An update from my uncle.

This is Jim, writing from my sister Kathy's Facebook page. I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I sit here and read the notes from all the people who are praying for my dear wife. I have never experienced this kind of pain before, though 50 years ago this past April, as an 11 year old boy, I watched my father die with this same disease. That was hard...this is devastating. I have tried not to question God in all of this; I recognize His sovereignty and accept His will for Anna's life. But I must admit that I don't even come close to understanding. I thought perhaps He was waiting for me to lift the ban on visitors so that my immediate family and Anna's siblings could come and see her. I did that yesterday, much to the chagrin of my precious wife. I could tell she was agitated by all the commotion and sensed a bit of displeasure with me for having violated her wishes. All four of her sisters got to see her and say goodbye. My son and daughter and their children got to say goodbye. My three sisters have seen her and two are with me even now, lest I be alone when the time comes for Him to welcome her home. This morning, reading from the Daily "Crouton", as Pastor Marks so affectionately called The Daily Bread, I read about a Matter of Perspective. The last paragraph says, "When we simply cannot understand why God allows circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us, it is good to remember that He has our good and His glory in mind. If we can say, "Father, please enable me to trust and honor You in this situation," then we will be in concert with His perspective and plan." Anna's concern in all of this, from the beginning until the point where she could no longer communicate clearly, was "How am I glorifying God in all of this?" I can tell you that all of the perceptions you folks have of my Anna are accurate. She is the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman. A prayer warrior, a giving, caring woman who dedicated her life to helping people through times like she is presently going. When God commanded us to "Be holy, for I am holy.", to the best of her ability she heeded His command. I know no one who is as concerned about being holy as much as she is. Even now, in her distress, she wonders how she can glorify the Father in heaven. I have no idea what He has in mind for me. Anna has been part of my life since July of 1964, weeks before my 15th birthday. When she finally graduates to heaven I will be relieved for the end to her suffering, but my nightmare without her will continue on from the nightmare that I'm enduring right now, watching her suffer. And still, I trust Him...He who sent His only Son to die for me. For those of you reading this who have not trusted your life to Christ, I beg you to do that right now. I couldn't care less what church affiliation you have. Religion is man reaching up to God...Christianity is God reaching down to man. I teach my AWANA children how simple it is to be saved...as simple as A,B,C. First, you have to admit you're a sinner. If you're not a sinner, you don't need a Savior. But God's word tells us that you are a sinner. (Romans 3:23) Then, you must believe that Jesus is who He said he was...the Son of God. But that's not the end. Many think the C is confess. But that's taken care of when you believe. The C is Choose. My Sparkies love this story. Let's pretend I have the ability to shut you in a room that is totally devoid of light. On the other side of the room is a door that you can get out. But there are numerous traps that will take your life if you try to get out in the dark. Before I leave you, I place a flashlight in front of you. You choose to get out of the room on your own, rejecting the gift that I gave you. You die. Don't blame me! I gave you everything you needed to get out, but you rejected it. God gave you everything you need to enter Heaven. Accept His free gift of eternal life right now. To not accept Christ is to reject Him. The best way to honor Anna in all that she's going through is to ask Christ to save you. I love all of you. Please continue to pray for God's mercy in Anna's struggle right now. God bless you all.

Deep Breath

I am thankful that we haven't had many scares as parents.

We had the first real one while I was pregnant with Titus. Lucinda and Valentine we climbing up Lucinda's dresser to get something off the top and the dresser fell over on them. Lucinda was able to pull her foot out and just had a scratch but Valentine was trapped under the dresser. The cd player (90s version, nice and big and very heavy) was being held by the plug in the wall. If it had come out of the wall it would have smashed his face. I ran into the room as soon as I heard the crash but I couldn't pull Valentine out and keep the drawers from falling out onto him. I screamed for Jake. He came in and moved the dresser. I pulled Valentine out and he didn't have a scratch on him. God was good.

The second one was when Titus was just 6 months old. We were driving home from a visit in Pennsylvania and stopped at a Wendy's for a bathroom break and some french fries. Jake took the older 2 into the bathroom while I waited in the lobby for them with Titus. It was about 8pm. Two men came in with ski masks on and guns swinging and robbed the restaurant. That was a very scary very traumatic experience for me. For all of us. I haven't been to a Wendy's since that day. And will never go to a Wendy's again.

Well, yesterday has been added to our list of scary experiences as parents. We've had kids come down with croup before but it never got this bad. Titus started showing signs of croup Saturday when he woke up from his nap. I did what I had done in the past with the other kids. Took him in the bathroom and let the water run hot to help open his airways. It didn't help. Not even a little. But he didn't seem any worse so we went through the day and as long as he was moving he was okay. Then during the night he was up every hour coughing and struggling to breathe. He slept in bed with us for some of the night and when I was watching him sleep I could see how hard it was for him to breathe. He was gasping for air. Every breath was very shallow. And he had a fever. So we decided it was time to take him to the ER. After two epinephrine breathing treatments, a shot of steroids and constant oxygen he wasn't improving. The hospital we went to didn't have a pediatric unit so they decided to transfer him to a near by hospital with a wonderful peds unit. He stayed there for 3 hours and was discharged after showing some improvement. He came home with a prescription for steroids for the next 3 days and he's acting more like himself today. Still not 100% but much better than he was. He still has a pretty bad cough but at least he can breathe now! Great it His faithfulness! We are so thankful that we decided to take him in and not wait any longer. We are so thankful that God took care of Titus and opened his airways.

Now we can all take a deep breath. Praise God!