April 30th at 9:15 p.m.

We just finished free standing Jess and it is so amazing at the difference now and when we first returned home. He is doing so well and getting so much stronger. Today he pulled his head out of the head support on his wheelchair, kicked his left leg off the foot rest and lifted his left arm off of the arm rest. We have all decided we need to watch him much closer...we think he is moving to the next phase. The therapist have also noticed he is responding much quicker when they ask him to do something.

Daniel (our special friend who helps us with Jess on Thursdays) and his sweet wife, Wendy, took Jess to the movies for the first time today. We really do have some wonderful supportive people in our lives. It was strange for Chris and I, but we did take advantage and went for an hour hike. We both made a point, standing on the top of a mountain...which always makes me feel a little closer to God... to say "another" prayer... not only for our Jess but for our strength too. We prayed for Jess' ability to walk, run, laugh, talk, cry and smile again. Oh how we miss his smile. Joey played cards with the grandparents and when we got home were remarking how we all were a little uncomfortable without the need to check on our Jess. We missed him. One or all of us always has an eye on him.

We are still in awe with the love surrounding us and we continue to thank those we know and those we don't for all the prayers and continued positive reinforcement we get that Jess will get better. A special thanks to Daniel, John, Tami, Joan, Beth, Gordon, Susan, Maura, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Patzer, Billy, Dillon, Morgan and Reno...you are awesome. And, also, to our special volunteers who are so dedicated in helping Jess twice a week with horse riding. I might mention the Sagebrush Arena is always looking for volunteers and Jess will need more when he starts to ride three time a week this summer. You must be comfortable around horses. Give Wendy Collins a call if you have an hour of time to donate.

April 23rd at 9:45 a.m.

It’s finally the weekend! We have been so busy that we forgot to update the website to let everyone else know what is going on in our lives. It has been many months since I’ve given the update, my Mom usually does it. I have been here for the last 5 weeks participating in the care and recovery of Jess. There are many new things that have happened since I’ve been here. One significant change is Jess got a new wheelchair, which seems to be helping with his "tone" (abnormal adrenaline to the muscles). The PT therapist, Tami, has been seeing great physical response from Jess, particularly in moving his head from left to right on command (22 times last session!). This is awesome because Jess had been pulling his head to left quite hard due to the tone. This means that his neck muscles are getting stronger, which has helped with his head control when in a sitting or standing position.

I have been taking Jess to high school 3 times a week. We go from 1:00 to 4:30 and participate in many activities during that period. The therapists at school have been working with an eye-gaze board for communication. We have seen positive responses from Jess. An eye-gaze board is a rectangle piece of see through plastic with dimensions of 2 ft by 1ft. They put the word “yes” on one side and the word “no” on the other side. We get in front of Jess and have him focus on our eyes in the center of the board and then ask a yes/no question. He can consistently answer these questions by gazing to the right or left to indicate with a yes or no answer. (He got nine answers out of ten correct...the one incorrect answer was a question asking if the year was 2005. Jess said “no”. He must still think it is 2004.) Answering questions is very exciting because we have established a form of communication which seems to be consistent. Jess is taking small steps but we continue to be amazed by the effort he puts in each day.

My dad Chris has gone back to work doing construction full time. Between the five of us (Chris, Pam, Joey, Grandma and Grandpa), Jamie and Jahara on the weekends, the therapists, and of course all the special friends who have been devoting their time (there are too many to name), Jess is getting the best possible chance to come back to us. We all function as one big force of energy and this in itself should be enough to help him recover in time. Thank you all for your unrelenting persistence and faith! Until next time, have a great week. Joey

April 12th at 9:30 p.m.

We drove to Boise today to get Jess' new wheelchair. We, of course, have a love/hate relationship with a wheelchair. We were so hopeful that he would not still be in one but we are so very thankful for a much better model. Joey is taking Jess to school 3 days a week and sitting in this chair will be much easier for a long period of time. It has so many adjustments we were at the wheelchair company for 4 hours. Whew...

So, we are still seeing little improvements. Jamie was home this weekend and noticed a lot of small changes that we take for granted. Little Jahara kept giving her Uncle Jess kisses and holding his hand. She puts a small ball in his hand to try to get him to throw it to her. He looks at her with those big blue eyes like he appreciates her attention. She is almost two.

We have been taking Jess swimming once a week and he is so relaxed in the water. Hopefully we can continue and are very thankful for the opportunity to get him in the water. Skiing is over and we are so grateful to Sun Valley Company....Hans, Mark and Bob for taking such good care of Jess. We are very lucky to live in this valley where so many are so supportive and caring to our Jess. Thank you!

April 6th at 8:22 p.m.

Just wanted to let everyone know Jess turned his head to the right on command 8 times for our PT (Tammy). He also lifted his legs in a sitting position up and back down to touch the floor for me several times...Joey was a witness. Slow but sure we are going to get this boy back!

April 3rd at 8:12 p.m.

Jess had a bit of a break this week. He didn't have school or horse therapy because of spring break. He did go skiing, swimming, to dinner at his best friend's house, celebrated his grandma and grandpa's 67th anniversary, had acupuncture, physical therapy, cranial sacral therapy, stood every day, worked a lot on swallowing and range of motion and watched us try to spring clean the house. He also had a visit from his good friend Billy who brought him some Mickey Mouse slippers from their trip to Disney Land. And, we got the approval for his new wheelchair!!!

As I was writing in Jess' journal this morning, I turned the page and this quote was at the top of the page:

"Don't wait for something big to occur. Start where you are, with what you have, and that will always lead you into something greater." --Mary Manin Marissey

We are not waiting for something big anymore...we are just so thankful for the small things.