Had folks over for brunch the other day to celebrate us having an actual dining room, dining table and the room to entertain without feeling squished…
Grandpa John and Wes were snoozing on the couch, and Auntie B decided to join them. I guess that snoozing on Grandpa is good for big and little kids!
Reflected GlowWell the dog days of summer seem to finally have arrived in Omaha, hot and humid weather with the occasional thunderstorm to cool the nights down. The wonderfully wet, mild spring has left eastern Nebraska with a lush carpet of vegetation, and those trees that have managed to survive the wild storms are looking wonderful. The humid air and the tattered remains of afternoon thunderstorms are making for some beautiful sunsets, and having some of the cooler night air makes it a good time to go take a stroll around the neighborhood.
Walking around the neighborhood you tend to notice details you never see while driving by. Leah and I have taken to walking through the neighborhood in the late evening, looking at the sunset, enjoying the early night breeze and watching the fireflies twinkle in the grass. The warm glow of the sunset washes over everything, bathing objects in a beautiful golden glow. While walking I noticed this maple tree had a reflected glow from the sun hitting a window, so I stopped and managed to get this shot.
In other news, Leah continues to do well, the baby has been quite active, kicking, wiggling and stretching as much as it can. Leah sometimes wonders if the baby is trying to escape! We are both looking forward to getting to meet our little one, but at the same time want the time to go a bit more slowly so we can try to get some tasks accomplished before our attention is turned to a newborn.
We are also excited to get to see Britanie, as she is back in Nebraska for a week long visit. We expect she will be excited to get to see the baby bump has grown quite a bit since our visit to Boston earlier this spring. Looking forward to hearing about her summer job as a legal aide at Harvard law is going, and hearing more about her explorations of Boston. Also looking forward to getting to demonstrate the smoker, and giving her some good ole fashioned midwest BBQ!
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:
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 PinThanks 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.
We had a big night Friday night, as Britanie got back into town, so we had Grandma and Grandpa Kunc, my aunts Marsha and Karen, and Britanie over for dinner. We had a good dinner provided by Grandma, and lots of good conversations between everyone. We were all thrilled to see Britanie, and she was very happy to see us. It was a good chance for her to unpressurize a bit, and start thinking about going to Harvard. Karen brought a really good Bundt cake for dessert and it was enjoyed by all. Marsha brought us some fresh sweet corn from Columbus, and some more home grown potatoes. Jay and Lori and their boys stopped by later in the evening to deliver some fresh drawings that Thomas and JJ had drawn for Leah. The drawings helped her feel even better, as did watching the boys tear about the yard. Thanks to all of them!
We did load Karen up with some stuff to take out to Mom and Dad in Denver, as she was heading out that way for a workshop. She planned on stopping by to visit with Mom late today, and promised to give them all a hug or a squeeze for us. I did get a call from Dad this evening saying Karen had safely made it to Denver, and she and Mom were happily chatting away. He even sent us a picture to prove it!
Karen and Rachel chatting away…Here in Omaha, we had a very busy day with lots of visitors from my work EDM. Jayne stopped by early in the afternoon to give us a few more meals for us, which we sampled gladly at dinner this evening, and I am sure we will enjoy the coffee cake tomorrow morning. She also spoiled us by baking some of her famous cookies, which prompted Leah to remark that “Jayne sure did know how to bake!” after sampling one of the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Just as Jayne was taking off, Barb stopped by to visit, and she was carrying a wonderful ice cream cake for us. We had a very nice talk with her, and are very glad she could stop by. We are looking forward to that Ice cream cake tomorrow as well. I figure I might gain some of the weight back that I lost while not eating at the hospital! So once again, thanks to those two wonderful ladies for taking care of us, and bringing a bit of cheer into our day.
Right after Barb left, Mary stopped by with her massage table. We managed to get Leah up on the table and relaxing comfortably while Mary prepared to give Leah a nice relaxing massage. Nearly an hour and 15 minutes later, Leah was having to be helped up off the table, a relaxed look on her face, and a big smile lighting up the room. She said that this was the best she had felt since before the accident, and her shoulder was completely pain free! It really is amazing what some gentle touch in the right spots can do for eliminating discomfort. Right after Leah was finished, Mary told a semi-trepidatious Britanie to jump up on the table, and worked some of the tension and knots that come from sleeping in a hospital room right out. Brit got up with a pretty happy look on her face, and said that she was going to have to look into this massage stuff more often! Mary receives a big thanks from all of us, especially from the girls for helping relax them!
I promised pictures of the famous “bearometer” so I am following thru :
The whole Bearometer…
The grumpiest Teddy bear I have ever seen…
This guy doesn’t get used much!
I hope this bear get used a lot more!!
Jay