December 29th, 8:35pm

Hello dear family and friends,
Sorry for the delay in posting. We have been busy. Yes I know - I am posting at a normal hour, instead of some funky time in the wee hours of the morning!
      Micah is looking better each day. He has gotten over his bout of vomiting and fevers. We are still looking for more response from the new medication. His Baclofen dose (the medicine in the pump) is still being increased slowly to arrive at the right dosage. Since the medication is very strong, we have to be careful when increasing or decreasing dosage. It has to be done gradually. This is the most normal we have seen him looking as far as his appearance goes. On the whole he is more relaxed. Thanks to some dear friends in Jackson, I was able to borrow a vehicle to transport him on Christmas Day to the house. We had a really good time. My parents, brother and sister and their families came in to stay with us during Christmas week. We are so glad we had the large house, as there was room for everyone. Micah had a great time hanging out with his brothers and cousins. We just took him to the boys room in his chair and left them alone for a while. The boys were making goofy videos and he smiled and laughed pretty much the whole time they were doing that. In fact the effect of the visit carried over to the next day. He was really happy all of the next day. His disposition affects the therapy sessions greatly. As far as the therapy goes, we need to see more improvement with extensions of his arms and legs and swallowing. He seems to comprehend everything we are saying and recognized all his relatives. So that is a great blessing. We still do not have a consistent method to elicit responses from Micah. We continue to pray for his healing and every little thing he does is a great encouragement.
       We moved out of the house on Monday Dec 28 and are settled in the hotel suite. Surprisingly we all fit! Really nice place. Complimentary breakfast and dinner during the week. Really helps us with regards to meals for 10 people! My parents are staying with us for the time being. I am in St. Louis for the rest of this week and will return to Jackson on Sunday Jan 3. We are hoping to move back to Jackson in the near future and continue with whatever Micah needs at home. Of course we pray every day for complete healing and that all this other stuff would be unnecessary. Until that happens we are dealing with what we have. We are more than likely looking at a change in residence as our current home is very inadequate to accommodate Micah in his current condition. At some point I may prevail on some of you construction type folks to help me during that process.
This much for now. Very cold and snow, on and off, in St. Louis.
Shalom
Thomas