Birthday Weekend with Mom Update:
As the wheels touched down on Minnesota ground, I realized JUST how excited I was to see Mom and the rest of the family! As much as I understand my life is here in Florida, there is just nothing like spending time at home with family. As I grabbed my luggage and walked outside, Mom and Dad were right at the curb to greet me. J BIG hugs all around and we were off to meet Chris and Courtney for birthday dinner!
Mom looks GREAT! The entire facial droop is gone and only a tiny bit of it peeks out when she smiles. She also was talking A LOT! Not all of it made sense…but it was so fun to have a conversation in person with her and Dad. It felt so normal! She reminded both of us we needed to call Courtney to have her and Chris meet us on time. They all spoiled me with dinner and gifts and we came home to angel food cake, fro-yo and strawberries! SO DELICIOUS! With that we turned on the Wii and had fun playing bowling and tennis together.
Saturday morning was a treat! We all lounged together and had breakfast. Mom started dusting and vacuuming while I was cleaning up the kitchen. It’s so fun to see her initiate normal daily activities around the house. Courtney fills me in all the time, but it’s really fun to see her in action! We then made a grocery list and headed to Caribou and Cub Foods. We played tic-tac-toe with Mom at the Bou and actually bumped into one of her classmates from high school. The BEST part about their conversation was that her friend didn’t even realize anything had happened to Mom. It helped that she was a bit of a chatterbox (takes one to know one :o), but Mom did great with her short answers and non-verbal communication. Court and I smiled at one another as the woman walked away (we didn’t want to ask for her name because Mom knew it!)
On to Cub where Mom grabbed the ad and started pointing to the coupons we wanted to make sure to take advantage of. We had a lot of fun laughing while wheeling around the grocery store. We got home in time for Mom to take a bit of a nap before heading to a matinee movie. With no scheduled speech or occupational therapy on the weekend, Court made sure to get in some homework that morning and I think with all of the questions and talking we were doing – she had a VERY exhausting morning.
The whole family hopped in the car to head to the theatre. We saw Water for Elephants and definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet! Mom laughed at Dad as he handed her the bag of popcorn back with ten kernels left in the bottom corner! J You just HAVE to see Mom and Dad in action. He does an amazing job with her and I think she’s good for Dad, too! Lots of laughter fills the Besch household these days. As the credits rolled and the lights were still out we heard Mom say, “That – was – good!” We all cracked-up! She is just so stinkin’ cute!
We headed home to happy hour a la Courtney. She is one fantastic chef! We had a spread of veggies, dad’s favorite have-a-party (havarti) cheese and Courtney’s fabulous bruschetta! As we sat down to dinner I am happy to report that both Mom and Chris have made DRASTIC improvement on our dinner prayer. ;o) We were spoiled with a wonderful home cooked meal; tilapia, sweet potatoes and asparagus! Thanks, sis.
With all of the birthdays this time of year, both Courtney and I had different birthday parties to head out to! Mom was headed to bed shortly after we left and it was wonderful to see so many friends while home for such a short time! Sunday morning came very quickly and after breakfast I was off to the airport with Mom and Dad. OF COURSE, I had to grab one last Caribou as I boarded my flight back to Florida.
All and all, a wonderful family weekend! I am so thankful I was able to get home and spend it with them. It sure is never easy to say goodbye to Mom (or the others for that matter) but I was happy to get back to Florida in time to get organized for the work week!
Thank you to all of you for your continued prayer and support through Mom’s recovery. She continues to surprise me every day with her progress (and even more when I get to see her live!). We continue to owe all of the glory to the Lord. We are so thankful he didn’t take her from us, and that she continues to amaze us in her recovery!
During a walk after dinner I looked up at the clouds. Florida really does have beautiful clouds and I often am reminded of God’s beauty in them. I snapped a quick photo to share with all of you. It’s just the little things sometimes… isn’t it?
Where have you seen God’s grace in your life today?