This weekend was an awesome weekend for Troy. His dad, brother, sister, niece and twin nephews were here visiting with him. Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of her control, his mother wasn't able to visit, but she was with us constantly on the phone or in text.

This visit with his family was very good for Troy. He laughed more this weekend than I have ever heard him laugh. He was laughing so hard he was tearing up and at one point he was even laughing and crying at the same time; just overwhelmed with emotions. He really enjoyed the twins, he seemed to favor Nathan the most. It was so cute to watch him watch Nate do his thing and interact with him. It was sad to see them all leave today, but it's awesome to know that Troy has such a loving and supportive family.

Now, this begins a very busy week for me. The girls first day of school is tomorrow. I have been really sad this weekend thinking of Troy missing out on being there for Tyra's first day of school, but I will video tape it all and show it to him when I get to the hospital.

Tomorrow is also a huge day because it's Troy's "outing" day. This is where the therapist, Troy and myself will go out into the community and do a trial run of how I am going to transport him with us and how to handle different situations that may arise when Troy is out with me and the girls. I am very nervous about this, but I know God will be with us and will continue to keep me grounded while I soak all of this in. I was taught how to do the IC on him today to empty his bladder. He was very gracious and didn't fight me, as he has been with all the nurses. The nurse warned me that he might pull at the catheter while I tried to insert it, or slap at me or push me in resistance, but by the grace of God, Troy just sat there calmly and let me do it with no fuss. Maybe he could feel that my hands were shaking and didn't want me to hurt him. LOL.

Also, this Tuesday and Wednesday are Family Training days. This is where for 8 hours I will be taught how to care for him on my own, without the help of medical staff on hand 24/7. I have seen most of these things done, but I will now have to do it all hands on, on my own and will have someone coach me through things for 2 days. On Tuesday, I have to spend the night at the hospital with Troy and I will be doing all of the care for him overnight by myself with no help to see how it will be when I bring him home. Nursing staff will not interfere unless I press the call button and request help. I will be staying in what's called ADL suite on the Brain Injury floor. It's a full apartment, complete with wheel-in shower. If everything goes as planned, I will have to come home to get the girls from school on Tuesday afternoon after my day of training, then head back to the hospital and then bring them early the next morning for school. Thank the Lord there was a spot in Extended Day for Tyra so I could pay this week and have her stay there until 6pm while I get all this training I need and Brianna's bus stop is less than a block away from the house so she'll be able to walk home from the bus and wait for us here at the house. I'm excited and nervous about that too. It will be interesting to see how Troy does spending the night with me and the girls again! This will be the first time in over 3 months we all sleep under one roof, as a family! Yay!

Needless to say, tomorrow, and the rest of this week, will be a very strenuous and emotional day for me, but no matter how much I feel that I will be emotional, in the back of my mind I have this sense that I will take this just like I have everything else, with a serene demeanor and complete control of things. I don't know what I would do without God's grace and so many people praying for us! Big changes are going to be happening real soon and I'm ready for them! To God be all the glory!!