Beyond Bringing Up Boys

It was SO good to attend church together this morning! It still seems strange that we are so far away from Louisville and what is "comfortable" on Sunday morning...and so naturally my thoughts drifted to our church in Kentucky. We missed David's parents alot today because often our Easter Sundays are spent with them because of the close proximity to Seth's birthday. A school family brought in a ham and some other southern dishes. It was great! I was feeling a little disappointed that I wasn't cooking yesterday but when I got home from church today...I was glad! I am walking daily and increasing my overall strength. My left eye has bothered me ALOT today along with a persistant headache...which I am wondering if the headache is similar to what one who receives a headache when getting a new prescription lenses. I imagine that my brain is doing alot of adjusting to the "new" visual field. I hope each of you had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday. We ha...

I have fought with my bed all night. I finally decided that it was either the piece of chocolate cake that I ate right before bed or (since my mind seemed destined for one direction) that I should get up and write. So here I am desperately trying to articulate what God seems to have laid on my mind. In Luke 24, two disciples were traveling to a village called Emmaus…and they talked together of the things that had happened. While they were talking, Jesus joined them but they did not recognize Him. Jesus asked why they were talking with such intensity and sadness. Incredulously, one disciple asked how could He possibly not know what had happened ( thinking that He must be a stranger ). Ironically, they told Him the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. Several months ago part of this passage perplexed me. Verse 21 says, "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel … " Hoping. Another version says, " We trusted ." I don’t think that I had eve...

Generally speaking over the last few weeks, I have dreaded going to see the doc—any doc! But today, I was so excited to see the retinal specialist and "show off’ how well my left eye is doing. Fortunately I just had to wait a few minutes before the tech called my name and took me back to begin the process of examining and dilating my eyes. As normal, she had me cover my right eye. I could read the "E." She scrolled down and I said, "I can see the "E" and the letters beside it." "Go ahead," she said. I kept moving down the line until it became too difficult in the dark and so she handed me a card with more letters/numbers to read. I read letter after letter. When the doc came in, he said, "This is impressive; you read one letter from the 20/40 line!!" I think I read almost all correctly from the 20/50 line—not bad for a girl who could only read a "E" 2 weeks ago!! On the visual exam, the doctor noted that the "spots...

Oh My Dear Friends! This morning, as you are aware if you read David’s last blog, a small church in Oklahoma City had prayer for me as my close friend Twila was anointed in my place. As David and the boys wrapped their arms around me and we 4 prayed with that band of believers, the Sprit of God hovered close to our home at about 11:00 AM this morning. Mrs. Troyer spoke to the congregation about how she had prayed for me during the night as she would for one of her own daughters, and admonished us/them to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. I felt so humbled that the Troyers, who have not seen nor "known" us for years, would so powerfully trust Jesus for my healing. And I thought of you. I thought of you who have called and written or commented on my blog that you, too, are praying. I thought of Sandi H’s comments a few days where she and others were being my rope holders. You, too, touched the hem of Jesus, or maybe, like Sandi, chose to be a "rope holder." There are n...

Sorry that you have to put up with the sub again, but Amy's not quite ready to blog yet. Since we last communicated, Amy's visual prognosis has improved. When she saw the doc yesterday she was seeing many "spots" in her left eye. The doc believes these to be an accumulation of white blood cells, and they should be absorbed by her eye. We are thrilled that the areas of damage in her left eye are smaller than they were last Friday. Furthermore, her peripheral vision exams scored very high. "Neither good nor bad," the doc says, but these tests allow us to establish a baseline by which we can compare future vision tests. Although the doc was a bit blase about the results, we are nevertheless praising God because we know how badly Amy's eyes had been damaged. At the moment, reading, writing, and various other tedious tasks are proving to be quite challenging. She is currently so weak (possibly a result of the Prednisone) that even small tasks are proving quit...

Amy does not feel well enough to blog today, so the sub is blogging on her behalf. Yesterday Amy thought she saw some new spots in her left eye and felt that she was experiencing some of the same sensations that she had during her stroke, so she went to the doctor. He said that he sees no new lesions, but that doesn’t mean that she couldn’t have another stroke. He recommended that she begin steroids to reduce any retinal inflammation. Amy continues to need your prayers. Blessings, David