Peace filled holidays

Hope everyone is having peace filled holidays. We have had a nice 3 days with Dustin- the kind of Christmas that is actually wonderful - quiet , low stress and not a lot of food. Actually a little more food would have been good!! We ate at Carraba's on Christmas eve and then Denny's for Christmas day night. Otherwise it was the motel breakfast.

Dustin is making progress but it is slow. Like our pastor says "3 steps forward and 2 steps back are still forward progress". Right now it is actually like 3 centimeters forward and 2 back... but I know there will be a time when progress zooms ahead and yes I am so ready for that. Dustin continues to have lots of fluid in his lungs and have a collapsed left lung. His bedsore is beginning to heal and he got a new mattress today that works better and is a bit more comfortable for him.

We got there on Wed early afternoon and he was sound asleep. He is not the fastest waking up individual and he is certainly back on his old schedule. Slow and late starting and then really ready to go when it is time to leave at 8pm. Oh well, I'll take whatever "normal" for Dustin I can get. He did finally wake up but had trouble breathing. He said he had to stay as calm as possible just to breath and wasn't able to tolerate any conversation, light or noise.After awhile, he was back to normal and full of life.

The respiratory therapist says that sometimes a mucous plug will just get jolted and breathing gets back in sync. Whatever the reason I am glad, It is not fun to watch your child not be able to breath. He also continues to have some fear of suffocation. We talked about "doorpoints" for these type things to happen and we did discuss fear of abandonment issues which if you are at all familiar with Be in Health principles (where Rick and I work) have to do with lung issues. Dustin certainly has had areas where fear of abandonment could manifest through him but then when I begin to look at my own life , I saw that both of my parents had this as well as myself. I repented to Dustin for bringing this in generationally to him and he was able to see the correlation. We told "fear of abandonment" to go to its dry place and come up and out of Dustin's lungs.

We opened a few presents and he got a movie he looks forward to watching and some audio books from my sister. He is enjoying audio books but not able to watch movies except on TV. My sister also sent a CD presentation of pictures of my mom as a memorial and we did bring the computer over and watched these. He really enjoys family pictures. I plan to bring the family albums over if I can dig deep and find them.

Today, Rick and I went to an old mill that put Augusta on the map. Ir produced some of the finest cloth in the US and it became an industrial rivel for the north. Men would take the cloth in boats to the cities along the Savannah river. It is a huge, beautiful old brick building that they have made into commercial and residential space. I think it would be a great place for Dustin to have a condo and an office to house his production company in the future. It is about 5 minutes from the VA, handicapped accessible and has the most awesome wood floors thoughout. The problem is I doubt he will be interested in staying in Augusta. It is a really neat place right on the river.

We then went to visit Dustin, gave him a shave, and then washed his hair about 3 times as best as we could. It still isn't really clean as it is tough to get much water going in his bed. Dustin and I looked at a "People" magazine and then it was time to go. We got him hooked up with his audio book, completed his manicure and pedicure and then had to go so he could rest up for Nerina and family's visit.

We made it home via a rainy day and 2 smelly dogs in the back seat. Home is a great place to be. We are now going to sit down and enjoy a few presents. Our biggest present is a Father in heaven that loves us, a wonderful family and a child that God saved and preserved. We also remember Forrest today on his birthday. He would have been 26 years old. He was a wonderful present for me 26 years ago arriving at 1:47am after the giant Christmas celebration and dinner. He will always be a very special child to me. I miss him a lot but can't stay there long. Sadness and grief are a new thing for me and certain a process. Rick continues to be such an awesome strength and support to me through all of this.

I am very blessed during this special season. We look forward to going to Colorado to see our daughter, son-in-law and 2 beautiful granddaughters. What more can you ask for than to spend time with a wonderful family.

I thank all of you for your continued support.

love
mary pat