Catching up

On Sunday evening Vanessa went home to be with the Lord. Vanessa is the wife of our worship leader at church. She plays the piano like few others. Sometimes I called her Brenda--which made us both laught. She had double pnemonia, H1N1 and other health issues. She is going to be very missed. The picture I have of Vanessa is sitting at a perfectly tuned piano using the incredible gift God gave her and playing to everyone's delight. Her fingers will work perfectly and she will have feeling in her feet. She will have no more pain. We grieve because we will miss her but she is with her Lord and Savior. What great joy!

Today Ruth suffered a stroke and aneurism. Ruth is in her 80s and full of wisdom. She is in Harborview where they hope to relieve the bleeding and get it stopped. Ruth is God's ambassador to so many of us. She speaks words of wisdom and encouragement. She calls just when you need her. If she could speak to us tonight I think she would be saying, "Don't worry about me. I'm safe with my Jesus. Remember how much He loves you." I pray that God will return her to us for awhile longer. I for one, am not ready to do life without her. I trust God with Ruth. I know she has absolute confidence in Him.

I haven't written for a long time. These two events have reminded me not to put off that which I consider important. For some reason writting has been difficult. I began several times but always deleted it. I need to write so this time I will hit "publish" and not delete no matter what.

Tom continues to battle the saliva. He has had two botox treatments. While I believe it is helping, the challenge is knowing what medication to give and how much. It's a guessing game. His sense of humor is still intact for which I will always be grateful. To say, "I love you", he touches my finger with his finger. Then one day he touched 2 fingers to 2 fingers. But the one I like is when he touched all 5 fingers to all 5 fingers. He still has lots of love to give and I'm soaking it up.

Haven't written since before our son's wedding. I don't think I've ever been to such a FUN celebration. Angie has an amazing eye for detail and did an outstanding job of planning and executing the weekend. The weather even cooperated--beautiful blue sky days. Tom did dance me down the aisle but turned in for the evening before we had a chance to dance on the dance floor. Being in a large group of people is difficult so after watching the wedding and spending some time with he dear friend, Bob, he was ready to call it a night. After helping him turn in I, however, returned to the festivities and thoroughly enjoyed the party. I even got to dance with my grandson Hunter and granddaughter Katie.

Two weeks ago I submitted my letter of retirement from Children's Ministry at the end of December. Eleven years ago God made it very clear that He was calling me into this ministry. He has now made it very clear that He is calling me out of it. I will miss it but I need to just focus on taking care of Tom right now. Multitasking just isn't as easy as it has been. I know God has a plan for us and will wait to see how He leads. Meanwhile I plan to take life one day at a time and hopefully live it to the fullest.