Thankful

First of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all
that prayed for my father in law. He came home a few
days after surgery and is doing o.k. He is quite bummed
that the surgery did not work and that he will have to
have another. This hospital stay seems to have taken a
toll on him also. He is not springing back as quickly as he
would have liked. He had trouble talking and expressing
himself after surgery. All testing came out fine so he just
has to have therapy to help out. I have been taking care
of his household quite a bit since he came home. A few
months ago I prayed for God to show me how I can be
more Christlike in my every day. I see this care taking
as an opportunity to serve the way Jesus served. I just
wish my human side didn't feel the exhaustion and at
times I have found myself grumbling.
How humbling that has been.

Another sobering reality of the last few weeks is the
frailty of life. My grandfather has been very ill. He has
come from many states away to live in my parents
house. Hopefully soon his biopsies will come in. I'm
anxious to know what is causing this wonderful man
to be so sick. His wife, my grandmother, is the
sweet lady that passed away in November. I am deeply
sad for him losing his wife and facing this right now.
However, I got to spend the day with him today and
listen to his heart. He told me that he was never scared
during his hospital stays. He has great comfort in
knowing where he is going after he leaves this earth.
He has such enormous faith. I will treasure the
talks we had today forever.

Tonight I was reading to my children. They each have their
own bedtime devotion books that my mom gave them for
Easter. Each book fits each child so well. It has been such
an incredible blessing to read these to them. After reading
their devotions they can read in their bed on their own.
Mara picked up a chapter book that Autumn just read. It's
a little above her reading level but it has a picture of a
horse on the front and I assumed that was the reason
she wanted to read it. (She loves all things with horses)
I opened the front cover and found this letter written to
her. Click on into enlarge it. It is incredibly sweet.


My garden has been planted, my children are all
well, my hubby is truly my bestest friend, and
summer is almost here. I am thankful.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness."
Jeremiah 31:3

Update

Grandpa Jack is stable. He is spending the night in
the ICU to recover. His surgery did not go as
planned and there will have to be a plan B from
here. His original aneurysm that was coiled
has regrown by 50%. The neurosurgeon tried
for nearly 6 hours to place a stint in his artery so
more blood flow does not cause more damage
to the aneurysm and rupture again. It was
unsuccessful. The poor guy had surgery
through both of his groin areas and poked
around in his brain. Amazing technology.
Unfortunately he is an extremely complex case
that will probably need a very risky and major
surgery to fix things. His surgeon will be
consulting his colleagues from around the country
and getting several opinions before we move
forward with anything else. He may even have
to go out of state for this next surgery. So, today
was a lot of waiting (Ian was a trooper), praying,
hoping, and a little bit of disappointment. I am
thankful that we were able to say hello to him even
if only for a moment. He looked a little rough and
was having a lot of pain. If you could whisper another
prayer on behalf of our dear Grandpa Jack I would
greatly appreciate it. Blessings dear friends.

Grandpa Jack

If you have a moment, please say a prayer for Grandpa Jack.
He is my father in law pictured here with my bro-in law (left),
sis-in law, and hubby (right.)

Two years ago he had 4 brain aneurysms that ruptured. He
had multiple surgeries to save his life. He is going in for
surgery tomorrow morning to have one of the coils replaced
that helped save him. It is not holding up and needs to be
repaired before it collapses. Jack is a miracle. He is walking,
talking, and living because of the wonderful physicians that
attended him and by the grace of God.

His surgery is Wednesday May 6th at 7:30 central time.
Thank you for praying.

Oliver

I am finally the proud new auntie of a little

handsome boy named Oliver. He only weighs in

at 4 lbs and isn't fond of bathing yet. He didn't

like getting his first set of shots either but who

could blame him. Poor guy. I can't wait to meet

him and bring him a new toy. We will be traveling

to my sister's this summer and I will get to cuddle

with him.

Isn't he cute??? Now, to my darling sisters-when am I

going to be an auntie for real???

Not Me Monday

I did not rip down the wall paper border in our bathroom

and start priming the walls. I did not take off the trim,

towel racks, and decorations one day when hubby was at

work. Not me!



My hubby did not tell me he needs to give me a sedative

for 8 months out of the year to keep me from tearing our

house apart. Who me?



I did not secretly love the fact that Awana is done till fall

and that I am not teaching toddlers on Sundays for the

whole summer. What kind of child care worker am I?



I did not sit in a meeting this week learning about 5th grade

band and cry a little inside because my girl is growing up

too quickly.



I did not look for jobs this week in the paper and be

thoroughly disgusted with my lack of options in

my previous field. What now?



Lastly, I did not hide my middle daughter's blanket

(she's 7 and sucks her thumb) three weeks ago and

think it was fine because she had never asked about

it. Only to discover she told my husband she thought

she lost in when we visited friends in our neighboring

state and was too upset to tell me. I did not feel a huge

weight of guilt and pull it out my dresser for her.

Not me-my mothering skills are way better than that.



So very glad to participate in another edition of

Not Me Monday because that means Stellan is home!

Yeah! Head on over to My Charming Kids to see what

others are most definitely not doing. :)