Expect Miracles

Dear Friends and family,

We thank you again for so many prayers and so much faith. Everyday we feel the strength that comes from those prayers. We continue to experience miracles everyday and in our moments of weariness, we rejoice with gladness for the brightness and the hope that we feel in the gospel and that we feel for our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no doubt for each of us that He is in charge and that He molds us a bit every day. In Moroni 10:6-12 in the Book of Mormon it states:

6. And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that He is.

7. And ye may know that He is, by the power of the holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for He worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.

8. And again, I exhort you, my  brethren that ye deny not the gift of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations for the Spirit of God unto men to profit them.

9. For behold, to one is given by the spirit of “God, that he may teach the word of wisdom;

10. And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same spirit;

11. And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit;

12. And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles;

We know that we have received many of these gifts but especially know that the gift of miracles has been granted our way. How grateful we are for that gift. We have been 37 day in the Intensive Care Unit most of which we were spent hoping that Sister McKee would make it through the day. Several of our nurses openly told us today that each day they wondered if she would be there the next day.

Well today we moved from Intensive Care Unit to a regular hospital room. The doctors all agreed that the last three days had been so successful that they felt like she could be on the normal floor. They assured us that if she had any major challenges that they would move her right back to ICU which is on the same floor. All of her numbers have looked good for the last two days.

She is walking supported by a walker and support people on both sides. All of the tubes have come out of her except for the stomach tube for feeding and medication and her trach. She has been breathing on her own for over four days now through the trach. With the passey muir valve on the trach she can speak and even participated in a missionary planning meeting tonight in her new room. She came up with a couple of great ideas for the missionaries so I had her speak through her passey muir valve on the phone and we sent a message from her out to all of them by phone. They will be shocked to her quick lesson of love and commitment. I was shocked tonight as she spoke in full sentences to them as if she was at the podium. We truly are experiencing a miracle.

Those of you who know her whit an humor will appreciate this moment in the day. Yesterday the speech therapist came to test her for a baseline of what her mind could do as she still believes that she has been in the hospital for 5-7 days. The therapist was asking her simple questions like groups of words and counting. She raised her pen up and said, “What is this?” Sister McKee replied, “a pen” . “What do you do with a pen.” “You write with it.” Then the therapist asked, “ What do you do with a broom?” Sister McKee boldly responded, “ You hand it to your husband and tell him to sweep the floor.” We all burst into laughter and the therapist looked up at me and said , “Well I guess this testing is finished.”

Her memory is coming back more every day  and her whit is remarkable as she works so hard now to get in on conversations when she is not resting. She still needs to take long rests in between therapy but her skills are improving daily. She has a very long road to travel as you all know but there is no doubt today that she will travel it. The Doctors tell me that by next Wednesday she will move to another hospital that does physical therapy 3 hours a day.

We still have a beautiful picture of Christ on the wall with our theme below it:

“EXPECT MIRACLES” . We still expect them and know that they will come.

Mom's Hospital Wall

Yesterday one of our very sweet nurses in ICU came in and knelt by Sister McKee. She was not assigned to us on this day. With tears in her eyes she said “It’s good to be around where you can feel the Lord. Even when your door is closed, it seeps under the door.” She proceeded to tell Sister McKee how special she was and what an impact she and her family had had on her and that she would always want to know what her future would bring. She acknowledged the Lord again and our faith. I signed a Book of Mormon and gave it to her with a tabernacle choir CD from our new friends in the Choir (Thank you). When I handed it to her Sister McKee reached up and grabbed it and pulled it to her and asked for a pen and signed it as if she had never been ill. She then proceeded to write something that was not at all legible (Remember Sister McKee has never written anything but a couple of letters at this point) When the nurse asked her what she had written Sister McKee replied, “This book is true.” The nurse then took the pen and wrote the words in the book,”This book is true”. We were all in tears as she took the book as our gift for her kindness and care. I thought to myself again, “ You helped to give Sister McKee her physical life back and now she is giving you “Living water”, the greatest gift that one could receive as she reads and ponders the truths there in. We love our nurses and must say it was like leaving family today even though we are still on the same floor.

Another male nurse pulled me aside and said how much he would miss us. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and told me that he is going to write our family’s name and address down in his wallet. Then he said with a big smile,” Whenever I get hurt or sick I will tell the people, call the McKee family first, then my wife. I know that the McKee’s have the faith and the power that heals.” I reminded him to keep reading and that we would be checking back with him.

The missionaries continue teaching several and we are so grateful for their caring kindness. Our missionaries are also working hard and producing grand results. We feel so blessed and know again that the Lord is in charge. We are so grateful that He chose to allow us to experience the miracle of Sister McKee healing and becoming stronger every day.

I asked another doctor today what her future looked like now that we will start working on  intense physical therapy. His reply, “ There is not a lot of research on what happens to people who experience this type of stroke as well as heart attack together. Most of them die and never make it to the therapy stage.” How grateful again we are for this miracle.

Thanks to you all again for being miracles in our lives. We love you and hope that you will be bold and continue to share the gospel with all that you interact with.

Love and appreciation,

William and RaNae McKee family

Tennessee Nashville Mission