutely delighted to see it. We had invited Peter's friend Christy's family over last night and as they were getting ready to leave, Kevin, Christy's dad, and Peter offered to teach Jess how to get snow off a car!! Smart girl that she is, she told them she would need to watch them do it before she got the hang of it. Then they tried to convince her she needed to learn how to use a snowblower!! She did enjoy getting all her winter gear on and, along with Christy, frolic around in the falling snow a bit. I must admit, it was the kind of snow that sticks to everything and turns it into a wonderland. It is still snowing, so I am sure she will be happy to see all of it when she gets up this morning.
We had a very nice Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We went to dinner at our favorite restaurant on Christmas Eve and had a delicious meal. Then it was on to church where we enjoyed the children's pageant and seeing so many of our dear friends. It was especially nice for the boys, who saw childhood friends who had also returned for the holidays. Unfortunately, it is usually the only time they get to see each other, since they are all so scattered.
Mark is doing exceptionally well here. He climbs the stairs at least once a day and at the top where he has two railings, he doesn't use a crutch to help. He has been walking around the house, both upstairs and down, and each day it gets better and better. He and Jess have been out and about with some of Mark's old friends who are home for the holidays and are planning to have some of them over on New Year's Eve.
We hope everyone reading this had as much fun at Christmas as we did.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Merry Christmas to all!!
Sorry that it has been a while since our last update, but as things become routine, there is less to write about. We had a very enjoyable stay with Mark in Tampa. We enjoyed shopping, a couple of movies, dinner out with friends and family, and a visit from my brother.
I must say, it was hard to get into the "Christmas spirit" with temperatures in the 70s, despite the decorations. (Although, I did fall in love with lighted palm trees....they really look cool!) So now we are back in Strongsville and we have already had our fill of winter, even though it is very mild for northern Ohio standards. Jess arrived late last night from Sydney and has just started to come out of the jet lag semi-coma. We went and did some final Christmas shopping and a stop at Starbucks helped tremendously.
We are looking forward to enjoying Christmas Eve and Day with Peter, Christy and Rich's Aunt Gene, and then later in the week with various friends.
Our wish to all of you is a very happy and blessed Christmas and New Year!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
We've had a very nice couple of days, despite the weather. It had been raining here for the past couple of days. Although we really should be used to the chill and the gray, it's Florida for heaven's sake.
Uncle Robert, who was in Jacksonville on business this week, came on Thursday evening to spend the weekend with us. It's been nice to have him around. Yesterday, Mark had to spend the morning at MacDill AFB at the medical center for his evaluation physical for the Medical Evaluation Board. It was really very routine, as the VA has all his medical records (DUH!) but it's required that a compensation board doctor examine him and ask a lot of questions. I'm not sure what "passing" is, but I think they get the idea that he will be permanently disabled, which is actually what we want. Good God, I never thought I would even think that, let alone say it! But, unfortunately, that is the reality and Mark really is doing so well compared to anything we originally were anticipating. He is a living miracle without a doubt.
On the upside, today the rain stopped and we decided to go look at neighborhoods and model homes in this area. We were told about a subdivision by some of the folks who were involved in Mark's rehab at the hospital, so we sought that out and were very pleasantly surprised. One of the model homes was by the same builder that Mark and I had seen in another subdivision and the same home here (about 5 miles away) was considerably less and he loved the layout. He was excited about the prospect of a new house in a nice area. It is something we will certainly persue further.
Then we went on to meet my cousins, aunt and a good friend for dinner. My brother hadn't seen any of them in about five years so we enjoyed a good dinner and great company before calling it a day. It's too bad Uncle Rob will be returning to California tomorrow, but we've had fun while he's been here.