11/26 - Sam's Journey - Day 349

We had a very good Thanksgiving with lots of thankful moments.  Here are a some photos from our time together.

    

We had an excellent day together.

There hasn't been too much else going on, but the next 2 weeks will be full of good things. Tomorrow, we get to say goodbye to this awful thing:

Sam is pretty excited. He'll be wearing his favorite button cover, the one with moustaches and top hats on it. We will all be glad to see it go.

On Friday, we're having a meeting about the transition to Plano Senior. The following week is Christmas 2015 in San Antonio. We're still making decisions about lodging, but we'll settle in on that soon.  

After this week of Thanksgiving, I would be remiss if I did not thank all of you. Your ongoing prayers and support are such a gift to us, and we appreciate all you have done. 

11/13 - Sam's Journey - Day 336

Not much to report here. The 11 month mark passed by quietly yesterday with no fanfare. In fairness, most of our Saturdays are like that. Sam's just moving along as he always has. A couple of things of note:

• This morning, we woke up late. When I walked through to the other room, there he was in the doorway, sitting in his wheelchair. He'd gotten himself up, found his glasses and propelled out to the kitchen. "I lost my call button," was the reason. So, yay, independence, and pass the heart medication for Mom, please.
• He's been making the rounds at banks again on the hunt for quarters. It's a Dad/Sam 'thang'. When they go into the bank, it's like when Norm walked into the bar at Cheers. Everyone knows Sam.
• We're still on track to get the tube out on 11/28. Yay! Water intake seems to be getting a little easier.
• Now that we're at the end of our official school work for 2 classes, he's become a procrastinator. He'll get it done, but not without a lot of nagging. 
• Finally, some of you heard about our plumbing woes. Naturally, this all occurred in Sam's new bathroom. It was...unpleasant. (Ankle-deep in ghosts of dinner past is not something I'd wish for any of you, dear readers.) Jim dealt with the majority of it, but it turns out there were/are some significant issues. We have a workable solution, and while it's irritating that the bathroom is not completely working for him, he has a shower, and there are other options for other business. Thanks for all the offers of support and the incredible kindness of one amazing person in particular, (you know who you are!) for getting things going in the right direction!

Other than that, we continue on. Prayer concerns are:

• continued healing for Sam, Aaron, Corey, Ben, Kyle, and all others fighting through their own TBI journeys.
• for Parker Cusey, a football player from Wylie HS. He was injured in a football game, and that injury caused him to have a stroke. He and his family are at the beginning of the journey, although he is making some very good steps in recovery.
• for all of those who are experiencing stress, anxiety or depression, whether they be young people or adults, that there is always a safe place for them to turn. 

This has been a stressful time for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. Love one another, and take care of each other.

Finally, a picture. It's one you may have seen Jim post on Facebook yesterday. I don't know why, but I went all the way back to the beginning of the blog, despite having about 1.3 million other things I should have been doing. In any case, I was reminded of how incredible this entire trip has been, and that it's nowhere near over. This picture brought a smile to my face, and I hope it does for you as well. Jim's status update with it was, "11 months today...strolling through Hobby Lobby, looking for coin wrappers of course." Peace!