Mini update

Dan was home last weekend for fall break. He looks great and is still enjoying school. As Dan and Garrett were planning to leave Monday morning, Dan's wheelchair broke. A very specialized part was needed, had to be ordered, and so they were not able to leave until Wednesday night.

Dan has made it through the first half of a semester! His work load is heavy, but he's plodding away. Doing assignments takes more than double the time as before his accident, so we are extremely proud of him for working so hard.

Dan has an amazing attitude. He shared some ministry ideas when he was home. I can never forget that Dan should not be alive, so we know that the Most High God has spared him for some purpose.

Please pray for him: lack of sleep, work load, all 3 wound sites cause pain (trach, pacer, supra pubic). I always tell him that it doesn't seem quite right that he can't move or "feel", yet he has pain.

Thank you, faithful ones, for continuing to check on Dan, especially since we don't update often enough.

Family News

We are happy to announce the engagement of Dan's twin brother Mike, to Liz (CU '08). So, I am going to "borrow" a family news item from Jen's blog site!!! (You have to love 'copy and paste'.) Here goes:


Mike and Liz are engaged!!!!!
Yay!!!! We are so excited for another wedding, but more so for Liz - for those of you who haven't met her, this girl is incredible! And for those of you who have met her, even for a minute, you see right away she is one of the sweetest, most genuine people out there...but she does have that little hint of "feistiness" that must be evident in all Knudsen girls. :-D
It's pretty surreal thinking of my little brother getting married! We have no doubts that he is going to be a great husband. Mike is probably the most easy-going out of any in our family (well, before Jeff came along!), although also has that passion and sometimes impulsiveness that most of us have! For those who don't know, he has just started his 2 year graduate program in Athletic Training at Western Michigan. That alone was pretty surreal - my little brother is in graduate school - wow! We are so proud of him for grabbing on to something he found out he loves and going after it with such hard work and excitement. And now even more excited that he found someone he loves and is grabbing onto her for life!
Mike and Liz: we know you are going to do so well in whatever you take on - just keep putting the Lord first in EVERYTHING! We're so excited for you!!!!

I was just thinking about how so many of you were "with us" as we were planning Jen's wedding at the time of Dan's accident. We were just looking at photos of her wedding and were amazed at how Dan was sitting up so straight, because he was not able to again for about a year. We know the Lord held him up for that special day. We're excited for another Knudsen wedding in the summer '09.

Dan said...

Hey everybody, I'm gonna post myself soon... The line about the Cubs is untrue. I am in mourning. It's all about the playoffs.

-Dan October 11, 2008 10:56:00 PM CDT

Welcome to Checkinondan!

It's been awhile, hasn't it?
We've struggled to put our thoughts together, so I just wanted to share a few things that have been special.
Although I spent several weeks with Dan when he was at Kennedy Krieger this summer, I didn't do much of his care. When he got home and I started to do his range of motion with him, I was in shock at how much muscle mass he had in his shoulders! His shoulders and upper arms felt so strong! I was so thankful for the therapies in Baltimore and really hope we are some day able to get the equipment he needs to continue the exercising.
Dan recently had a procedure to cut back his toenail to prevent in-grown toenails. He may have some severe spasms for awhile, but then greatly reduced spasms. In-grown toenails have been the cause of most of Dan's spasms. He really is trying to reduce his medication. (Exercising reduces spasms also.) He will have his other toe done soon.
I just asked Dan yesterday how classes were going, and he replied "good." (Same reply as before his accident -- hmmm, real answer or pat answer to appease mom!!! [he usually does well])
I guess my favorite incident was when we took Dan to college. When friends came up to him, welcoming him back, they only saw Dan, not a wheelchair. My heart was enriched.
Thanks for continuing to check for updates. How about if we update sooner next time?!!
(We are not in mourning over our Cubs. There's always next year . . . . ) The truth is they had a great season.
Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord Himself will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forget you.