Yia-Yia

This is a picture of Yia-Yia helping me make Baklava before the wedding. (notice her styled coif) She is always up to something when she is in my mom's kitchen, from cooking, to dancing, to insisting on doing all of the dishes without any help, so the rest of us can watch football. Yia-yia has taught Julia, Brooke and I all of the family recipes and years of her cooking secrets, which we never would have learned without her.

On Mother's Day, I found out she had a stroke and was in intensive care. Fortunately, she was at my parent's house when she had the stroke, so they were able to get her to the hospital right away. Mark and I drove up to PA to visit her. It was so hard to see her in ICU because Yia-Yia is always full of energy bouncing around doing her "exercises" even at 83! After a week in the hospital, she was moved to one of the area's best rehab centers. We were able to visit her again this past weekend on her first day in rehab. Things confuse her more than they used to, and she is working hard to regain strength and mobility on the right side of her body. But even while in the hospital, Yia-yia is still feisty and telling lots jokes to ensure that we all keep laughing! Please keep Yia-yia in your prayers as she works to regain her strength.