Jim and Marilyn were able to come up from Yankton and Casey (Amy's brother), Heidi and their kids Rylie and Chase came over from Mitchell. The service was good, if a bit of a blur for us with all of the extra stuff that goes with being off-site. The basic message was that we've been given a message in the Gospel of Christ that is meant to be shared. The emphasis was on sharing from parents to children, but it had a little different meaning for me this week because of Patricia (see "Great Night at Work" post).
After the service and food, people had the chance to stick around and swim. Xander had been more than a little excited for this for the last several weeks. We had been as well because Amy and I were going to be baptized. We caught a little grief from the Baptist contingents from Yankton and Mitchell because we were being baptized in the hot tub instead of in a freezing body of water somewhere, but hey, you have to take the opportunities that are offered to you. Amy and I were both able to share a few words before taking the plunge and were really glad to have the opportunity to share in this sacrament.
After that, came swimming. Now, this is not your run of the mill hotel pool. It has a good sized water slide which Xander went down with Amy, Casey, Marilyn and me about 1,000 times. Xander and I got some great speed going and had a pretty good, two man luge form going. Amy said the riptide off of us at the end of the slide was pretty impressive. The challenge at the bottom was to get Xander's head above water as quickly as possible since it was a little too deep for him to swim. Coming out with a full head of steam, I wound up scraping my back on the bottom while trying to hoist him up on several occasions.
Aside from the slide, they've also got a pirate ship with slides and fountains galore. This was a great area for us to hang out in because the water was only a foot deep at the sides which meant that we could hang with Maia and Chase while Rylie and Xander played on the ship. Between these two attraction areas and hanging out in the hot tub we managed to keep occupied until about 2:30. Jim spent some time taking pictures and lounging a bit. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get some pics from him to post in the days ahead.
As things began to wrap up, our attention shifted to the weather and the travel ahead to Yankton and Mitchell. When Amy and I arrived at the hotel, it hadn't started showing yet and there was nothing on the ground, but by the time we left, there were probably 2-3 inches of snow and it was still coming down pretty well. They were all able to make it home safely, if a bit slowly.
I dropped Amy and the kids off at home and headed over to McKennan hospital to see Patricia. She had her surgery on Friday which apparently went very well. I stopped in on Saturday to see her before they moved her from intensive care to neuro and she seemed to be dong well. I'm sure she was pretty doped up on Morphine, but was fairly alert and we were able to carry on a good conversation for about an hour or so. When I stopped to see her on Sunday, she was doing even better, even if she was in a bit more pain. I was there for about 90 minutes. We talked a bit, went for a walk and checked her email in the visitor's lounge (which allowed me to see about two minutes of my Hawkeyes winning the Big Ten basketball championship).
They've apparently tried to feed her about everything she doesn't like and she was pretty hungry by the time I left. She was not the least bit confident that she'd get anything to eat that she'd actually enjoy. She was also fairly annoyed with one of the nurses. I got to witness some of their interaction and hope that they don't drive each other nuts before Patricia is released. Patricia was also a little bummed that I was the only one from work that had visited her at that point. We've got several from the team that live out of town, so I know she wasn't figuring on seeing them, but there were a few that had said they'd come, but hadn't. I'm sure the weather didn't help, but I can't say that I had any trouble getting there.
Regardless, Patricia is doing well and should be headed home soon. She's off work for awhile, so I'm hoping that she'll have a good chance to grow into this new relationship with Jesus before too many other things begin fighting for her time and attention again. I invited her to a class at the church that Amy will be leading for the next several weeks and hope that it might be a way for us to stay in contact while she's off work. Hopefully, she'll have a quick recovery and we'll be able to stay in touch during her recovery.
I headed home, talked to my folks on the phone, ate supper (shrimp, to stay with the aquatic theme) and gave Maia a bath before finally getting a chance to lounge a bit. A full, but good day.
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