Julie's window

...the end of a series of photos that helped preserve my sanity for five weeks while I was with Julie in her room at the Transitional Care Unit.

Home

We all gathered around the table Friday afternoon and held hands to pray before the meal. Most of us cried.

Laugh

Repair

Two hands

Biz & Friz

for Kathryn

Race

Photo credit: Naomi Cook

The therapist set Julie's tentative discharge date for Friday. Betsy was hoping for today.

Walk

I walked down the lane on our farm Saturday morning. The sun shone, the snow sparkled, the air was cool and clean and I was alone. Beside building to vehicles, it was the first time I had been outside in a month. I was refreshed!

Soon

Valentine's party

My sisters and the Byler girls continued our tradition of a Valentine's party this year. None of us has a boyfriend so we wait for Valentine's Day clearance to splurge on balloons, party favors and, most importantly, chocolate. Thursday afternoon we wheeled Julie to a conference center in another part of the building where we laughed, indulged in chocolate and kissed Betsy's stuffed frog.

Photo credit: Amanda Byler

Only one thing can break the tradition of our girls-only-post-Valentine's-Day-party. We're waiting for the right guys to try!

Steps

On Saturday Julie, for the first time in nearly four weeks, got out of bed. The color drained from her lips and she nearly fainted before the therapists laid her back in bed. But she stood up.

On Monday she stood for a full minute before she felt light headed. On Tuesday she stood and then reclined in a wheelchair for forty-five minutes.

And on Wednesday Julie walked. She graduated from the parallel bars and ventured down the hall with a walker, two therapists, a wheelchair and a sister with a camera. She walked thirty feet!

They were little steps, but she's going somewhere!

(We're hoping and praying that somewhere is home before too long!)

MacBook

My shadow is reflected beside the Apple emblem on the surface of my MacBook.

Now I can be creative. Last week I ordered a refurbished MacBook and eagerly watched its progress as delivery was delayed by the snowstorm that shut down the east coast. It arrived Saturday. Now I can load and edit my photos whether I am at the hospital or at home or anywhere else I have my laptop.

Smooch

Photo credits: Leon Cook

Van

First it was Moby Dick. Then it was Mega Lucas. Now we have yet another big, white van.

Moby Dick was our first fifteen passenger van and our favorite. He was a white 1995 Chevrolet Beauville. Our entire family was on the way to a church meeting in June 2004 when a drunk driver backed into us. The van was totaled. Dad was treated for broken ribs and I had bruised knees.

After Moby Dick Dad bought Mega Lucas (Big White), a 2001 Ford E350. We didn't like him nearly as much as Moby Dick. As you know, about a month ago Mega Lucas died after a woman ran a stop sign and smashed the passenger side of the van causing it to roll once. Of the nine passengers in Mega Lucas, three were seriously injured.

Both Moby Dick and Mega Lucas gave their lives for us. We appreciate the engineers at Chevy and Ford; the vans absorbed the brunt of energy and saved our lives. Still, if we didn't believe in an Almighty God we might never ride in another white, fifteen passenger van.

There aren't a whole lot of options for fifteen passenger vans. You can buy a Chevy or a Ford and the majority of them are white. We don't believe in fate. So on Saturday Dad, Brian and Logan drove to Chicago to pick up a 2009 white, Ford fifteen passenger van.

And now we have another white, fifteen passenger van to name.