#173

It was a fun filled day at the Smith house. Christi was so excited to wake up there and despite Nammie being overly exhausted, she still got up and brought Christi breakfast in bed. She went back to bed after for a few hours. Ampa and Christi begged Nammie to stay home today and rest, and not go out shopping with them at the mall. Staying true to herself, she didn't want to miss a thing, and refused to stay home.  She walked around the mall, the shopped and had lunch. They all had a blast; we are unsure who had more fun. Elaine was truly exhausted tonight. She needs a few days of rest and staying off her feet. It has been a busy week physical and mentally for Elaine with her drivers test and continued therapy. There is no one like her in the world. She just continues to plug along, determined to get feeling better and keeping a positive attitude. She consistently says she is feeling good, even though we know she is lying. We love her more than words can express and just wish there was something we could do to help!

Staci ran into someone who doesn't see Elaine frequently and couldn't believe how much progress she has made. Its often hard for Elaine to measure her progress, but remember it wasn't long ago that Elaine wouldn't have walked even past lulu lemon. Today, despite how tired you were, you walked all over the whole mall. That is an incredible improvement and something you couldn't do even a month ago! We are so proud of you!

The Francois family is leaving in the morning for Hawaii. Elaine decided against going this year, which as it turns out, is probably for the best. She is overly tired and a long travel journey, even to Hawaii, would be a lot. She wasn't comfortable being that far away from Fred yet either. She has family coming in to visit next week, as well as a doctors appointment with the neuro-ophthalmologist. We will miss her greatly, but know that she will be with us next year, and we look forward to it! We continue to remember how blessed we are to have her still here! We will continue to update the blog with reports from her doctors' appointments from next week. As always, thank you for caring. It means more to Elaine that you can possibly imagine!