Kjerstin has done so many wonderful things in the last couple days. She is walking with assistance. She has a belt that we hold onto the back of. She needs help with balance and walks like a drunk person, but she is taking steps on her own. They are having her walk up and down stairs. She does good with the wide stairs but the narrow ones are hard for her. She takes two at a time. Her fine motor skills seem to be hard for her right now. They have her practicing sitting in a car & getting out. She can't buckle her seat belt because she has problems with her left side still. The doctor said most of her severe damage was on the right side of her brain so it makes sense that she is having more problems with her left side.

Yesterday she went to the "grocery store" inside the facility. This is where she actually goes thru a room set up like a store and picks up items and checks out, etc. She is hitting a big ball with a bat and working on typing on the computer. She attends "class" with the other patients her age everyday. She is really starting to process through things. She cried a lot when it was time for us to leave on Sunday. It was so hard to get in the car. I cried on the way home & I know Jerimiah did to (Yeah you thought big sis didn't notice because you put your glasses on. Nice try!). Steph said she didn't know if she could do that again because it was so hard. How do you leave your baby sister crying in a hospital bed, when her brain has finally started to heal enough to understand, and say I'll be back next weekend? It's just so hard!

Kjerstin was crying and wrote on the dry erase board that Mom & Dad didn't have any money to take care of all of this. I explained it was all right and not to worry. I told her people had donated money to help pay for things. So she wrote "that's crazy!" She didn't believe me. I asked her if she wanted to see the bank statement & she said yes. I showed it to her & the tears started flowing again. She wrote "They did that for me because I got hurt!" We said yes and she smiled and just cried. It was exciting to see that her brain is healing enough to understand the blessing that all of you have been! We couldn't have done it without you.

Today she helped make pudding and then ate it! She had about 1 cup of rootbeer. So, today she started swallowing really well. This is exciting because if she keeps this up we will get to take the feeding tube out! She also seems to have forgotten that she was a vegetarian. She has been since she was 8! She told me she wants a cheeseburger?! What? She really does have some brain damage! She hasn't eaten a cheeseburger since 3rd grade! She also has decided she likes applesauce. She never would eat it before!

There is a meeting with all of the doctors & therapists in the morning to set her new goals for therapy, as she has already exceeded the ones they previously set for her. Today the doctor said that so far she is above average on her rate of recovery. Especially on the speaking part! She talked on the phone briefly this weekend & told one of our friends that she wants to ride horses! She can't talk very long and she gets tired. She does write on her dry erase board. She has to print because we can't read her cursive writing. We were trying to figure out a computer game she wanted loaded on the computer. After discussing it with her & asking her like 10 questions & trying to verify the title, she wrote "OMG, I keep telling you!" She even wrote the explanation mark! We all laughed! However, when she gets tired, she quits communicating. Therapy just wears her out and she has to go take a nap. She isn't sleeping very good so they have increased her sleep medication starting tonight. Hopefully it works.

They have been bringing therapy dogs in to visit! She likes it, but then she cries because she misses her dog. They said that we could take her dog up there to use him instead of the therapy dogs. We told her we would bring him next weekend. However, today, her dog, Dante, had to go to the vet. He is very sick and might not live. It just seems like its one thing after another.

Just keep praying. We will get here.