Short update since been home

Hey. Well I guess you figured out I'm home already. We've been home since 2 fridays ago. I've been so busy & exhausted lately... just with the time change and then therapy. Thanks for all the support and prayers; very appreciated.

T

Update #3

So what is today? Oh WEDNESDAY... Yayyy friday's almost here!

Well monday was a weird day. After we woke up and ate, the head hancho of the clinic and probably 7 more doctors came in with our GROOVY translator, basically discussing my case and their thoughts. They kept saying "Da" which means yes so I started saying it. Haha it was so funny. Something we noticed that they do here is wink... some do it with one eye and some do it with both eyes at once. It is like saying "Hello" or smiling, which we now know. At first, it was kinda odd; we were like wondering why everyone was winking at us. When all the doctors came in, they were all winking at me. So I started winking back and they all started laughing and speaking Russian. And nooo the translator did not translate that part!

And we SURE did go buy bacon at the market and fry it up for lunch. We brought a hot plate (a portble burner). So we opened the door, fried bacon and put on some prodigy music. I got my 2nd injection monday... the double dose. The 1st injection wasn't a double dose. And we got a picture this time. Just FYI: after an injection, I have to lay still for 6 hours. And the injection also drains ALL the fluid from my body, "let me tell ya"... as mom says. So by the time 6 hours was up, it was 9pm so I just stayed in bed the rest of the night. I did get a slight headache but it wasn't too bad.

Tuesday, I drank so much water it was ridiculous. Oh annnd we ordered pizza from Sbarro... was sooo good! Then I had therapy with Natacha. Most of the girls here share my sister's name, Natacha. I LOOVE my physical therapist. She is so fun and makes therapy fun. She even plays cool music that I listen too during therapy. Tuesday, all we seemed to do was dance :)

Then me and Tacha went to the market. I bought a headband and a shirt :) And yeah that was our excitement of the day. Today, I got a massage & I loove my massagist too. She's sweet and calls me "My Tonya." Mom went to the market and bought us more bacon, ham, 'American bread', and eggs. We had ham and cheese sandwiches and they were the BOMB! And tonight, we're definitely making BLTs... yum! I had therapy for about an hour and then went for a brain test, "EEG. " Now we're just hangin out watching Friday Night Lights that our friend here, Mike from Oklahoma loaned us.

Please continue to pray for us. XO!

Dad & Mom's Birthday!!

My parent's birthdays are this month. My dad, Gerry's birthday was July 16 and my mom, Nelda's birthday is July 21. We missed my dad's b/c we're here in Russia :( & mom's is the day we return. Sooo HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM & DAD! I LOVE YOU BOTH!

Arrests May Bring Closure To McKinney Murders

July 13, 2007 McKinney police arrested 3 men for the quadruple murders of our beloved friends and/or family. Two of the men are from north Texas. Hopefully they arrested the right guys this time. Praise God for this and may God be with their families. This first url has a short article about it and 4 short news videos. I'm so sorry Austin, Matt, Rosa, and Mark. We miss you and hope&pray for justice. Isn't that odd that this happened on friday the 13th?

http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_194211426.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071507dnmetmckinneykillings.3c7b80c.html

http://www.courier-gazette.com/articles/2007/07/14/breaking_news/0001breakingnews.txt

Peace & God Bless, T

New information as of Monday July 16, 2007: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071707dnmetmckmurders.13e176.html

Update #2

We started saying random things outloud now since nobody understands us. Is pretty entertaining actually.

I got my first injection of this trip tuesday and it went smoothly. I had a headache afterwards like last time and felt dizzy but thats expected. I will most likely get me 2nd injection early next week. I had a test done thursday where an awesome neurologist sends shock signals throughout my body thru the nerves. And he speaks good English. He told me he was researching stem cell on google and my name popped up, my stem cell page. Isnt that weird? He was telling me how impressed he was :) My doctor told me that the results show my fingers will come back so yaay!

We went to this bar/ pool tables place... (that was cool)on thursday with this Spanish/Russian patient named Ladimir. Hes probably 50ish and his wife came and this other patient and his friend... mid-twenies(they only speak Russian & live in Moscow) They both are inlooooove with Tacha. So we get there and there are some steps but we still managed to get in. They ordered french fries for the first appetizer which was shocking but tasty! They served it with mayonaisse... it was gross. The second appetizer was sliced salami, raw bacon, and ham served with bread. I've never ate my bacon raw and I refuse to start now. The dinner was like chicken and vegetables mixed together with some kind of herbs all over coals. We were there for 3 hrs and came back to all the gates being locked and had to walk forever to the only gate still being guarded. It was just a really odd night.

Today, we went to the Red Square, Souvenir strip, and the HardRock Cafe. At the souvenir strip, I swear here were 20 brides & grooms & there parties there. We found out that alot of people in Russia go there after or for their wedding on Saturdays. The Red Square was beautiful... lots of architecture. We ate nachos n quesadillas at the Hard Rock Cafe. But the tour cost $200. We had fun today.

Update #1

The flights went sooo well. I was comfortable the entire time unlike the last trip. Once we got to Russia though they started pissin me off. This guy was tryin to follow us & help us only so he could get his expected $40 tip. And he kept pushing me and wouldn't stop. I was tryin to tell him I can push but he wouldn't stop. I ended up losing mom n tach b/c he was in such a hurry! I had to be real straight fwd and tell him No but I had to keeep saying it. He got the hint but got pissed off and shook his head. They expect large tips from Americans.

When we got out into the Russian world, Tacha was trippin out on the cars.. how they drive crazy. But when we got to the clinic, it was about 1:30 pm but we went straight to bed b/c we were up for like 24 hours.

This morning I got a full body massage in bed and I got a new Physical Therapist but I start tomorrow w/ her. And the best news is that I'm getting an injection after lunch Alex (my translator) said!!! Sooo yay! Wish me luck n please pray for the best... it's a double dose injection.

RUSSIA TRIP #2 - JULY 7-20

We originally had plans to leave today on a flight out of DFW at 8:30 a.m. So we all got up at 5-ish and arrived early. We did have a 30 minute delay boarding though. And then we did the same process- I boarded first and then was transferred into a seat. I sat in the middle between Tacha and Mom, who are accompaning me this trip.



BUT after sitting without takeoff for 2 hours, they tell us the flight is cancelled. And we couldn't get another flight to take us to ATL in time so we couldn't make the connection to our other flight taking us to to Russia. So, we came home & have to try this again tomorrow. We got our flight scheduled for the same time tomorrow.

Baptism!!

Our family friends, the Nelsons joined our church & got baptised June 24! Congrats you guys... big step in your faith & your lives.