Home again!

We arrived back home last night about 12:30 am after driving 12 hours with stops from Tennessee. It was a smooth trip home up hwy 57 until we neared Chicago where the snow storm started and continued all the way home. It took about 5 hours going around 40 mph the last leg of the trip but we made it home and it's a good thing we did because Madison woke up this morning with a stomach ache and has been throwing up. My second cousin Paul had the flu when we arrived and he graciously stayed in their bonus room above the garage for the first two days and was feeling better by Sunday so if this is the same strain, at least it is short lived.
We had a great time in Tennessee despite no sunshine. We were really hoping to bring some back to Michigan. We just hung out with my cousins (2nd and 3rd) and enjoyed their company and hospitality. We were able to go to an Austin Peay basketball game and watch Lauren on the dance team and it was a great game. Avery is in high school and had a game too that she cheered for which we had to miss. They are both very beautiful, talented girls who have a very bright future in store! Merrilee cooked us some wonderful meals and we love to just chat with her. Paul as we said was sick and felt bad, but we were glad we were able to visit with him on Sunday. He even got up and made us pancakes! We did go to Franklin on Sunday morning to New River Fellowship church and heard a great message given by a Pastor that had spoke at KCC for a wild game dinner Eric attended (small world) which was very good on a day in the life of Jesus from Mark 1. Michael W Smith was not there this week, but it was fun to see how the church has changed and grown in two years. We then left and went to Nashville Opry Mills mall and shopped til we dropped, literally. The mall is very big and we were ready to go by half way thru, but had to walk to the other side to get our car and my feet were ready to fall off. We got some good deals, mostly Madison, of course. She likes everything! We ate lunch at the Aquarium restaurant which had a huge tank in the middle of the restaurant with sharks, stingrays and all kinds of other huge fish. It was pretty cool! The only setback of the weekend besides cold weather was the first day we arrived when Eric lost his footing on the steps upstairs and slid all the way down which gave him a nice road rash on his stomach. It is hard to know if these things would have happened anyway despite having ALS but his balance is definitely off due to not having use of his arms. When you think about how God made our bodies to work in unison with each part, it makes sense why things become more difficult even though he still has use of his legs. One night a while back when we were leaving a movie, I said to Eric "lets run to the car because it's so cold" and he said I can't run and I instantly thought, oh no, what is wrong with your legs! He said he couldn't run because his arms don't swing in synch with his legs and he would fall. It's hard when things like this happen and I worry alot about Eric's safety since he is so tall and falling could really injure him as he did when he broke his arm rollerblading the week before we left for Mayo.
Some prayer requests:
-Madison to feel better soon and the rest of us not to catch what she has, especially Eric
-Safety for Eric every day and strength for his body and always for God's healing!
-Lori and the kids health insurance through the VA to be processed and approved ASAP as we are without insurance
Praise- Eric's Rilutek came today and he will be starting it, pray this will slow the progression combined with the Lithium and have minimal side effects

Thanks for your prayers!
Love,
Lori and Eric