amma and ampa

This week Grandma and Grandpa (Tim's mom and husband, Val and Dave) are visiting us. Guests are always very exciting for Maia, our little extrovert. Especially when they bring canes and wheelchairs and things we don't normally have around here.

Val is a woman of incredible strength. When I think of the word "longsuffering", Val is what comes to mind. Her 18-year battle with Parkinson's disease has become quite a bit more challenging in recent weeks. So I'm trying to give Dave some time to rest from being a caregiver, and spending a few days caring for Val. She's such a trooper! (How many of us could make a trip to another room and back that would take our bodies close to a half hour, with extreme pain and lack of mobility, and do it without complaining?)

One of my favourite moments from yesterday is captured in this picture, as Maia is sitting in her Grandma's wheelchair and reading her the book "Big Dog, Little Dog"...