as we greeted my father this morning, i asked him how he slept last night . . . he turned to me and said, "pretty good". WOO-HOO! these are the little miracles we see every day as my dad continues in rehab here. his speech continues to be our big focus, and probably his biggest challenge, but just these last few days, we've seen a huge improvement in his ability to shape and repeat word sounds. and every now and then, we hear him say something spontaneously in response to a question, like what we heard this morning. those are so exciting! he can now say some words quite easily, such as 'love you', 'thanks' and (much to my delight) 'Maggie'. he still isn't able to speak much on his own, it usually requires some prompting and visual assistance, but his ability to shape new words is steadily improving.

he continues to do better and better in physical therapy, walking more and more every day. today, for the first time, they actually put him on a treadmill for an hour! his energy level is up, but we still try and get him to take naps whenever possible because he does a lot more physical work than before. his right arm is still an area of slow progress; although the doctors see muscle movement up near his shoulder, we're still waiting to see him gain control of the lower half of his arm.

his reading is also doing well. he can now read full sentences at a time, and is good at multiple choice questions and true/false statements. his speech therapist also works with him on unscrambling words and phrases, which he does great on.

we recently had a neurosurgeon stop in to tell us that it looks like my dad will be able to have the piece of skull that was removed put back in again, hopefully sometime next week. after his surgery, he'll need a day or two to recover before he can start back up with rehab, but we're excited to know that he'll soon have his head all put back together! so we're waiting on the next update regarding that surgery.

Sam flies in this afternoon! he'll be able to spend a couple of days with us girls and my dad, so we're all excited (especially dad!) to see him today:)

also, my mother asked me to include this note (below) in my post:

Janet here. I haven't been very good at thanking all of you for your tremendous
kindness, concern, and support. Please know that it means so, so much to our
family, and really is helping us get through this very difficult time. Every
comment
you post is noticed, every card you send is read (and Geoff can read them
now
himself, which is wonderful!) and is an encouragement to us. We have
received
lovely and inspiring and humorous books from you, gift cards for coffee and
restaurants, care packages, games, beautiful flowers and plants, and even a
cheery yellow ukelele! All of these things help to cheer Geoff's days and
ours, and I think Geoff is beginning to realize how many people are behind
him... :)

Most of all, thank you for your constant prayers...God hears them all.

"On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you
help
us by your prayers." 2 Corinthians 1:10-11.