Saturday, March 30, 2019

Leanne's Update on Our Dad: "It's All Going to be Okay."

I am so thankful for my family. Good times, bad times, hard times...even tho we live in different states, we are there for each other. My sister, Leanne, posted this update, after spending part of her Spring Break getting my Dad settled in his new digs at the nursing home.

"I have returned home from my spring break trip to the Veteran’s Center in Claremore, Oklahoma with a very full heart and a sense of peace with the facility that my dad will now call home. 

My family dreaded the day he was to be transferred to the VA Center. He had been at the rehab place for 100 days after his fall and his time was up there. Almost every day he asked about going home and our fear was that when they loaded him up in the transport van, he would think he was going home and would be devastated when he realized where he was going. 

My family prayed, and we asked our friends to pray, and we decided to turn all of that over to God in prayer. 

Except we didn’t. 

We prayed, and then took it all back – all of the stress and worry and fear and dread – we took it all back. 

And then when our prayers were answered in a HUGE way with the seamless and EASY transition to the VA Center, we still questioned when the other shoe would drop. 

Maybe it just didn’t sink in with Dad that this was his home now. 

Maybe Day 2 would be bad? Maybe Day 3? 

And because we are human and flawed, it is still so unbelievable to us that after almost a week at his new home, Dad is happy and content and more alert and lucid than he has been in a long time. 

At first glance and first visit to the facility, it doesn’t look like much. It is a somewhat cold and functional military facility. But the more time I spent there, the more familiar it felt. It was every office building, hospital, doctor’s office or commissary we frequented during our life spent living on military bases. 

Maybe Dad feels this sense of familiarity and comfort there too. 

Dad was the first to notice the airplanes hanging from the ceiling only in his wing of the unit. 

If you know my dad, you know he loves God, his family his country and then AIRPLANES, in that order. 

The dining hall is amazing and the food is good. Dad has been eating so well. The dessert bar with unlimited soft-serve ice cream is his favorite spot in the whole place! 

Everyone we have come in contact with has been so kind and they tend to dad in such a loving, caring and respectful way. 

And the most amazing thing is that all of it; the nursing care, the physical therapy and the occupational therapy, the medications, the food and unlimited ice cream are all 100% covered for my dad because of his service to our country. 

This makes me so proud. 

I’m proud of him and I’m proud of us, as a country, for honoring and respecting our Veterans in this way. 

The very first night at the VA Center, Dad took my sister-in-law Shelley’s hand and told her, “It’s all going to be OK. I am going to be just fine here.” 

Today, we are thanking God for answered prayer and thanking our friends for following along and supporting us on this journey."

Thank you, Leanne, for this awesome update on our Dad. 

“Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it." Habakkuk 1:5 

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Honoring My Dad

*This post somehow got out-of-order. It should've been posted before the one about him moving to a nursing home. But it's okay. Everything is okay.

Not everyone has a Dad like mine, and that makes me very sad. Because I’ve known nothing but his unconditional love and support. 
He’s never once uttered a word of criticism to me, even when I probably deserved it. 
So when I came to the point in my life where I was ready to make a decision to follow Jesus, it was an easy transition for me. 
I didn’t have the fear or mistrust many have when it comes to relinquishing control of their lives to a loving God. 
A life dependent on Jesus was consistently modeled by my Dad in our home, at his work...and in our church and community. 
For my whole life, my Dad has been an earthly example of our Heavenly Father. 
This week, we are facing changes with his care that have been expected, but changes none of us wanted. 
We are all united in the decisions that are being made, but it’s still so very hard. 
Your prayers on behalf of my Dad and his wife, Clara, and for the rest our family, would be so appreciated. 

"Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise)..." Ephesians 6:2


Monday, March 18, 2019

International Women's Day: Doing the Hard

Widowed, remarried, she now lives with great challenges. 

Spent 100 days waking up, alone, in her home.

She gets up, gets ready, and drives 30 minutes to a rehab facility...where she spends up to 12 hours a day with her husband: pushing him, feeding him, washing him, dressing him, shaving him, monitoring his care, checking his meds. 

Hours of no response to her conversation. 

She tucked him in every night, and drove over 30 minutes to their home...alone...where she washed his clothes, paid the bills, ate a meal...alone. 

She tries to sleep...because she knows that, in the morning, she will have to do it all again. 

More than anything, she wants to be able to care for her husband in their home...but she wants the best for him...even if she isn’t the one who can provide it. 

So yesterday, she moved him into a nursing home. 

And, again, she went home alone. 

Lots of chatter on social media about strong women today...and what we’re told that looks like. 

I’m here to suggest that sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of what we thought would be or could be...because we are deep in the reality of what IS...head down, plowing ahead, seeking God, serving others, doing that next right thing. 

Sometimes the difference we make on this earth is in our every day lives...in our homes, with our people, and with others along our path who bear witness to the lives we live. 

She would be the first to tell you that she is not enough...but Jesus is; that she doesn’t have the energy, the strength, the discipline, the wisdom, or the internal fortitude to do all she does on a daily basis...but Jesus does. 

On this day, with people acknowledging famous women who have and are making a difference in our world...I choose this ordinary wife, mother, grandmother, friend: my Dad's wife. 

Doing the hard, inspiring others. Every day. 

"But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name." 1 Peter 4:16