Thursday February 26th

Hello to everyone out there. Today was a day of rest for Clay. He and I read several books and had some good one sided conversation. He seems to be doing well. During one of the morning visits today a therapist came in and exercised his left arm and hand a little. She said we could help him do these exercises each time we visited and we have taken that to heart. We are going to work new life back into that arm and hand. Clay had a family from Olney stop by today and it was one of his best friends from Mrs. Sherry's 4 School. Morgan drew him a picture with a note and when I removed it from my pocket and told him what I had he was really excited. At the 5:00 visit this afternoon the nurse had been helping him scratch his nose and she had cleaned much of the burned skin from his little nose. It was a vibrant pink underneath and we told her how encouraging it was to see his nose again with out all of the bandages. When we came back in at 7:30 to tell him goodnight we were in for an even bigger surprise. The same nurse had worked on the area around his mouth and out to the more severe burns on the sides of his face. There was new skin under the cleaned off area and no bandages around his chin so we received our first unobstructed view of Clay since the 14th. It does not take much to encourage parents and we know there are many trials and procedures in the future, but it seems each day God gives us a little ray of sunshine and it is much appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has called, stopped by, posted a comment, or helped in ways we are unaware of. Deidra and I have been amazed by the love, help, and support of friends and family. Last but not least I would like to thank Dr. Purdue and all the residents who have been with us through the first three surgeries. You have done a great job and we are thankful.