a surprise visit to nevada

well, today was quite a surprise for several people. first off, it's the first post i've made to this blog in quite some time. second, jerry was out and about visiting people for the first time since his surgery! third, i'm actually getting this posted in a timely manner -- so i better get some positive comments from "those people" who have been fussing at me!

for those of you who didn't know, jerry's mother had back surgery on 10/04 in kansas city for some pinched nerves and terrible back pain that she was having. then on 10/09, jerry had knee replacement surgery on his right knee at st. johns hospital in joplin. that means evelyn is now walking w/ a cane and jerry is walking w/ a walker.

this last couple weeks have been very stressful and extremely exhausting for me, taking care of jerry since his surgery and starting back to work after fall break. scott, who still lives at home, has been invaluable in helping w/ jerry, and jacob has been wonderful to come out and visit and/or help, too.

we have rearranged the house to make it more accommodating for jerry, plus we moved ALL the toys to the little front room to insure that he doesn't step on a little toy piece while he's up walking around. he has a great physical therapist (by coincidence, my step-sister-in-law!) who comes to the house 5 days a week for the first 2 weeks that he's home. she has been wonderful to work with, too.

anyway, today we got jerry out of the house. i knew that evelyn had been worried about him and would "rest easier" if she could see for herself that he was doing well. so we loaded him up in the car (plus a pain pill) and headed toward nevada for our surprise visit. we had called ahead to make sure they would be home, and since there was a chiefs game on -- we knew they would still be there.

boy, they were surprised to see us walk in the door. we stayed and chatted for about 45 minutes, and then we figured it was time to get jerry back on his way home. jeff and evelyn walked us to the front doors and then evelyn decided to go ahead for a little walk outside.

it was a great trip and a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. jerry just got his 20 staples out this last friday, and he still has quite a bit of physical therapy to do -- but he'll get there. we have lots of plans for our future and the list of things that we want to do is growing all the time.

hope to see most all of you very soon. if not before, then we'll definitely see you at our house for thanksgiving! amazing how quickly the holidays are coming!!!