Dick and his beloved wife Burma, dear friends of ours and two of the sweetest folks we've ever had the privilege of knowing, had been involved in a horrific vehicle accident which claimed Burma's life instantly.  We were all stunned with grief to have lost our dear Burma, and Dick suffered many serious injuries all over this body but most notably the complete shattering of the lower portion of his right leg.

Completely.  SHATTERED.

To the point that we all wondered whether Dick would ever walk again.

Well, God and Dick are certainly proving us wrong!  After extensive surgery to completely rebuild his lower leg bones with plates and screws holding everything together and attaching to the artificial knee that he already had in that leg and a 3-weeks hospital stay, Dick is now home and improving every single day.  While he's not quite able to stay alone just yet, he's getting close and amazing us daily at his progress.

Our family just LOVES Dick...we have had years of great times with him, and our cabin is full of furniture Dick designed and hand-crafted for us.

I had the blessing of hanging out with him Monday afternoon (and even had Dick's chihuahua Peanut kinda tolerating me by the end of the day...) and Kristoffer and Dana took dinner over to him that evening.  

(Humor me as I just have a braggy-mom moment...what a terrific example of service Kristoffer and Dana are teaching their children!  Such great parents....)

Dick enjoyed the delicious food, but most of all the company and energy of the children.

It was a good day.

Six weeks ago, Dick "should" have gone to Heaven along with Burma, but God had other plans.  Apparently Dick's got more work to do for the Kingdom this side of Heaven.

You just can't keep a good man like Dick down for long!  He's smiling and rearing to go, already making plans for his next woodworking project for the church garden.

And tomorrow he'll celebrate his 76th birthday!

See Dick. 

See Dick go.