I’ve just returned with Alan from the hospital, and he is safely tucked in to sleep and doing well. This has not been an easy week, however…just for the record. Besides having everything stolen out of our car on Sunday, the 18th, the electricity to our garage and outside freezer and refrigerator went out on about Tuesday, and we can’t get it repaired until next Thursday, so we have cords running from the garage into our house. Thursday I was throwing out some old flowers and stepped on a stump which had rotted such that it gave way and I lost my balance. I tried to grab on to a couple of saplings, both of which had died, and so the two trees and Jill tumbled down the hill. Thankfully, I landed on my right elbow and shoulder rather than my right hip, but my arm is pretty sore! Friday morning the stove died (while I was at the hospital with Alan). Alan’s surgery, which was supposed to last 3-5 hours, ended up lasting 7.5 hours, because just as the doctor was sewing up the incisions, the needle broke off (using the DaVinci Robotic techique) and disappeared into his dark abdomen. I believe it took Dr. Lane about 2 hours of white-knuckled searching to fish out the needle. Fortunately, he was able to find it without having to open Alan up the old-fashioned trauma surgery way, and the needle hadn’t punctured anything. Many thanks to all who prayed for him! At any rate, I arrived home only to find that the house was 60° and the furnace had died. Can you believe it? At any rate, dear old Frank, our faithful furnace man, was willing to make an emergency run and now has the furnace up and running again. He just left, so I’ll hop out to the store for Alan’s meds. and then start supper. You just have to ask, “Is it me, Lord??” May we be patient in tribulation, continuing in prayer. Things could be worse. I just read a letter from a missionary friend who had recently helped a woman who was driven out of her house and her town in Indonesia because she became a Christian. Every time I feel the sting of hardship, I say to myself, “I could be sitting in a Chinese prison.” Compared to how hard many people have it, I can only be thankful. I will soon have a warm house and food on the table, and my husband is alive and may even recover!!
Blessings to you!
Saturday we spent meandering along the Huron River Drive, where we spent countless happy afternoon bicycling with our kids during the years of Alan’s residency and first practice. It was rainy, so we didn’t really bike, but we drove as slowly as we used to bike a enjoyed remembering all the fun we had!
Of course, we had to stop at the Dexter Cider Mill for donuts and cider…
And finally ended up at Kathy and Carl’s for a joyous family birthday party. Kit even made my favorite cake!
To top it all off, we visited Kathy and Carl’s church the next morning, and the message was on Belief Beyond our Fears.” Every time I hear Brad speak, I say to myself, “No wonder they have 20,000 members in their church!” The message was just perfect for us; it was entitled Belief Beyond Fear. Although last time I gave a wonderful synopsis, it’s almost time to make dinner now, so I will just recap the main idea. His message was on the idea that all of us have fears. They may differ, but fear is a fact of life. Good fears keep us from making foolish choices; unhealthy fears can paralyze us. In order to overcome fear, he encouraged us to:
Summer Setting 