Today I must work

Today I must finish this. I’m telling everyone so I’m held accountable! It must be done before I go to bed tonight. This is a small resist experiment I started working on last month. Thankfully I started so early, because I’ve been very distracted these last ten days and it’s due, along with a short article, on Monday. Concentrating on work is good, and you can see that I have Hershey kisses to keep me company.

I want to take a moment to thank to everyone who has been so supportive and encouraging. I feel truly blessed on so many levels. We are all amazed by my sweet hubby’s recovery from the stroke he had on March 7. It was actually a series of as many as seven small strokes. We suspect that the first warning may have been a severe headache he had two days before on March 5. After a series of “stuttering strokes” on the 7th, his right arm and right leg were paralyzed for two days, and when he woke up the next morning and they moved perfectly normal. He’s never had any speech related problems, even though the stroke was on the left side, near the speech center of the brain. The only lasting effects he is still dealing with is his vision. All things considered, that seems very minor. It is hard that he is not able to drive right now. He loves to drive. He was a school bus driver for nearly twenty years. The last several years he has been my dedicated chauffeur. It does feel really weird for me to sit in the driver’s seat and have him next to me in the passenger seat. We are hoping this is temporary. In any case, I’m considering sweet hubby’s crisis over, other than being vigilant about what we eat.

We are now focusing all our attention on Eric and Bethany, and their unborn child. We learned earlier this week that their baby has a very rare neural tube defect, which is always fatal. That was very difficult news to digest. We have grieved with them and supported each other and prayed. God has given us all tremendous peace. Our network of family and friends have come alongside them and us in the most loving way imaginable.

This young couple has written two heartfelt, but informative letters to help everyone understand the situation. Each time, their love for God, for each other, and their baby has shined through. They have decided to fully embrace their role as parents and love their baby during this pregnancy, so they will have no regrets later. Until they find out the gender of their baby, they have decided to temporarily name their child Amalya (a-MALL-e-ya) which is Hebrew for “Work of the LORD”. They write, “We strongly feel that this child truly is a work of the LORD and want to be reminded constantly of that fact as we continue on this journey.” They plan on giving the baby as many experiences as they can now, since their time with Amalya will be severely limited after birth. In that spirit, Bethany gave the baby cotton candy while we were celebrating my mother’s 76th birthday earlier this week. My sweet hubby plans to spend time reading his book to Amalya. I hope to start on a special project myself next week, after my article is done, of course.

We are all aware that this journey will be difficult over the next many months, but we know God will never leave us or forsake us.

In the meantime, our other daughter, Lydia, and her finance, Brock, have freely decided to postpone their wedding until later in the year. The new date is still pending, but Bethany encouraged them not to postpone it too far away. She enjoyed planning her own wedding so much, that she can’t wait to help with the preparations!