Update...

I've gotten several e-mails asking for an update on my step-dad Charlie. So I think I'll give a quick update here.

It has been 3 weeks since his stroke. He is still in a nursing home setting receiving rehabilitation. They are doing only as much therapy as he can handle and not pushing him too hard. The therapists have had to ease up because over the past two weeks he has ended up in the ER twice with cerebral bleeds...I am not a medical person, but I think this means his brain is bleeding where the stroke was, which causes him to pass out. There really isn't much they can do about these bleeds.

Charlie can say things like Hi, Bye, Yes, No and count to 3. The doctors tell us over and over again what a massive stroke it was. Yet he is strong and has some really good days in between the bad ones, so sometimes what they are saying and what we are seeing don't mesh.

It is just really sad. Today must have been a sobering Father's day for his children. I think it has taken a heavy toll on my mom as she realizes the long and painful journey ahead of them. I visited with her at length in person today and she seems more emotionally and physically worn out than ever before. Yet she sees God's hand in all things and cited many accounts of prayers that had been answered. Most tangibly a crew of workers from their church came yesterday and began finishing parts of their house that hadn't been completed yet. That was a huge blessing to her.

We appreciate your continued prayers for Charlie's recovery and my mom's stamina as she endures through this situation.