Paper Cranes for Neil

I've been quiet for a while, partly because I've been busy, and partly because I have so much to say I don't know where to start. I'll begin with some horrific turned good news. Most of you probably don't know this, as I couldn't bring myself to blog about it, but about three weeks ago one of my sister's best friends was in a bad car accident. On January 23, 2009, he was driving home with another friend on a narrow, winding country road near our houses. No one knows exactly what happened, but somehow he lost control of the car, spun around, and hit a tree on the driver's side. The passenger came home from the hospital the next day with a concussion. He still won't/can't talk about the accident. The driver, Neil, the sweetest kid I know, was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson hospital in New Brunswick, where he remains in ICU with severe head injuries. For a while his future was uncertain, but I am so happy to say that for the past few days he's been opening his eyes, trying to focus on people's faces, and moving his right hand and leg. Today he showed the most hopeful signs of progress and moved his eyes toward sounds. His parents have been blogging about Neil's journey here. His family is really wonderful. They're so generous, kind, and full of honest loving faith. I've been thinking about them and Neil a lot, and now I'm so relieved to have something more than hope or a prayer to hang on to.

My sister has been organizing some of their friends to make origami paper cranes for Neil. Here's a link to the facebook group. According to the Japanese, one thousand paper cranes = one thousand good wishes. Neil's father spent some time living in Japan, so this custom has special meaning to the Stone family. So far Sarah has between 100 and 200 cranes, which still make lively and colorful decorations, but it's far from 1000. If you'd like to make some, email me for our mailing address and we'll add yours to one of our garlands for Neil's room. The doctors and nurses say that Neil will be able to move to a rehab facility soon. Hopefully there he will have even more room for our good wishes!