Stephen & Leanna on the Road

Thursday: Fairly easy drive (3 hours) from Flagstaff to Gallup, with lots of stops for breaks because, with our colds, we just do not want to drive more than an hour at a stretch. Before that, however, we needed two hours to cover 50 miles from Cottonwood to Flagstaff via a beautiful mountain road. We bought a lot of rocks for the garden.

Mother is stable in the hospital (recovering from pneumonia caused by food going down the wrong pipe), but she's dropped to a new and presumably final level. She can barely swallow without choking, and (based on her wishes) I declined to let them insert a feeding tube, so she will be moved to a hospice for her final days or weeks or months, whatever God chooses for her. She wants to be with her husband (my father) and her son (my brother), and I'm at peace with that. Leanna is being very supportive, and my aunts have told me to get home safely, not in a hurry, they have mom covered in the hospital and hospice until I can get home.