Accident » Life After What?

One Year.

Accident, Leah, Rachel, Renee 7 Responses »

Aug 042008

One second.

One minute.

One day.

One year.

I have always found it interesting to find how such finite units of measurement can seem so relatively flexible to us. As children, these units of time can seem to last forever, be it waiting for the next time we would get to go out and play, our next birthday, the time till Mom lets us out of time out, or the countdown until we can open those mysterious Christmas packages. We make statements about how we can’t wait for the next summer vacation, to finally graduate, grow up and set off on our own.

I have noticed that as we get older, time seems to slip away ever more quickly, the sand of the hour glass inexorably slipping away, the time zooming past, yet there are certain times where time seems to stand still, the seconds turn to minutes, minutes to hours, and days drag on like years. The world continues zooming by, but we are stopped, trapped like an insect in amber. August 4, 2007 is one of those moments where those finite unit of time suddenly blurred, and had no meaning.

August 4th, 2007 was a hot steamy day, one that I had been waiting for with child like enthusiasm, counting the days, thinking it would never come. My family was going to go on a vacation to the mountains, a vacation like we used to take when we were children. Sadly, August 4th turned out to be a day were time stopped. My sister Renee, wife Leah and mother Rachel were in the car behind us, and were involved in a tragic accident. Leah and Rachel were seriously injured, and Renee was killed instantly. Even now, one year to the day, I can clearly remember that day like it was yesterday, yet it still feels like it was a hundred years ago.

For some of us, we had doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, and a fight to get back healthy. We all had tears, sorrow and the pain of loss. Time once again resumed its normal pace, the sand eroding away, the wounds healing, the shadow of sorrow fading, and joy beginning to brighten the day. We all had to face this journey to recovery our own distinct ways, each of our efforts to recover different, but yet together. We find ourselves still facing challenges, but each day is a little easier, even though some days are harder then others, I believe we are all going to find joy returning to our lives. All of us will never be able to express the gratitude for all the help, support and love that we have been given from strangers, friends and family. We are fortunate to have been exposed to so many wonderful people, who continue to help us on our way.

Renee was a wonderful sister, daughter, wife and friend to all of us. She brought us joy and laughter, and reminded us to cherish life, to make the most of all those fleeting seconds, and to approach life with a smile and a laugh. She approached life the right way, taking precious seconds to smile at a stranger, make music with a student, laugh with a friend, tease her brother and sister, make a mother and father proud, and help her husband be the wonderful man he is today. We were fortunate for her time with us, and those of us she took the time to touch are better for it. I know she is up there in heaven, spreading joy and music.

I approach August 4th, not as a time to remember pain, suffering, loss and tragedy, but as a day to remember all the good things about life, to laugh, to smile, and most importantly, to cherish the opportunities I have to tell those people I love how much I love them. August 4th is a reminder to take the time, all those finite grain of the hourglass, and to make the most of the opportunities we have to spread the joy, laughter and love to one another.

One year.

Three hundred sixty six days.

Five hundred twenty seven thousand forty minutes.

Thirty one million six hundred twenty two thousand four hundred chances to love in one year.

Amazing how flexible time really can be…

Please take some time and view this slide show of Renee, living life how she wanted to live it, with laughter, joy and music. Please be patient, it takes a little time to load…

Renee Kristin Hall Ramsey

Omaha Update - Leah and Rachel's Status - 2-28-08

Accident, Leah, Medical, Mom No Responses »

Feb 282008

I wanted to post a quick little update on Leah and Rachel’s continuing recovery. Both of them are continuing to make great strides towards a complete recovery, and are in very good spirits. Their hard work and stubborn will to get back to normal is shown in the latest results!

At the end of January, Leah met with the orthopedic doc, and was told that she no longer requires formal physical therapy, as her shoulder has made almost a complete recovery. Her clavicle had formed bone and was meshing completely, which means that the clavicle should heal without requiring surgery. Leah has returned to work full time, and no longer has to go into physical therapy 2 times a week.

Rachel continues to improve, with her skin grafts looking very healthy, and continued gains in flexibility in her right ankle, right hand and right shoulder. She had surgery on her right shoulder in January to clean out scar tissue and resolve a “frozen” shoulder. Prior to the surgery she was unable to move the shoulder more then a few degrees, and no further gains were being made in physical therapy. After the successful surgery, Rachel started PT on the shoulder the very next day, and very quickly saw gains in her range of motion. Just last weekend she demonstrated her ability to now get her arm above her head by “wall walking” her arm up. Walk walking is where you face the wall, place your hand against the wall, and pull your arm up the wall by “walking” your fingers upwards, while taking steps forward towards the wall. This moves the arm upwards, and stretches out the joint, and also helps to develop arm strength. A good side effect of this is that it helps strengthen her fingers as well!

Rachel did have another delay in her recovery however, as she kept noticing that her knee was very sore. She was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in her right knee, which requires surgery to repair. She also continues to have issues with flexibility in her large finger joints (the ones closest to the palm) which prevents her from gaining much more dexterity in the fingers. After consultations with the orthopedics it was decided that it would be good to have a combined surgery, and repair the knee and clean out the scar tissue in the hand at the same time. Rachel will be going in for surgery on the afternoon of 2-29, and will begin PT very quickly after.

We would like to thank all the folks who continue to pray for us, and keep us in their thoughts. Your encouragement and prayers help all of us to continue to improve.

December 19 - Renee's Birthday...

Accident, Rachel, Renee 3 Responses »

Dec 192007

Just wanted to post a quick little note today… Today would have been Renee’s 26th birthday. Renee was our Christmas Angel, not only because she was born during the Christmas season, but because she so loved to celebrate Christmas. She was well known for pulling out all the stops when it came to decorating, always had Christmas carols playing as soon as the Thanksgiving feast was cleared, immaculately wrapped presents (although, for her birthday you better make darn sure that it was BIRTHDAY paper and not Christmas wrapping paper) and most importantly a huge smile and a hug, and a genuine joy for the season. The next few weeks are going to be very difficult, as we will be going thru a time where family is the most important part of the celebration, and Renee’s absence will be especially poignant.

I also just wanted to pass on a little note I got from my mom, Rachel today…

I just keep thinking of the days when Renee was born. It was very cold – sub zero ( -8 ) so my mom was worried the car wouldn’t start if she had to come in the middle of the night. My brother Karl was home from college and spent the evening with us. We finished the last of
our Christmas cards and Karl mailed them on the way home to Mom & Dad’s. They had gone to a Christmas party. I had a terrible cold those last few days, so my doctor gave me a super decongestant so that I could breathe freely while doing Lamaze. I can remember driving
through the still, snowy empty streets…the few cars we saw had the exhaust forming the white smoke in the frigid air.

Renee was born at 6:15 – a Saturday. We were able to keep her with us for the next hour and a half. She was awake the whole time. We called people from the birthing room. My Dad was amazed he could hear her soft cries over the phone.

My sister, Kathy, was singing with her husband in Greenland. The night when I was in labor, she had a dream in which we had a little girl.

That Christmas was so peaceful since my only job was to feed and care for our new daughter.

Love, Rachel

I also would like to show a tribute that one of Renee’s good friends made for Renee. He was a good friend from her time at Texas Tech, and was someone who shared the gift of music with Renee, and who traveled with her to Honduras to teach music to the children down there. I missed getting his name during all the confusion and emotional turmoil at the funeral, but the credit is all his. The music is an original piece, composed for Renee, after her friend found out about her passing. This tribute shows how my wonderful sister lived and celebrated her life…

Renee’s Tribute

Please be patient, it takes some time to load…

Happy Birthday Renee!

Update 10-15-07

Accident, Leah, Medical, Mom, Omaha, Renee No Responses »

Oct 162007

Today was a long day, back to work after a busy weekend. As many of you know, Leah returned to work at St. James United Methodist in Bellevue last week, and we took one more step on the road to recovery. Leah was very pleased to get back to work, not only to once again use her brain, but also to start to give back to the folks at St. James who have been so wonderful to us. Going back to work was a bit of a challenge for Leah, as we had to work on getting her back behind the wheel, getting up early, and finding the stamina to stay at work and be active all day. She came home many nights last week, looking tired, but she seemed very pleased to be back.

Returning to work was also a bittersweet event for Leah as well. As many of you know, Leah and Renee spent many hours emailing and chatting with each other in between the various documents and phone calls, and many times would come home and call each other up on the phone to laugh and talk some more. The two of them spent so much time talking and laughing that Zack and I really never had much to talk about, as the girls had filled us in on the goings on so much that we had nothing new to share with each other. The time that the girls spent chatting with each other helped pass those days when the bulletin was done, newsletters printed and the phone was quiet. So as Leah returned to work, she was returning to a place where she and Renee had had many happy moments, but where now the little chat window would stay blank, and the email box empty…

Leah continues to attend PT sessions, and continues to show marked improvement towards a full recovery. She increased all her range of motion measurements by another 15-20 degrees, and has added some strengthening exercises to her 3 times daily routine. We now have different colored thera-bands (giant rubber bands of varying levels of resistance) hanging from the banister and door knobs, a hammer, and an assortment of various contractions such as pulleys and peg boards for her to use. She has almost completely recovered full range of motion in her wrist, and only has about 5 more degrees of rotation before she would have full range. She is slowly gaining strength in the hand, and each day is more capable of doing more.

Rachel is also continuing to make great strides down the road to recovery. Her skin grafts continue to heal, and are beginning to look a little less red, and more pink. The swelling continues to go down in the hand thanks to vigorous Occupational Therapy and lots of interesting little contraptions like her “bionic hand” which is a computer controlled machine that randomly flexes her fingers and hand to start to force the edema out of the hand and down into the arm. One of the areas of concern for the doctors is that there may be some vein damage under the area where the skin graft is on the wrist, and that may be preventing some of the fluids from being removed as quickly by the body. Her PT and little devices have really helped however, and the swelling has begun to go down, in fact enough that her fingers are beginning to look normal. Her foot continues to heal, and she was cleared to discontinue use of the walking boot. She is able to walk fairly well, in fact she and Dad resumed walking at the lake every day, although the walk is much shorter. Her more active movements helped to reduce the small clot in the leg, and at her screening last week, it was found that the clot had completely been absorbed. She was able to be removed from the blood thinners she was on.

She did receive a little bit of discouraging news last week, as it was found her ribs are not healing nearly as fast as they would like. Some of this is due to the other damage her body is having to repair, but some of it is also a result of her inability to use her right arm a great deal. As the muscles in the torso get used, they tend to move the rib bones back into position allowing them to heal. Her relative lack in motion in that arm is not allowing the muscles to pull the bones into place as effectively, therefore not allowing the ribs to calcify.

I would like to take a moment to pass on our condolences to the Duethman family who lost Terry earlier this month, and let them know that all of us in the Hall family are praying for you and are here for you should you need anything at all.

I would like to give a quick shout out to our dear friends Paige and Marc, who were married this past weekend in Oklahoma City. Congratulations you guys, I hope that you will have a happy, loving and joyous marriage, and Leah and I look forward to seeing you guys soon!

I would like to end tonight with a quick little thought about Renee. Tonight we had dinner with my parents and my aunt Kathy who is visiting from Florida, and while we were sitting around the table sharing stories, laughing and enjoying the wonderful meal my father prepared for us, I remembered how we always used to sit around the table with Renee and Zack when they would come and visit, laughing and talking long after the meal was over. That simple act of companionship and love personified and defined Renee. She was always one to share a smile and a laugh, lend a helping hand, or just be there for you. She celebrated life, and helped all of us live just a little bit more.

Thanks to all of you out there who help us, support us and pray for us. You keep us strong and with your help we will get better. We can never express our gratitude enough for the overwhelming support and generosity our family, friends and complete strangers have extended to us.

Omaha Update - 9-25-07

Accident, Leah No Responses »

Sep 252007

First off I would like to apologize for the lack of updates with the blog. We have reached a point on the recovery road where the milestones are few and far between, as the physical therapy section of this road is long and tedious and improvements are very small.

Leah continues to make good improvements on her recovery of her right arm. She is attending PT 2-3 times a week, and is continuing to work on her PT at home multiple times a day. She has made great strides on her wrist, with her range of motion measurements doubling in little over a week. She has nearly 60-70 percent of the motion back in her wrist, and the fingers seem to be wiggling nicely, which should be a great source of joy for Dr. Joe and the folks at St. James, as this means Leah will be back typing away before you know it!

Her shoulder work is quite a bit slower, as she is basically recovering from the equivalent of multiple major shoulder surgeries. She continues to make progress however, and we can see great improvements in her active range of motion exercises from the first day that we started. She is beginning to be able to lift her arm with its own strength, but as there was a lot trauma and damage of the joint, we really have to concentrate on recovering the range of motion before we can start many strengthening exercises for her arm. Leah is however very determined to get full use of the arm back, and is faithfully doing the active range of motion work which will help build some strength back into that arm. We do go and see the orthopedist early next week, and depending on her prognosis, we maybe able to start some light strength training soon.

Rachel continues to make good progress as well. Leah and I had dinner with my parents and my relatives Janet and Tom on Saturday, and the visit was a nice time, as we chatted about the hospital experiences, our recovery, and reminisced a bit about Renee. Thanks for stopping by Jan and Tom!

Rachel continues to look better each time we see her, and we can see some small improvements each day. Her skin grafts look healthy, and are now under the care of an excellent staff of wound specialists. She started PT at the same place that Leah is taking PT, and from what the PT specialists tell us, is on her way to recovery. I will let my Dad give the full update, but this was a quick little update on her status.

Leah and I had the pleasure of attending St. James United Methodist Church of Bellevue’s 50th anniversary celebration on Sunday. Leah has worked as their secretary for the last year and a half, and has really come to enjoy the people of this wonderful church. We would like to extend a very large thank you to the members and staff of the parish who not only continue to send prayers and encouragement our way, but also who have taken up a collection to help us out with some of our medical expenses. The members and staff of St. James have been absolutely wonderful, and their generosity and warmth have overwhelmed us. Leah and I can not thank you folks enough, and we can see why you are known as the church with the warm heart! Thank you for letting us be a part of your celebration and community, and for your continued efforts to speed Leah’s recovery along. Leah did mention that depending on if her arm continues to improve, and we can get her driving again, she is preliminarily planning on returning to work the week of October 8th. She is anxious to get back to work, as you all know she is not one for sitting around all day!

Leah and I would like to thank everyone for their continued support of our family. We don’t know how we ever could have made it this far with out all of your love and support, thought and prayers and all around encouragement. We can not express enough our thanks to all of you.

Jay

Update 9-11-07 Omaha Update - Rachel Makes it Home

Accident, Homecoming, Medical, Mom 1 Response »

Sep 112007

Very quick little update here… Rachel and John are safely home and resting comfortably. The flight was very smooth, no problems at either airport, and even the landing was smooth as silk. It was a little emotional as Jerry, my aunt Cheryl and Grandma Hall met me at the airport to welcome them home. Mom looked wonderful, was in good spirits, and when she saw us had a huge smile for us.

Grandma Kunc will be providing dinner for tonight, and then I am sure it will be an early evening for them, as travel can really take it out of you.

Thanks again for all the prayers, they seemed to have worked to get them home safely!

Homecoming Day 9-11-07

Accident, Homecoming, Leah, Mom No Responses »

Sep 112007

Mom and Dad will be arriving at 1:03 PM at Eppley Airfield today. Leah and I are very excited and are ready for them to be home as soon as possible. We went over to the house last night, and Bill and Judith helped me prepare some areas so Mom can navigate around the house, and sit in the living room (also known as her new bedroom) and be entertained etc…

Leah did get her cast off of her right forearm and wrist, and the orthopedic said that she is making good steady progress towards full recovery. She was fitted with a splint, which is much more comfortable then the cast, as she can actually scratch sometimes! This is also positive, as she can now get that arm wet, so can finally wash that arm really well, and we don’t have to put plastic bags all over her arm to prevent the cast getting wet. Her arm looked pretty good for being in a cast for nearly 6 weeks, as she didn’t appear to have significant muscle loss or a lot of weakness in the hand. She must have been faithfully doing her finger flexing exercises…

Leah and I would like to extend another thanks out to our friend Mary, who came over and worked both of us over on the massage table. the massage session helps work some of the tension out of the muscles, and really lets us relax. This was especially good for Leah as it helped work some of the new muscle tightness that resulted from her doing her active PT.

Speaking of PT, Leah will now also be starting physical therapy for her wrist and fingers, along with the active PT for her shoulder. She continues to make progress, and is very determined to get full functionality back in her right arm. The active PT is very painful, but she is tough and works thru the pain and continues to make small steps towards recovery.

Thanks again to all of you for continuing to care about us, and thanks for all the prayers and generous support.

Jay

Omaha Update - September 9th, 2007

Accident, Leah, Mom, Renee No Responses »

Sep 092007

Sorry about the long delay in between posts, but I haven’t really had the inspiration to blog much in the last few days, and each time I have been inspired, I haven’t had the time due to dealing with technical issues, or my most important priority, helping Leah. I do however have the time right now, and will give everyone a quick little update.

Leah and I had a good week, her sister Julie, brother in law Robert, and their two children came to visit us late last week. They stayed at the house, and Julie had the opportunity to have a nice chat with Leah, and do some big sisterly duties. The two kids were adorable and very entertaining, and it wasn’t long until Uncle Jay was crawling around on the floor with them.

We did take a short trip down to Hiawatha, Kansas, where we spent some time with Leah’s family. We had planned on having a quick family reunion before the accident, and as this is the first time that Leah’s whole family had been together since our wedding three years ago, Leah and I decided that it would be a good thing to attend. We took the trip in small chunks, stopping regularly to let Leah walk so she didn’t become stiff, and before we knew it we were there in Hiawatha. We were staying in some small cabins on a lake down there, and her brother Bill and his family, sister Julie and her family, and Leah’s folks were all there. We had the chance to get a bit of a change of scenery which for Leah was very welcome, as basically all she really has been doing was hanging out in our house, which after a while can start to create some cabin fever!
It was also a good opportunity for me to have a lot more people there to help me out with Leah, and to get to talk to some family who I haven’t had the chance to really get to know.

The weekend at the cabins also provided a nice escape out into nature, where the quiet Kansas night let me reflect on the happenings of the last few weeks in a very peaceful and spiritually refreshing environment. I have always loved the outdoors, and having the opportunity to think about Renee while looking at the stars was a nice way for me to let some emotions go. I also did have the opportunity to take advantage of the picturesque setting, and exercised my camera skills on a number of different subjects. The weekend flew by faster then Leah and I expected, and we found ourselves having to return home, feeling happier having gotten to see the nephews and the niece, the siblings and the parents. I really have been blessed with a wonderful set of in-laws, and this weekend only reinforced that opinion!

Leah did start active PT this week, which means that she will be doing the majority of the work on her exercises. Previously we had been doing passive PT, where I would support the weight of her arm, and do the range of motion exercises with her with me providing the muscle for movement. Leah now us to do some of these motions on her own, and use some new tools such as a pulley system to lift her own arm. This is a big step, as active PT will make her begin to take big steps in recovery, and will help develop her muscles so that she will be able to do the normal movements that are required in everyday life. This is a big step on the road to recovery, and for her being able to get back to a more normal life, which she is really looking forward to. As all of you know, Leah is not one who is real big on sitting around doing nothing, and as a result is going slightly stir crazy right now!

We have a orthopedic appointment Monday to look at how the healing is progressing, and hopefully to remove the cast that has been on her forearm and wrist for the last few weeks. Leah is really hoping for the cast to be off, so she can scratch some itches, not have quite so heavy an arm for doing her active PT and maybe even take a shower with out having to have a trash bag taped over one arm! Of course, if we do happen to get the cast off, we will probably have to start PT for the wrist, so we maybe learning a lot of new exercises in the next few days.

We are really looking forward to getting Mom and Dad back home. Hearing that they are officially coming home was very exciting news, and both Leah and I are looking forward to being able to hug them, talk with them, and just see them.

Thank you all of you wonderful people who have been sending emails, cards, flowers etc to us and my parents. All of your prayers, love and encouragement have been very instrumental in getting us this far. We cannot express enough our gratitude for all that you have done, and will do in the future. I promise I will do a better job of keeping all of you updated and keep passing out the thanks.

Jay

News from the Denver Outpost September 8, 2007

Accident, Mom No Responses »

Sep 092007

Hi Friends,

The Denver Outpost has been suffering technical problems, as the laptop succumbed to effects of the vehicle rollover and experienced it’s own need for therapy. But with a little judicious cussin and swearin and help from Jay, we finally are up and running again after three days of frustrations and disconnection from the world outside Swedish Hospital.

However, progress has continued and we are definitely on track to return to Omaha on Tuesday, September 11, 2007. We have made arrangements with Rachel’s cousin, Beverly, to get us to the airport, and with Jay and Leah to get us home to our house. With a little bit of luck, we will be getting a good nights sleep without the sounds and intrusions of a night in the hospital. We definitely will not miss the early morning visits from the phlebotomists and respiratory therapists. Friday, the first blood draw was at 6:10 am and the second two hours later. Today, we were allowed to sleep in, and had the first blood draw at 6:37 am. I suspect the first blood draw next Wednesday will be around 10:50 am and that will be in Omaha at the family physician’s office. Still have to check the ole rat poison levels.

Rachel has regained a great deal of her walking strength. She went outside to walk on the grounds of the hospital three times in the last two days. We practiced curbs, slops, and uneven surfaces. We walked in grass, parking lots and along flagstone paths. Tuesday, she will be walking in airports, up and down curbs, and in and out of airplanes. All new adventures for us in this state.

She will be wearing her new going home clothes too. Not wanting to alarm the traveling public, she has decided to wear long pants to cover the skin graft donor sites on her right thigh. The shorts we kept here would just not do that job. So we bought her a new pair of loose fitting slacks and a shirt to go with them. She also needed a new shoe. The swelling in both feet has made it impossible to put her normal sized shoes on her left foot. Subsequently, she has been wearing a men’s 9 1/2 athletic shoe with the initials PT on her left foot. I found her some women’s athletic walkers withVelcro closures like those her children wore until they went off to grade school and had to learn to tie laces. Her swollen foot can fit into these as well, because theVelcro allows for the expanded area. I asked her if she wanted to write PT on either new shoe. The right one so she could donate it to PT here, or the left one so she knew which foot to put it on, but she said she would keep them clean and bring both home so she had an easy shoe to wear when the big walking boot finally comes off.

Britanie continues to thrive in Boston. She is enjoying her professors, the new students she has met, and the intense conversations and discussions generated in the classrooms. She has also found some new restaurants and new foods there in Boston. We talk with her for a few minutes every day between classes or while she is en route to or from classes. However, she had to call today and tell her two parental units that they were overusing the cellphone minutes we share in common. She was a little concerned that in only the first 12 days of the billing month we had used up over 80 percent of the allotted minutes. She called the cellphone minutes provider and worked out a deal to get more minutes, and in the process got them to credit the account for the overusage we had in August. She might just have the makings of good lawyer yet!

Jay, Renee, Britanie, Zach and Leah’s Dad

Update from Omaha - 8-30-07

Accident, Britanie, Leah, Mom, Silversmithing No Responses »

Aug 302007

Just wanted to put up a quick update here as it has been a few days since we last posted. As you probably have read in Dad’s post below, Britanie has departed Omaha for Harvard, which lead to quite the emotional day for all of us here in Omaha. We really felt like we had just got Brit back home, and here she was taking off again. We are very excited for her, and are very proud and happy that she decided to take the challenge of heading off to Harvard Law head on. We miss her already, but can’t wait to hear all the adventures that Boston and HLS have to offer. She did ask me to put up her address so that people can write to her if they so desire:

Britanie Hall
5107 HLS Holmes Mail Center
Cambridge, MA 02138-5107

Leah had another good PT session, and we managed to get the arm all the way up to 120 degrees. Basically this is making the elbow go above the shoulder! She was also told that for around the house, she should not wear the sling, as she needed to start stretching the shoulder and elbow out, and letting the shoulder take a bit of weight, so it gets stronger as well. This is a pretty painful experience, but Leah is being tough, and manages to keep a brave face on.

We also had a visit with the neurovascular surgeon consultant here in Omaha to review the carotid injury. He felt that she could begin to move of of the coumadin and switch to baby aspirin. This is a good step, as now some of the bruises will begin to heal more quickly, and she can also stop having to go to the doctor a few times a week to get her blood checked. This does however mean that she will no longer be sporting sweet Snoopy or Sesame Street band aids on her fingers…

I did also start doing a little silversmith work again. Many of you are new readers to the blog, but I have been working with my Grandma and Grandpa Kunc to learn how to do some silversmithing from them. This was a way for me to spend some time with them, and also a way for me to express my creative side. Our weekly lessons grew to be something I loved to do, and was a wonderful treat for my grandparents. In an attempt to begin to establish a bit of normalcy, and also a good way to cheer up Grandma, I begin trying to keep my appointments with them, and last week restarted doing some silver work. I wanted to take the time to give a little thanks to Dee out there in Denver, so I decided to make a little project for her, that I hope she will enjoy as a small token of my gratitude for taking care of all of us while we have been out Denver. I made a simple pin of Chinese Turquoise set in sterling silver. I scribed a quick thank you from the Hall family, along with the year that we gave it to her. I will be sending this out to her with Leah’s sister and brother in law when we see them tomorrow.

Chinese Turquoise in Sterling Silver Pin

Thanks again Dee, I hope you will enjoy this.

Be sure to check out Dad’s update below, lots of good news about Rachel. We would like to once again thank everyone for their continued prayers, thoughts, and generous acts of love towards us and those out in Denver, Boston and Stillwater. All of your support makes it possible for us to be strong, and to continue down the long road to recovery. Thank you very much.

J
halljw@gmail.com

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