Big Weekend

Well we have had an extremely busy and exciting past 72 hours. Late Friday afternoon we received two very important phone calls. The first was from the wheelchair people letting us know they were on their way to our house to deliver Morgan's wheelchair. The other was from my sister Chrissy's brother-in-law Paul. He works for a Honda dealership in Phoenix and had been searching for a mini van for us. The timing could not have been more perfect. Morgan's chair was arriving and we were now in need of the van.
Around 4:15 Friday afternoon Morgan's chair finally made it to the house. She was very excited to see her chair and drive it around out front. Her favorite thing to do is check the mail. She was also excited because they reset the speeds on the chair. The first two settings are the slowest speeds (for driving in the house). They left the third and fourth speed off so we have three beep warnings before Morgan reaches speed five which they set for a normal walking pace. I think they set it for David's normal walking pace because for me it seems a little fast for me. Morgan really liked this speed! We let her play outside for awhile that evening.
The next morning though we woke up early and hit the road to head to Phoenix to check out the mini van. My sister Jen and her girls, Caity and Lindsey, met us at the dealership. They were going to pick up Morgan and spend the day with her while we shopped for a van. Morgan was very excited to see the girls and was looking forward to spending the day hanging out with them. They took her to their house where Caity painted Morgan's finger nails hot pink, Lindsey played Barbies with her, and all three of them curled up in bed together to watch Elmo. During all of this David and I were at the dealership. The van Paul had found was perfect for us and we got an amazing deal on it and my car. We are so grateful for his help. After the long process of buying a vehicle we headed to meet up with Morgan and Jen's family. They were all up at the girl's dance studio for a mini-recital the girls were having. We made it just in time to see both girls do their "Hey Batter Batter" dance and then see Lindsey perform her "Cinderella" solo. They both did an amazing job. Morgan loved seeing them dance. She was clapping her hands and dancing along to the music the whole time. After that we all went out to dinner together. We then hit the road for a long drive home.
We finally arrived home around 10:30 PM. David carefully manuvered the van into the garage, it fit! That is lengthwise, David went to get out and couldn't open his door. He needed to climb into the back and go out the sliding door. I guess my civic was not only shorter but skinnier too. That meant a whole new set of things to accomplish, so Sunday was then spent cleaning the garage. David was able to rearrange a lot of stuff and clear out some junk to make room for the van. He also spent time with his dad's help laying some cement on our front path to the door to allow Morgan easier access to the front door. The current sidewalk had a pretty sharp corner, so they put a small triangle addition on. Thankfully our house along with Charley and Donna's and our good friends Matt and Georgia's all have front doors that are already ramped. She will be able to drive right in to all our houses without any trouble.
This morning I was able to arrange with a company in town to order an arm lift for the van. It will be installed on the right rear interior of the van. It will then swing out and strap to Morgan's chair to lift her chair into the rear of the van. When we have her chair we will have no third row in the van. When her chair is not with us we will be able to still use one of the three back row seats. We are hoping the lift will arrive in about a week and then it should only take 1 day for the installation.
As you can see these past 72 hours have been very busy, but very exciting. It was a life changing weekend for our family. We feel so blessed to have received Morgan's chair and are so thankful to Paul for his help with finding a mini van. We are so excited to see how Morgan's world changes with her new found independence. Below is a short video of Morgan driving her chair (not her best work, she had the sun in her eyes most of the time so she didn't want to look up) and a few pictures of our amazing new van which I LOVE!!!!!!!

My (new) 2005 Honda Odyssey.

It is dark gray (and no, that is not a dent near the front , it is just a glare from the sun).
The interior is very clean with gray leather; all the upgrades except DVD or navigation.
Here is where Morgan is currently riding. It has the optional third seat in between the captains chairs which is great since when we have her wheelchair there will be no third row.
Morgan and both her new rides! Oh, and notice the fabulous backpack for holding all her toys on her new ride. It is of course an Elmo backpack. Thanks for finding that, Grandma!