Sunday, June 17th, 2007    

What a wonderful Day…

How blessed we are to have a mighty God who hears and answers prayers.  How blessed we are that God is no respecter of persons and He will answer our prayers when we call out to Him. How wonderful to know He  is faithful to his Word. How wonderful to know that All His promises are Yes and Amen.   My heart is filled with praise and Thanksgiving for the wonderful gift of Life he gives us and for giving Chris life and healing.   Today is Chris’ 23rd Birthday and we are so grateful to have him with us. We know how precious life is. We thank all who have stood with us and prayed with us. Our God is an Awesome God.

Mark and I arrived this morning and took in Birthday Balloons and a Vanilla Milk Shake from the DQ.  We thought he might already be up but He was still waiting to get his morning clean up. The unit he is on was rather busy this morning and with Chris no longer being High priority to anyone there but Us and God, he had to wait.

Physio actually arrived before his nurse had him cleaned up and his dressing changed. She knew we wanted him up for his birthday. So we went for Coffee. When we arrived back… Nina had been there also and was also sent off to have a coffee. Nina looked so pretty today.  She brought a Sombrero for Chris and party hats for all. They finally had him in his wheel chair and we took off for a walk about.  We had seen the loveliest terrace from the small kitchen window on his floor. So off we went to find it. While we were out there Chris’ cousin Courtney, who shares the same Birthday as Chris phoned him from Kelowna. She and Aunty Sherry were together for hers but wanted say Happy Birthday to Chris.

The restrictions for Mumps came off this morning also. Another exciting victory… which his wife and family appreciate more than he will. 

When we arrived at the cafeteria… Debbie was already there. We sat and talked a little and His friend Steve showed up. Next Jon, Patti and the Kids.  Soon there was a whole gang and my guess is there were around 20 people ( I never counted)  Michelle, Nina’s sister, husband and son. Some  young people from the Finnish church. Nina’s Mom and Dad…..Later Tim, Dan Tyler and Mike came.

There were presents, cards, and well wishes from the emails and blog, a piano solo, a group birthday song, food, birthday cake, and Pavlova. It was the fastest day ever. Chris did really well. He interacted with everyone and the whole crowd thing like an old pro. When 3:15 came along we needed to get him back to his room… the Physio needed to have him back in bed before she left for the day, and Chris was getting tired.  When we arrived, she was nowhere to be found…. So the Kennedy physio team.. Nina, Mark and Karen… we arranged everything together with Chris’ approval… and help…  and we were able to get him back in bed… “no problem”  well… is he ever ready to move on now??….. heh heh. 

We are praising God for all the wonderful things He has done and the progress in Chris life.  By now Both Nina and Chris have had a big day and are worn out. Mark and I left for a while. When we returned.. Tim was there and soon Dan, Tyler and Mike came. They brought the most incredible gift a guy could want in a hospital bed.  A remote control hovercraft…. 

It made so much noise that Mark went out to talk with the nurses.  They were more concerned with where Chris had gone to because for him to be able to see it running around while he worked the controls… we had to re-arrange the room a little and the bed was no longer visible from the nurses desk. 

Everything was good….. We said goodnight and it was   ‘a most wonderful birthday day.’ And a most wonderful Father’s Day.  A Great Day to be Alive!