Family

As I have mentioned before, neither of us have any siblings who live near us.  This has been kind of a bummer since Les has been diagnosed.  BUT the good thing about this is that we have had LOTS of visits from these siblings!

My Iowa sister and her husband were here at Christmas and they came back recently.  She did lots of canning with my mom while they were here.  Brother in law Denny sat with Les a few times so we could get out and about.  Sharon will be back in the near future when our mom has foot surgery.

Biking at Birch Bay

We ran into Hannah, Hank, and her baby bump

My California sister has been here several times the past year.  She's just a two hour plane ride away, so it's easier for her to pop in for a few days.  She's always a big help around here - loves to cook, clean and organize, etc.   AND she brings my sweet niece Jenae with her!

Les' brother Howard from Iowa has also been here several times (see prior posts!!).  He was so good about doing whatever asked - clean the garage, wash the car, fix this and that.  He was also great company for Les.  They were content to sit on the back patio and just be.

Les' only sister and his baby brother were just here again this past week.  They both come from the Minneapolis area so travel well together.  They have been here 3 times the past 1.5 years.  This past week they were such blessings to me.  It was like having a full time nurses' aide and a full time handy man living with us!  Brother Gawin put Les to bed every night this past week, so all the other guys had the week off from bedtime duty.

Gawin and Linda were also an extra set of brains to think about how to make things "work" better for Les.  One thing I have discovered about this disease, there is no hand book and there is not alot of customized help items for being handicapped!  Gawin, friend Pastor Ben and friend Rick put their heads together and customized a couple of trays for Les to hold on his lap.  These trays hold his phone on with velcro; we can add the controls for the bed and a doorbell which rings in my bedroom.

Les has gone back to sleeping in the hospital bed.  We've had quite the frustrating times trying to get this bed situation all figured out!  Linda and Gawin finally went to the medical supply store and checked all the beds out and realized we already had the longest bed available.  Linda bought a gel memory foam cushion that we cut to fit the bed we had and Les was game to try sleeping in it again.  He has now slept in the bed for the past two nights - ALL NIGHT LONG!! Praise the Lord.  BUT then we had the issue of needing a different lift than the lift we were using to put him in the recliner.....so more trial and errors with the new lift - at Les' expense.  The first week of using the original lift was hell (sorry, but it was);  we had finally gotten the hang of it.  Now we all have to learn the new lift!  The new lift does seem easier to manuever and is easier on Les; please pray that this next week with learning the new lift goes smoothly.

Anyway, we are grateful for our family who have given time and expense to help us out.  We have some very special moments and memories from these visits.  When they go back home, they don't say good bye, they say "See ya later brother"  because they WILL see each other again in glory.   Praise God!!!