Today Kjerstin did not have therapy since it was the weekend. She did eat very well. At dinner, I picked a piece of my bread off and threw it at her. She grinned so I did it again. Then she grabbed them both & stuck them in her mouth! Before the nurse & I could get her to spit them out, she swallowed them! I made her open her mouth & show us & it was gone! So, today was her first time to have a "solid" food. Oops! But now we know she can eat bread!

We took her for two long walks outside. On one of the walks, we pushed the wheelchair on the sidewalk through a sprinkler. Actually, we did it twice. She liked that! We had a race. I pushed Kjerstin in the wheelchair & we raced Mom. Of course, we won! Mom beat us but she lost by a technicality....she forgot to touch the door. Kjerstin touched the door, so we won! Talk about a workout. You could lose five pounds a day just from pushing that wheelchair! Along the way, I picked up a bunch of pine cones & gave them to Kjerstin & let her throw them at Mom. She thought that was pretty funny! I found a locust shell & put it on Kjerstin's shorts. Kjerstin took it off & threw it & looked at me & said, "Sis, you're naughty!" She laughed at Mom & I throwing acorns at each other later on. You know Dad, he just smiled & shook his head. We had a blast! We laughed & laughed! Mom almost peed her pants, again! Yes, I forgot to tell everyone we made her laugh so hard a couple weekends ago, she peed her pants! Score! Told you I was gonna put it on here, Mom! Mom got off the elevator on the wrong floor. Mind you, we tried to tell her but she was laughing & didn't understand us, so we stayed on & just let her get off on the wrong floor! Funny thing is, I don't even remember what we were laughing about! Good news is though, she finally laughed, whole-heartedly, for the first time in a long time.

Today we did have a melt down, though. 25 minutes! Mom & I were exhausted. She woke up crying, saying, "It's my fault. It's my fault. It's my fault. I turned left. I turned left. I turned left." She does that rocking back & forth thing. It's heart breaking to see. Then she will pick another phrase & repeat it over & over again while she cries uncontrollably. We sang to her & put her in her wheelchair and pushed her & tried to distract her. It's like when you have a crying baby, but with the baby, you can hold them and rock them. You can't with a 15 year old, but believe me, we almost tried today!

Once we made it past that, we had an awesome day! Steph's eye swelled shut again! Think she's allergic to hotels! Must be the bed bugs, right, Bec?! Anyway, Kjerstin told her to put something over her eyes because it was freaking her out! It was funny, but I must say I agreed with Kjerstin. Especially when the swelling started going down & one eye was open all the way & one was half shut! She looked like the hunchback character on the cartoon version of Hunchback of Notre Dame! I was wanting her eye covered up too!

Kjerstin's dog is doing much better. They said we can take him up & she can have him visit & work with him instead of the therapy dogs! She is sooo excited!! It is amazing how the kids around here respond when they bring those dogs in. They just light up & suddenly have energy to move & do things that they haven't done all day. I had no idea that therapy dogs were so helpful! God bless those people! On that note, does anyone have a large crate that they would be willing to give us or sell us to use to transport him & keep him in. He is a 65lb. husky! He isn't quite full grown yet. I thought I would check with everyone before buying one. Sometimes people have one they need to get rid of.

Mom & Dad had date night tonight. They went to dinner & a movie & we kids stayed at the hospital. They had a good time, but it was the first one & I think Mom had a bit of a hard time relaxing. We are going to try to send them on Saturday nights each weekend, so they can get out and do something just so they have a little time together outside of the hospital. We will see how that goes. Next week, I am going to try to send a game with them to do at the dinner table, so they do something besides talk about Kjerstin.

Thank you so much for the food everyone has sent. It has helped tremendously. We divided it up & froze some of it so they can use it as needed. It has helped save a lot of money!

We will be starting work on Mom & Dad's house to prepare for Kjerstin coming home. There is a possibility that she can come home in September. So, we have to adjust things to make a bedroom for her upstairs. We need to knock out a wall, lay lament flooring in the bedroom (so the walker & wheelchair can move easier), widen a doorway, paint the walls, remove shelves, move furniture & put in a wheelchair ramp. If there is anyone who could help with this or has any materials they would like to donate, please let me know. This is going to be quite a project! My number is 316-209-8972. We would appreciate any help!

Thank you so much for all of your support! Please keep us in your prayers!!