Monday, August 9, 2010

There's no place like home


After one week in Arizona there are so many things to catch you up on...

But we must first apologize for not keeping everyone up to date on all the happenings. In our defense, it it almost impossible -- you all have been so loving to contact us that we have been virtually OVERWHELMED :) with calls, texts, emails...Actually this has been a great encouragement to us. Please don't stop thinking and praying for us.

To sum up, mostly our time is focused on getting Joe settled. The staff at the new facility has been very accommodating, but there are so many little issues to work through and many different teams to communicate with. Each day we are communicating what Joe's needs and our like are - it seems like two steps forward and one step back. Issues mostly surround the kind of care we have been able to provide at home (like keeping a schedule, drool management use of the varied items we brought to use including his clothes, splints, shower chair). We had also planned to take Joe out to home for the first weekend but later realized that we did not bring the portable suction machine so it wouldn't have been safe to travel. Some good, some disappointments, but again, Joe is safe and that is our first priority.

In addition we are trying to work through the items on our list that need to be done in the first 30-60 days. These initially took a back seat but now are gaining focus. Housing, Autos, church, work will be next...Let's first look at a list of what has happened in just one week:

Flights in from NJ to AZ (2)- uneventful, actually smooth. Thanks to the Schulds pickup of Vickie and hosting her was invaluable, and thanks to VZ the Air ambulance was totally awesome. No way we could have done the drive.

Taking Residence in Hacienda (Joe) - challenges persist but Joe is safe.

...and Scottsdale (B&V) - an awesome place for which we are very thankful, but far from Joe (30-40 mins drive)

DMV - Getting Drivers licenses at DMV was smooth and uneventful. Registering the cars - not so good yet - the van needed to get some paperwork from the bank to show the loan was paid off (from 9-years ago). This is in the works and we will try again. The Corolla needs to have paperwork for an emissions test that must be retrieved from NJ - this is still in the Q/A stage...the jury is still out on this one as well

Finding our way around - Gina's daily emails, Google Maps and Garmin are our heros. Finding supermarkets, highways, Khols (who can do without a pass by the clearance rack??), etc.

Food - eating out mostly but we have had a meal or two in as well. Breakfast is at home, lunch is sandwiches and dinner is different every day. We took advantage of one dinner gift and ate at Rustlers Roost (thanks D&A) and of course we had to get to Oregano's (Vickie's favorite pizza restaurant of all time).

Pool - (x2) so it isn't all work I had to make a pilgrimage twice already...it's only 100 ft from the back of the house so I had hoped to get there more often, but I'll take what I can get. I even got a short run in (it was 99 out at the time but felt good)

Church - we took a recommendation from one family who has a summer place out here. It was very nice but far and though the staff was fairly excited the congregation was very mixed. Not what we are used to so we will keep trying on this one...this is a tough act to follow.


So we ask that you keep praying for us, there has been a large emotional aspect to this transition...and we need to seek God daily so that we are not wasting time on things he doesn't want us to be doing on our own. He is our shepherd and we need to hear his voice.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Up, Up and Away



Our day of travel has come...Mom arrived in Az safely with Joe's wheelchair earlier today, and Joe and Dad fly in the AM on one of these (a Leer 31A).

We expect the medical crew to arrive at 0700 Monday AM, and once Joe is comfortable on the equipment we will head to Morristown Airport to meet the flight crew for departure...I would guess around 8am takeoff???

To track the flight in near-real time you can go to www.flightaware.com -- just enter the tail number N32HH.

Please pray for a simple, safe flight and arrival at Hacienda.