a special thanks to the women in my life

It is Mothers Day today and I am reminded as I look into the smiling eyes of my beautiful wife how fortunate I am and how blessed our family is to have Kathy in our life. Kathy is the most positive and confident leader I have ever known. Kathy's spirit has guided me through the most daunting life experience I have had in my life. She is tireless in her effort and yet carries herself as though she just woke up. Kathy never showed fear and always believed in me. Kathy's testimony was the foundation from which we built a new vision of how life could be and wouold be.

I often think about how someones actions belay who they really are and what they believe. Immediately after I was hurt and was laying unconcious on the beach Kathy showed who she was and what she knew. Kathy called some freinds in our Church back in Arizona and asked that they contact all of our freinds to pray for me. Those prayers and the blessing I recieved from a local Bishop in LA sustained me for the next few critical hours and I believe for my entire recovery period. Kathy, acted on her testimony and called on our Heavenly father to assist me in my challange. From that moment to now our family has been blessed in so many ways. We have had the peace of knowing everything will work out and we have had the common knowlege that the gospel is true.

Kathy's influence has been so important for all of our children but the girls have had the benefit of seeing their mom lead out with courage. My girls are so sweet but also so strong. The girls have seen how kathy can be strong but also sensitive, confident but also humble and teachable, self reliant but also give and recieve service. My Girls have a special place in my heart. My daughters will be a great source of strength or their husbands and their families because of the example they have seen in their mom.

The other women who have sustained me and been an example for me are my mom and my stepmom. both have inluenced my life in so many ways and have ben there for my family.

Then there is my grandma, my memories of my grandma our special. She raised four boys one of which was my dad. She was quiet, humble and as tough as they come. My dad and his brothers were big, my grandma even resorted to a frying pan to get their attention at times. But all my life I could tell with respect to my grandpa, my uncles and my dad showed to my grandma that she was special and that their lives had been blessed by her leadership and your heart.

Mother's Day is a special day to reflect on how lucky we are to have a special women we have in our lives.

Grandma Janet

Pictures!

My sweetheart and I on our first trip since my accident, she is cuter now than when I met her. Wow.... Check out the smile on my babe...
We are off on our first adventure, kayaking on the ocean, can you believe it? Out to the waves and deep blue we go..
I have taken up drinking , margaritas, non alkies, to dull the pain..ha ha
To earn some extra doe me and the fellas have been singing at the local mexi restaurants.. It is not good money but the enchiladas are awesome..

There is only one thing to say here...Yea, she is hot.... My beauty queen ,, Kanani

News as Promised!

So my dad pointed out that as far as the blog is concerned, people probably still visualize him laying in bed, immobile, zombie like...all due to my poor blogging skills. So, I am going to innundate you all with info and pictures to get eveyone caught up. Just so I do not need to put a caption with every photo here are some things the photos entail:
Right before my dad was checked out of Rehab he wanted me to get photos of him doing the hand bike, the bike and walking up adn down stairs. There is also a photo of him doing his finger exercises ( his hands are getting better every day!) Next would be his first trip home where he waled to his garden (his baby) and got a feel for being home and how he was going to deal.
On Aug. 25th Emily and I threw him a surprise 50th B-day. We were all a little anxious as to how he would take it (being overwhelmiing and all) but it really lifted his spirits and he was able to see old friends, ward members and family that hadn't been able to see him in a while. He walked in the door, we said surprise, we clapped, we sang Happy Birthday and he cried (he's a sensitive guy and he is not ashamed of it :) The theme was celebrate our superhero and quite a few people came dressed for the occasion. About 50 people showed up so the house was packed and full of joy and life. Emily and I sang the song from the musical Wicked for him called "For Good".
There are photos of his first trip to Sacrament meeting, with a shirt tailored around his HALO so he could feel as normal as possible. He has been back to the office and taking charge and never ceases to think up projects we call all do for him around the house...always the delegator.
Anywho, here are the pics. And please don't hesitate to leave notes, he loves to read them even if they are only a few lines, it lets him know who is looking at the blog. And let me know if you have questions, I will answer them via the blog.

Busy!

I am sorry I have been so bad at updating this blog, I know it is really important to my dad to journal this experience and to share what he is going through and learning day by day. For now will give a quick update and tomorrow I will post pictures and videos and elaborate on the last week or so.

My dad is home! He came home last Thursday and home seems to be a healer. While he may still be in pain and mobility is difficult (we are all constantly shouting at him to be more careful) he loves being around family and his garden and having real life to keep his mind busy. Yesterday he had a new halo put on him at the hospital. Apparently the last one was set wrong and his neck wasn't healing. Luckily they caught it before to much damage was done and he is all fitted in a much sleeker looking halo model. We are currently trying to tailor some shirts he can wear to church and eventually to Brock's wedding in the temple. Life is great with him home. While he hasn't been back to church yet, after Taylor and Brock gave him teh sacrament on Sunday we held a little impromptu sacrament meeting. I lead the music, Dustin gave the lesson ( very willingly as he loves any chance to teach) and my dad shared his feelings of gratitude for all of his blessings. He spoke of the Atonement and how much more relevent it is to him and we discussed love and gratitude and how those feelings can bring reverence into our lives. My dad said that he has felt such a strong spirit over the last month and no matter how fast life might start to come at him, he doesn't want to loose the reverent feelings he has had.

I will fill in on more tomorrow...

Rookie

My dad spoke about how the word "rookie" has taken on a new meaning the other day and I thought I would communicate this to y'all. When he first arrived at the rehab facility he was talking up the nurses, smiling as he was wheeled or walked down the hallway, ready to revolutionize the attitude of the other seemingly down-trodden patients. He talked of how he wanted to return to the rehab center once he was released to be a volunteer to lift the patients spirits. He told us stories to cheer us and played the part of the happy patient for all of his visitors.
Well now the word "rookie" has come to mean something new to him. He now realizes that the patients he thought he would some day cheer were really looking at him and shaking thier heads thinking rookie. The smile he thought he would wear as a pemanent ficture started to turn upside down more often and the challenges and the day-today of the facility started to wear him down. He had been a rookie all right, unaware of the validity of the feelings of the other less-than-always-optomistic patients.
It is not that he is now depressed or unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but now he is more realistic and taking things a day at a time. He is dealing with the reality of his feelings and growing from them rather than masking them. And I know he is now part of the group that shakes their head at the new guy and thinks "rookie!"

(my dad said all of this is a joking manner but it is hard to add that tone in writing: the point is that you never know until you've been there)

My Kathy Blanket, by Will Nowell

The story that I wanted to tell about mommy today is that, today I went into my MRI and I had a neat opportunity. Ever since Mom and I have been married, she has been a little dissapointed that she married someone that doesn't sleep in past 5 or 6 in the morning. Its been a source of lots of dissagreements between mom and I that she is always asking why I have to get up early, and why I won't sleep in with her. But a little while ago, maybe a couple years ago she discovered the secret weapon. She hugs me, puts her arms around me and knows that she can immediatly calm me down. ANd if she hugs me for long enough I fall right back asleep and forget about getting up, so I've always called her "My Little Kathy Blanket". For a long time now, the past few years, when I am restless or in the morning, sometimes I'll just say, " I need my little Kathy Blanket" and she'll hug me, and it will immediatley calm my spirit. So, while I've been in the hospital, several times before I go to sleep mom has given me little hugs before I go to sleep and helps me calm down. Sometimes I can talk her into laying down with me in this little itty bitty hospital bed. When she does that I immediatly calm down and even though my arm is completely squished, I absolutly love having her with me. Alot of times I'll just fall asleep. So today while I was in the MRI machine and because my Halo is so big they didn't have a way of getting me into the MRI machine without squishing me really badly and my arms were on top of my Halo and it was squishing me pretty badly and it was real uncomortable. Then they put you in this little MRI machine, and they tell you that you have to be in there and the top of it is only about an inch from your nose. So my heart was beating really fast and I was breathing really hard and I was really uncomfortable. So I started to imagine that the reason my arm was uncomfortable was because I had Kathy there with me . I started to pretend that I had my little Kathy blanket there with me, and I stopped breathing hard and I calmed down, and I almost fell asleep while I was in hte MRI machine even though it sounds like a jack hammer is going off the whole time. Because I was able to imagine her laying next to me and it calmed me down. So I really love my little Kathy blanket and I want her to know that. (transcribed by EmyLee McIntyre)

A Fork, A Fork, My Kingdom for a Fork!

I went to visit my dad for lunch the other day and was surprised to see him feeding himself lunch. They have provided him with an oversized fork handle that he can grip and if he focuses he does a great job. I know I must have sat staring at him for a few minutes because it was mezmerizing to see him use his arms and hands and I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. He had to show off after this by standing up on his own, walking to the faucet, turning the water on and washing his hands. While the movement is simple and his fingers are not really his own yet, it definately brought the light at the end of the tunnel into view. I started envisioning him at home, able to do the basic things we all take for granted on his own. Hi will is so strong, I don't think I could ever have had the same resolve to improve as much so quickly. I know he gets overwhelmed and tired and the tasks can often seem like too much, but he rarely shows this and instead often poses for us in a flexing motion to show both his outer and inner strength. My dad, my hero.