Thursday, June 28, 2012

Praise to the Lord-He watches over all who love Him

Even in the shade the Louisiana temperature blazed above 100 degrees and the slightest breeze felt like a heater.  At 3 PM as I picked up my keys to leave work, my cell phone flashed a call from mamma. Since she is terminally ill, I answered immediately. She told me it was 84 degrees in their house and the air conditioner had broken earlier in the day. I told her to go into the bedroom where the window unit could cool her and daddy and that I would be home as soon as possible. I called my husband to meet me at my parent’s house and called the air conditioner repair service. I reached their house in 12 minutes to find mamma sitting in the bedroom under the ceiling fan, drenched with perspiration, very pale and laboring to breath. Even though daddy was in the room with the air conditioner, he seemed dazed and his skin was clammy and pale. The caregiver said he had been outside picking vegetables and became overheated. She had given him milk with sugar in it to bring his blood sugar up from the extremely subnormal level of 45. While I convinced mamma to come with me to my car, the caregiver fixed daddy more sugared milk.  Mamma walked slowly to my car using her rolling walker with me carrying her oxygen cylinder. She sat in the cool car breathing her oxygen while I ran back into the house and checked daddy’s blood sugar again. It had risen to 85, which is still very low.  He said he felt better  was no longer seeing dots before his eyes. My husband arrived and stayed with daddy while I drove mamma to my house to get her cooled off. Thankfully, the caregiver delivered mamma’s oxygen concentrator to my house and helped get it connected because the cylinder had run out of oxygen.  Daddy insisted that my husband climb up in the attic to see if the AC drain pan had gotten stopped up. The drain pan was dry, but the heat from the attic  increased the temperature in the house even more. While I hurriedly cooked supper, mamma quietly glanced through a stack of books to choose one to read. The AC was soon repaired at their house and she immediately wanted to go back home. However, when daddy and my husband came to eat supper, she agreed to stay. In addition to the meal and the now calm atmosphere around the supper table, we had many wonderful blessings for which we thanked God. 
V3 “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. V4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. V5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty; and I will meditate on your wonderful works.  V6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works; and I will proclaim your great deeds. V7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness; and joyfully sing of your righteousness.”  Psalm 145:3-7 NIV Life Application Study Bible



Sunday, June 24, 2012

Living in Love


I hesitated in a protective mode. It was going to be in the upper 90 degree range Thursday evening and I just had difficulty accepting that mamma wanted to go to the wake. There are many times I must overcome the worry and fear for her and just allow her to make her own decisions. After all, her close friend had died and "respects" should be paid. Mamma said it was the right thing to do. I wanted to say that she was too weak, too short of breath, and that she might have to walk a long distance to get inside. I did not say any of those things. I drove mamma and daddy to the wake. Mamma was glad to speak with her friend's family and recall events of their childhood.She spoke of the friendship she and her friend had shared through many years. She paid her respects and we drove home. Mamma said. "Thank you." I hugged her and was glad to know God had carried me through the fire.

 v 16 "And so we know and rely on the love of God. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." v. 17 "In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him." v18. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4: 16-18


Terminal Shopper


At 88 years of age and in a state hospice calls terminal, mamma requested to be driven to the “Dollar General” store so she could pick up a few things.  First, there had to be a mental note of everything necessary for her well- being on the “Road Trip” The portable nebulizer to ensure that she received her breathing treatment on time was plugged into the vehicle charger. The two tubes of the breathing medication for the nebulizer had to be kept out of light until she was ready for the treatment. A cylinder of oxygen was connected to the oxygen tubing and placed on the floorboard where she sat, along with another full cylinder in the back floorboard. She had agreed that it seemed more practical to be pushed around the store in her wheelchair rather than using her rolling walker. Getting the wheelchair into the 4Runner the evening prior to the trip proved to be more than I should have attempted alone.  Pulled muscles across my shoulders and another in my middle back convinced me that my husband should come “Along for the ride.”  The Hospice nurse had helped me accept that mamma might think she was more capable of doing things that she actually lacked strength to complete.  However, mamma made up her mind and there was to be no diverting her attention from her plan.
There has never been such a trip. Mamma wanted to examine every item on all shelves. My husband pushed the cart while I pushed the wheelchair. He had fixed a nice holder onto the wheelchair in which to secure the oxygen bottle. After having selected items from every department of the store, and having picked out all five items on her list, we headed for the checkout line about two hours after entering the store.  While I stared at the clerk when she said $279, mamma, a type 2 diabetic, was happily eating a candy bar off the shelf next to where we had parked her wheelchair. My dear husband loaded everything into the 4 runner and off we went to the restaurant where mamma decided she had plenty strength to go inside for her meal rather than getting take-out.  With oxygen bottle in hand, mamma walked inside to a table with me holding her arm because we did not have her cane or walker and we felt it was almost too much to ask my husband to get that wheelchair out and into the vehicle again.
Overall, it was a great day and she did not get too exhausted. My husband and I unloaded all the purchases and put them into cabinets, freezer and refrigerator.  Later, after I awoke from a four hour nap, I phoned to be sure mamma had not been excessively fatigued. She said she had taken a brief nap and after she got up, she had made me a list for when I might go to town again.
V9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly for my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. V 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The Wife of Noble Character

My dad's garden is beginning to produce fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, green beans and potatoes. He amazes himself and everyone around him that he still has his green thumb at the age of 90.  He loves to share with the neighbors. The interesting thing is that he believes my daughter and I can cook, freeze or can all of the various produce just the way my mother has always done. Does food ever taste as good as our mother's cooking? My mother has cooked 3 meals a day for 65 years of marriage and knows more recipes by heart than I could find in a dozen cookbooks.  I love the scriptures in Proverbs 31:5 about "The Wife of Noble Character."  V. 10: "A wife of noble character ", who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.v. 11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value."
My mother truly is the example of the wife who has never been afraid of work, has respect for her husband and shows love, kindness and respect for others.  My prayer is that God will v. 31 "Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."