here

if you're wondering if i realize that it's been....21 days since i've last updated, well...i do realize.  but thanks for bringing it to my attention, anyways.  :)  if you're friends with me on facebook, you'll probably understand why i haven't exactly had time to sit on a computer (longer than updating my facebook status, ahem)  but before i get into that, i want you to read what i was working on wednesday, the day after i drove.  and two days before my whole trip changed.


(june 8)

i've been here before.  through years and months of change, i can finally say i've been here before.

here is the breakfast bar in my parent's kitchen. here is the sleepy town, the one constant in many of our lives. and here is home.  a different home than where i left, but still home. 

even if i had no idea where i was going as i drove the 16 hours yesterday, as the grass got greener, the sky got clearer and the air crisper, i could tell i was driving here.  even if i didn't have the atlas in my lap the entire time, i knew by the cars next to me and the farms zooming by that i was getting closer.  i did, in fact, know exactly where i would end up at the end of my long trek.  i knew, when i finally turned the car off, that my parents would be waiting. and that when it turned light in the morning, the driveway would be the same, the old, rusty red truck would be parked across the street, and the trees would still be a lush green and still waving in the wind.  even though so much has changed, there are some things that will stay the same. 


(today, june 20)
that's where i pushed pause for the time being and i simple never got back to it.  thursday i was having a blast seeing friends and preparing for shelley and kory's wedding celebration for the next day.  friday is when my two friends started their lives together and also when my trip got a little shaken up.

my dad works in a town an hour away from my home and where the wedding was, and was finishing up his delivery route to rush back home to get ready for the wedding.  we aren't sure exactly what happened, and we may never know.  but my dad was found on the sidewalk in the warehouse lot unconscious due to a fall.  he was brought to the emergency room and was in a coma from then until sunday morning.  i rushed up there first thing saturday morning and played the waiting game with my family.  he had broken 6 ribs and was bleeding from injuries at the base of his scull.  the biggest prayer was that the swelling would go down in his brain. 

we are convinced dad was part of miracle when he came out of his coma on sunday morning, right around the time he was supposed to be preaching at church (which he was so excited about!) he was moved out of ICU the next day to another room downstairs and then to the rehab hospital a few days after that.  i was able to leave town for a couple of days and help my sister with a few wedding details (and see some friends!) but my mother has never left his side, only to get some rest so she can be useful during the day. 

days have passed and blurred together with dad doing rehab and therapy all day, sleeping in between sessions, and most of us camping out in the family room a few doors down.  dad's getting better.  he walks with a walker and sits with a wheelchair, but he is most comfortable lying down.  it's hard to see him not remembering what we spoke of before he took a nap and not being able to sit up on his own, but he's still my dad. not the dad we're used to, but still daddy.  so many people have stopped by to see him, some more than once, and there were flowers, balloons and cards displayed all of the desk and windowsill.  there are even more people praying for him than we could even imagine.  all areas of the country.  it's incredible and i know God is listening to each prayer.  my trip has changed, from being at the house i call home to being in the hospital with the people who are home.  i'm so glad i was able to be here. (good timing, daddy!)   

tomorrow i leave for my new home, where my dear husband has been living in the house that i spent just a few nights before my drive north.  i'm traveling with my friend maria and we'll spend a few days there and then grab tyler and head back up for my sister's wedding (all that driving?  tell me about it).  in that time, i know that my dad will be closer to the dad i know so well.  he is going to be well enough to walk my big sister down the aisle.  and well enough to remember it.  :)  that's the prayer now! 

sorry for the delay in updating, but i'm sure you understand.  and if you're one of the people who have been praying, we celebrated father's day this year with our dad because God has heard your prayers and through His power has answered them.  thank you.