Day 79 - Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Today I (Brandi) called in sick to work not feeling well and although my plans of sleeping the day away changed it turned out to be a good thing that I was at home.  At about 12:00 noon my mom (Annette) called me and said that my dad's occupational therapist had arranged for my dad to meet the Eagle Scout that had been working on an Eagle Scout project by making transfer boards for people who need them. My mom also mentioned that the hospital was going to do an article on this Eagle Scout and my dad. One of the neat things about this is that the my dad's occupational therapist and the Eagle Scout are in mine and Ryan's LDS Stake & they live near us - what a small world!

I got ready, got Sierra ready and we headed over to the hospital. When we arrived my dad was sitting in his wheelchair looking out the window - it was snowing.  He doesn't say it out loud, but I can only imagine what he is thinking.  It used to be that when it first starting snowing my dad would be on the phone talking to his friends about how much snow had accumulated in the mountains and how much was anticipated in the next few days and if they were going to go skiing or not. Now things are different....it will be interesting to see a year from now what my dad will be doing when it snows - I'm sure he will come up with something creative to get excited about.

At 1:00pm the OT, Josh, came in to get my dad for therapy, my mom and dad thought they were going to meet the Eagle Scout first and then have the therapy session.  Josh felt bad because I had rushed over to the hospital and there was a miscommunication and the Eagle Scout wasn't going to arrive until sometime after 4:30pm.  However, today my dad was making "Jeff's Cookies" (his very own recipe) for his OT session and Sierra and I decided to stay so that she could help grandpa make cookies. My mom brought everything from home, even the kitchen aid mixer - all of that required one pretty good sized rolling suit case.  From start to finish, just mixing up the dough took us 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Because it was an exercise for my dad to figure out how he was going to make cookies without hands he had to think outside the box.  He had to take lids off containers, measure sugar, crack eggs, etc.  My dad thought that cracking the eggs was going to be impossible, but Josh wouldn't let him give up.  He ended up throwing the egg into a small glass bowl and then using the knife that Ryan and Ron made him to pick the egg shell up and dump the egg out of the shell into the bowl and then pour that into the cookie dough.  He cracked three eggs and we only ended up with one shell in the cookie mix, but Sierra saved the day by finding it as none of us adults could see it.  Throughout the whole process Sierra kept offering her help, but because her Grandpa was learning he had to do it all by himself so she patiently sat by his side and watched and every once in awhile she would say "I will do it".  After the dough was all mixed up we realized that we forgot to put the milk in so the dough was kind of dry.  Instead of making cookies we decided to push all the dough into a pan and make bars.  They ended up turning out pretty good.  It was a fun time, but my dad said he would leave the cookie making up to my mom because it was not the best use of his time.  He assured Josh that he would have way more important things to do when he got home to keep him occupied and that he wouldn't have time to make cookies.

Here are some pictures from our cookie making adventure:

After making cookies we went back to the room and hung out for a little while.  Kaisalyn had an orthodontist appointment at 4:20pm, but luckily I was able to reschedule it so Sierra and I could stay.

The Eagle Scout came and brought 63 transfer boards that he made to donate to the IMC therapy floor.  My dad explained to him what he uses a transfer board for and why it is so important for him to have one.  It had taken the scout and about 10 other people over a year to make all 63 transfer boards.  Josh asked me to say a few things which then made me get emotional - it's an inherited trait - one I've gotten used to, but don't mind (thanks Grandma!).  I expressed my gratefulness to the scout and told him and his family how even though I don't know them, the fact that they are in my Stake makes us "family" and it's amazing how one year ago this project was started and we had no idea that it would end up benefitting my dad.  Its amazing to see the little mercies of the Lord at work.

I also expressed that I believe that even though the Lord helps us find those little things that will help us through our trials (if we choose to go to him) he doesn't necessarily pre-determine what our trials will be.  I don't think that my dad was destined to be paralyzed or that this was the "Lords will".  Life happens, accidents happen, illnesses happen, trials happen and it's up to us to decide to depend on the Lord to help us through it.  No good loving father would wish that his son would get in an accident and be paralyzed just so he can learn something or go through "a trial", however sometimes the Lord just doesn't interfere with our lives because he knows that in the long run whatever happens will help make us become more like our brother Jesus Christ.

On a side note, I do believe that if it is the Lords will, he will intervene if necessary, but most of the time, even though it may be hard for him he just lets life happen. We don't have all the answers to the Why's? in life, but if we can learn to lean on the Lord and go to him for comfort & guidance then we will be able to get through this trial or any other trial that we come upon.

I'll admit that this trial hasn't been easy for us.  Even though it has been almost three months, I still ask myself, why us, why our family, why my dad?  It's almost unbelievable at times. And even the little things can get to me on certain days.  I got a new cell phone that came with a screen protector and I considered putting it on by myself and then thought to myself "I can have my dad do it, he is good at those things" (ever since I was little my dad was the "sticker guy" he put all of the stickers on our toys - he had a really good steady hand) and then I realized that he can't do it anymore because he doesn't have any hands. It's these small realizations that make me start to cry because things won't be the same anymore. I am sharing this with everyone because I want you to know that you can be positive and still have hard days.  I know deep down and have peace that my dad will find happiness in life and that we will all be okay, but there are hard days and days that you just need to cry.

Below are some pictures of my dad receiving his transfer board from the Eagle Scout.  Also, once the hospital publishes the article we will post it or put a link to it on this blog.

After my dad picked out which transfer board he wanted we went back to the room and Sierra got to help grandpa "fly" into his bed.  Grandma told her when to push the up button and when to push the down button.  Sierra enjoyed helping.

Sierra also enjoyed handing out the cookies that we made to the nurses and therapists that work with my dad.

We then went down to the cafeteria to get Grandpa some dinner.  Sierra also had to get her some "dinner" (a banana and M&M's) and carried her tray back to the room the whole way.

Today was a really good day and I'm so grateful for the blessing that Sierra and I got to spend today with my dad & mom.  Some great memories were made!!