A lot of progress in a week

Ryan is feeling much better as each day goes by. He no longer requires the strong pain medication he was taking after surgery and was able to resume driving at the end of last week. That was a big improvement for me, because I've had to take him everywhere he needs to go for the last month. So now we both have a little more of our independence back. Ryan's face is healing nicely, as are his shoulders. He's not completely closed up yet, but he's almost there. He did have a little bit of graft loss, on the left side of his upper lip and small areas along his suture lines. But that happens and there's not much we can do about it. We're just praying that it heals in a way that won't require surgery to revise it. We can already see how the results of this surgery will make Ryan's face less tight and less painful, but for now we laugh because his face doesn't move much when he smiles or laughs. I imagine that's what it's like when someone gets a face lift, just kind of stiff. But once the swelling is completely gone, I think his face will move more.

He's been able to go out in public more in the last week, than in the last month. On September 11th, we attended a luncheon with Retired Army LtCol, Brian Birdwell and his wife Mel. Brian was working in the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001, when terrorists flew an airplane through his office window. He was walking down the hall when he was engulfed by a wall of flames, but his three officemates were killed instantly. It is a miracle that he survived and he shares that miracle with his ministry "Face the Fire" and book "Refined by Fire". It was great to meet Brian and Mel because we had already read their book and were encouraged by it. Later that night, Jaida and Ryan attended a free Tim Mc Graw concert on Fort Sam Houston. It was within walking distance of our house, so while I didn't get to go, I could hear everything. Jaida and Ryan got the VIP treatment, with great seats and free food from Chipotle! The concert was great and they had a lot of fun. At one point, one of the soldiers put Jaida up on his shoulders and Jaida swears Tim smiled and waved at her!

On Saturday, Ryan took Maya to gymnastics at The Little Gym and was impressed to see her tumbling and hanging on the bars. On Sunday, Jaida, Ryan, and I went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Yokonyu, and then to the Majestic Theatre for the Broadway musical, The Color Purple. So, it's been good to get out a little after being home so much lately.

Jaida started soccer this week and Maya is a few weeks into the semester for gymnastics, so I'll try to get some pictures of my girls in action posted soon. Maya's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon. She turns 3 on Tuesday. Noah's latest trick is hiding his sippy cup. I've found old cups of milk in the toy box, trash can, bath tub, and pantry. I haven't caught him drinking 3 day old milk...yet.

Jaida at the Tim McGraw concert.

Ryan loves Maya's face in this picture. I love her crooked pony tails.

Noah explores the back yard with a stick in hand.