Update

Halt! What be this "funny lightning box" you point at us?

On Sunday the 16th, a group from our speech and debate club went to Main Street Bethlehem in Burnet, which is about 45 minutes from our house. It was a charming and captivating reenactment of what Bethlehem might have been like on the night Jesus was born complete with tax collectors, a prison for those who couldn't pay their taxes, a synagogue with a priest, a bakery which passed out fresh bread, livestock including camels, a full inn, and of course the stable. As you can tell, Roman soldiers guard the city well.

Granny has been very busy these past two weeks, starting with Monday a week ago when she had a minor surgery to insert her feeding tube directly into her stomach rather than through her throat, so that she can learn to swallow and eat again. Granny's tracheostomy was taken out and the hole was closed the next day.

On Friday, she was moved out of Cornerstone Hospital and into a skilled nursing center in Round Rock called Hearthstone. This is so exciting for us because 1.) She's out of the hospital after being in one for 57 days, and 2.) It's a big step closer to her being able to come home. Although for a few days she was breathing completely on her own, she couldn't sustain that so currently she breathes with a nasal cannula.

Christmas was awesome with Pat IV being home, cooking Christmas dinner, packing all of the food in the car, and finally taking it to Granny's room to eat it there with her (though the doctor hasn't cleared her to eat food yet so she couldn't eat anything). It's hard to believe that there's less than a week left in 2007!

~Christy