Great week!

Natalie has made some excellent progress in the past week. These improvements include eating better portions of food - she will now request food (Wendy's frosty, cinnamon buns, etc.) that she can eat with assistance. She has also been talking a lot more. Recently Natalie has been able to compose more complex sentences, for instance she is now able to say a name (or direct her voice) and then ask a question or tell a joke. Natalie seems more comfortable this week than any previous week. She is able to tell us when she is hurting and what is bothering her and sometimes can remedy the problem herself. She will even ask us to be quiet or stop talking when she needs some time to herself!

Natalie has spent most of her days this week in her wheelchair instead of in bed. When she is in her wheelchair the family includes her in games or tells stories with her. Her speech is becoming increasingly coherent as she speaks louder and is more consistent with her thoughts.

She has been doing very well with her therapies and is making excellent progress from the last time I saw her, two weeks ago.

Natalie still needs to focus her energy on her therapies as she is always exhausted at night. Because of this the family still asks that visitors are strictly limited to close family friends and relatives. Please do not show up without calling the family first. I will let you all know once Natalie is able to have more visitors! Otherwise keep the prayers coming and thank you all for reading the blog!

On a sidenote - The format of the blog will be a bit different. Because Natalie's stay at Sunnyview is somewhat of a 'rollercoaster' I will be doing weekly updates on her status. If something extremely important happens, I will surely break the format. Otherwise, join us next week for more miracles!