Patient Update!

Deana returned home from the hospital this past Monday. It was a long wait trying to get out of the hospital, but we survived. The doctor discharged her around 3:00. I asked the nurse to order us a taxi home then. Long story, short, we left the hospital at 6:15 when a taxi driver finally came for us. The taxi driver that eventually picked us up ended up being a real blessing though. I had been speaking in Russian to him for a while in the car. Finally, I needed to say the word therapy in Russian and had no idea what it was! I turned to ask Deana, thinking maybe she had heard it in the hospital, and when I did the taxi driver said, "You may speak English with me!". Thankfully we had quite the discussion during our 2 hour ride home in Moscow traffic. We found out that he is a once communist, KGB trained, atheist, now orthodox Russian man who lives in a different city now and comes here to work as a taxi driver for 2 or 3 weeks at a time and then goes home to his wife and son for a week. He is now Deana's personal taxi driver and takes her to and from the hospital for her therapy 3 times a week. He is great at helping her in and out of the car as well. Pray for him. His name is Vadim, but has us call him Simon!

Therapy has been pretty tough for Deana. They had her walking on a treadmill already for 30 minutes on Friday and have encouraged her to use her crutches and walk around the apartment as much as she can. She has been doing that the last 2 days. Pray for her as she goes to therapy on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is pretty scary for her to go in and out of our building down steps in the ice. The taxi ride there takes her anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, depending on traffic.

You can see pictures, above, of the only in-home care we can afford! They help her put on her cream to help with swelling and re-wrap her leg each day! It is quite interesting to watch. They have been really good through all of this. I'm sure it has been hard on them as well.

Everyone was incredibly nice to me today at church. At one point though, I almost had a nervous breakdown when 4 Russian women were speaking Russian to me at the same time wanting to help cook, clean, and anything else needed. One person at a time is hard enough to understand. They will be helping us out some this week and some want to visit with Deana to lift her spirits!

This week the family will not have to endure my cooking very much, thankfully! Tomorrow night a wonderful co-worker is bringing dinner. (thanks Charlotte) Tuesday one of the ladies from our church is coming to our apartment to cook us dinner. (The only problem is she will use our products to cook and we have none! I guess I will be going to the store to stock up on things we normally do not buy!) On Wednesday, our neighbor (that you have read about many times earlier) will be making our dinner. She will be making me a shopping list tomorrow that I need to go buy and give to her so she can cook our meal. She has already made us Russian breads filled with jam, cabbage, and pears. On Thursday, two other ladies from the church want to come help clean and maybe cook something for later in the day. They were 2 of the four talking to me at once. They were starting to ask me what needed done and how they could help. Another lady standing there said, "What are you asking him for. His wife is the one you should ask about cleaning!"

We are proud of Kellan for making the 4th grade A-average honor roll at his school! We are proud of Ella for learning all of her ABC's now! Ella wanted you to see the cake that she made and decorated with her grandma before she left! She was so proud. She and her grandpa went out and decorated the snow with the left-over sprinkles.

Thanks for all of the emails, prayers, cards, and encouragement through facebook! You don't know how much that helps! Blessings to you all! Today, we sang one of my favorite songs at church: "Worthy is the Lamb seated on the throne. Crown You now with many crowns; You reign victorious. High and lifted up, Jesus, Son of God. The darling of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb!

Worship the Lamb!

I'm sure I have LOTS of mistakes in this, but I'm too tired to check for them! Sorry!