Well our first outing went very well. We came home, watched some TV, grilled steaks, watched a little more TV, checked Emily's e-mail (hoping that one of her friends was on-line to chat) - generally had a lazy Saturday together as a family. Emily still struggles a little with the keys on her computer, but she was handling the cursor and touch pad all on her own. The dogs behaved themselves remarkably well. Emily has a couple of scratches from Spike trying to get up on her lap while she was in the wheelchair, but nothing serious. We actually got a great picture of him laying on her tummy while she was resting on the couch. She particularly enjoyed lounging on the couch and watching Hannah play with her remote control Bratz skater girl.

We'll check tomorrow to see how tired out she is from today's outing. If she's not too worn out, we'll probably go to chapel services at Craig at 10:30 and then maybe go see a movie in the early afternoon. We should be around for visitors between 9 - 10:30 and 11-1. If Em's up for it, I was going to suggest we pick up pizza and take it back to Craig after the movie, so we should be around from 5-6 as well.

Ken and I both noticed how much more Emily is able to help with her transfers in just the last few days. I took my first shot at helping her stand just a couple of days ago and there was a world of difference today (my back doesn't even hurt!). She had a little trouble earlier today remembering that today was Saturday, but once she got that today was Saturday she had no trouble remembering that tomorrow was Sunday.

I also realized when Nancy and Steve were surprised to see it that I had forgotten to mention that Emily drives her own wheelchair now. She can use both her left arm and leg, but she usually chooses to propel with the left leg and do brakes on/off with the left hand. When she's tired she crosses her left leg over her right with quite the little flourish.

For those of you who haven't seen her in the last week, it's really hard to describe the incredible joy she takes in everything - especially seeing her friends. If your vision is still of Emily at St. Anthony's or Kindred, you really should stop by and see how much she's improved. If weekdays work better, Emily is finished with therapy at 4:00 and has dinner at 5:30. Most days you can find she and Ken and I relaxing during that time somewhere on 2West or on the front patio where it's shady that time of day. During the day Monday-Friday just doesn't work - her schedule of classes barely leaves time for lunch and a little rest. For our friends in Winter Park, we're hoping she's strong enough for a day trip to the base in the next few weeks (she still has a pair of skis and her boot bag in the Comp Center locker room we need to pick up). We'll let you know via the blog when that will be.

For everyone praying for Emily please add our friend Dave Spence to your prayers. He was diagnosed about a week ago with a very rare form of cancer in the muscles of one of his legs. We're hopeful that the surgery got it all, but they had to remove a significant portion of his quad and some of hamstring muscles in that leg. Dave and his wife Lisa have been wonderful to us these last 84 days (Ken counted them today), and we hope to be able to reciprocate in any way possible.