Ma Update

A few people have been asking how my parents are doing so I figured I was due for another blog update!

GOD IS AWESOME. Truly. I know so many people began praying the second they heard about my parents. And God has shown he does listen and is using the whole situation for His good.

Anyways, my mom is doing SO well! I am so proud of her. She is no longer in the hospital and has been moved to a rehabilitation type facility south of Des Moines. Her trach was removed quite a while ago. Her voice took a while to come back, but to my ears her voice sounds almost 100%. As you may have guessed, Ma lost a significant amount of weight over the last month or so but in the last couple of weeks has started to put some weight back on. HOORAY! Ma has also been going through daily physical therapy for her legs, arms, and neck. She told me they think she is doing very well and have even been adding some weight to her exercises. Next Wednesday, Ma will run through another x-ray to see how her pelvis is healing and hopefully the doctors will be able to determine then when the pelvic brace will be removed. She will also have another head scan to make sure the blood initially found in her head is being absorbed and is not clotting. Please pray the doctor has good news for her (well, us)!

I speak with one (or both) of my parents almost every day. Mom seems to be in such good spirits. I'm sure she has her moments, but she has proven once again...she is a strong woman. Dad is really starting to miss having my Mom around the house. He is trying to juggle work, driving back and forth to see my mom, and the day-to-day household tasks. But he is also strong, and my parents are so blessed to have friends and family nearby.

Thank you for the prayers you've offered so far. Please keep praying and know that you're helping my parents to heal.

Love to you all.

Developments

Norah's been working pretty had this month on learning how to stand up and cruise along the front of the couch, the coffee table, and the railing of her crib.

First she mastered crawling:

Then pulling herself up to standing:

Then creeping along the furniture:

Who knows how long it'll take her to decide to walk on her own, but my money's on it happening sooner than later. The whole process of watching her figuring out how to do all of this is wicked awesome. She's had a couple falls and a few nasty head bumps, but there's not a lot we can do to stop that from happening. She's got to figure it out sometime, you know?

Besides figuring out the walking thing, Norah continues to be super adorable. She gets all sorts of compliments when I take her to the dining hall for lunch or dinner. I'm fairly certain that there are more than a few students who are conspiring to steal her from us and raise her as their own.

 



Oh, my... What a wonderful kid we've been given.

Stay Gold, everyone!

MMK

NFL Draft Predictions

Ready for something super nerdy? Two of you might find this interesting. Here's my predictions for the first-round of the NFL Draft. It's happening this Thursday. I can't wait...

Here goes:

1. St. Louis Rams - QB Sam Bradford (Oklahoma)
2. Detroit Lions - DT Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska)
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - DT Gerald McCoy (Oklahoma)
4. Washington Redskins - OT Russell Okung (Oklahoma State)
5. Kansas City Chiefs - S Eric Berry (Tennessee)
6. Seattle Seahawks - RB/HB CJ Spiller (Clemson)
7. Cleveland Browns - QB Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame)
8. Oakland Raiders - OT Anthony Davis (Maryland)
9. Buffalo Bills - OT Trent Williams (Oklahoma)
10. Jacksonville Jaguars - DE Derrick Morgan (Georgia Tech)
11. Denver Broncos - LB Rolando McClain (Alabama)
12. Miami Dolphins - S Earl Thomas (Texas)
13. San Francisco 49ers - G Mike Iupati (Idaho)
14. Seattle Seahawks - OT Bryan Bulaga (Iowa)
15. New York Giants - OT Charles Brown (USC)
16. Tennessee Titans - WR Dez Bryant (Oklahoma State)
17. San Francisco 49ers - S Joe Haden (Florida)
18. Pittsburgh Steelers - G/C Maurkice Pouncey (Florida)
19. Atlanta Falcons - DE Brandon Graham (Michigan)
20. Houston Texans - RB Ryan Matthews (Fresno State)
21. Cincinnati Bengals - S Taylor Mays (USC)
22. New England Patriots - LB Everson Griffin (USC)
23. Green Bay Packers - LB Sergio Kindle (Texas)
24. Philadelphia Eagles - CB Kyle Wilson (Boise State)
25. Baltimore Ravens - CB Devon McCourty (Rutgers)
26. Arizona Cardinals - LB Sean Weatherspoon (Missouri)
27. Dallas Cowboys - OT Rodger Saffold (Indiana)
28. San Diego Chargers - NT Terrence Cody (Alabama)
29. New York Jets - LB Jerry Hughes (TCU)
30. Minnesota Vikings - CB Kareem Jackson (Alabama)
31. Indianapolis Colts - OT Charles Brown (USC)
32. New Orleans Saints - DE Carlos Dunlap (Florida)

I feel fairly confident-ish about the picks I've made in the first third of the draft. Semi-confident about those in the middle third. And pretty shakey about the picks in the last third. We'll see how it works out, I guess.

Stay Gold!

MMK

Almost a year...

Holy crap.

She's practically an adult now, almost.

Stay Gold!

MMK

Faith

5 more reasons for me to believe in God and His desire to demonstrate His love for us:

1) My dad's surgery went well. Two surgeons worked on his face and after 5 hours or so, the surgery was complete. Dad stayed overnight in the hospital and was released the following day. He had quite a bit of pain immediately following the surgery, but I am under the impression the pain has decreased quite a bit. Today my Dad even noticed some of the double vision starting to dissipate!!!

2) Mom has been breathing quite a bit on her own!!! YAY! What a HUGE step forward!

3) In addition to #2, Mom has been moved out of the ICU!!! From what my dad tells me, it sounds as if Mom is really starting to act like her old self. She has been writing sentences with her right arm and even asked my dad if she has lost weight and how much. I called tonight and Mom didn't want me to say too much to her besides an "I love you" because she is not able to talk back. If you know my mom, then you know she loves to talk..and loves DETAILS! Definitely GOOD signs!

4) People are still showing my family love, kindness, and support. It's really, truly amazing. Thank you.

And now...just a picture of Norah. Reason #5.

Love you.

Granite State of Mind

This parody of Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" has been floating around the Facebook statuses of a lot of my New Hampshirite students. It's pretty amusing. Especially if you live in NH. Which you don't, probably. But anyway...

Check it out.