Flu and A Good Word

After our hospital week last week, we had a fun weekend.  Saturday night our small group met together for dinner.  We usually go around the table giving each person the chance to share whatever is on their heart:  a word of encouragement, asking for help about an issue or giving an update as to what is going on with them.  No pressure..just a time to be accountable or not.  Sometimes we worship together but we do always pray for one another.  It was a highlight of the weekend.

Sunday found us at church in the morning, running errands in the afternoon and then to the hockey year-end-party in the evening.

Then the flu bug caught me.  Monday early, early morning my tummy was not a happy camper.  Because The Husband gets dehydrated after one puke event (was that too much information?) I moved to the basement bedroom and bathroom so I didn't expose him to any germs.  There I lived from Monday morning until this morning.  Thankfully I am better.

As I came upstairs today and turned the daily calendar on the Max Lucado devotional, I just knew I had to share this with you.  From his book, Next Door Savior, this is Max Lucado.  And this is a 'good word':

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You've barely dipped a toe into Matthew's gospel when you realize Jesus hails from the Tilted-Halo Society.  Rahab was a Jericho harlot.  Grandpa Jacob was slippery enough to warrant an electric ankle bracelet.  David had a personality as irregular as a Picasso painting--one day writing psalms, another day seducing his captain's wife.  But did Jesus erase his name from the list?  Not at all...

Why did Jesus hang his family's dirty laundry on the neighborhood clothesline?  Because your family has some too...[and] Jesus wants you to know, "I've been there."... To the lonely, Jesus whispers, "I've been there."  To the discouraged, Christ nods his head and sighs, "I've been there."

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Isn't that a good word?  None of us comes from a perfect family.  None of us is perfect.  Jesus wants us to know that He understands.  That because He walked on this earth He  can say "I've been there".  He is the one that has overcome all.  He is the 'good word' that we should look to in all circumstances in our lives.

May you know Him, personally.  The one that says "I've been there....for you."

Excellent Chocolate Chip Cookies

In my recipe box from YEARS ago, is a recipe entitled

Excellent Chocolate Chip Cookies

Before The Husband went into the hospital last weekend,

we made this big batch of cookies.

Here is the ingredient list:

2 cups butter (I used 1 cup shortening and 1 cup butter)

2 cups sugar

2 cups packed brown sugar

4 eggs

4 cups flour

5 cups oatmeal, blended to a powder

1 t. salt

2 t. baking powder

2 t. soda

24 oz. chocolate chips

3 cups chopped walnuts, optional

The Husband helped blend the oatmeal

 Oatmeal before blending....

...and oatmeal after blending

Set the oatmeal aside.

Place the shortening and butter in mixing bowl.

Add the brown and white sugars...

and blend together well.

Begin adding the dry ingredients...

and then the chocolate chips and nuts.

This is one full bowl!

Use an ice cream scoop and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 12 minutes.

With a hot cup of coffee, these cookies are amazingly delicious!

War: The Fight Is On

War:  The Fight is On

Monday morning as I started my day in prayer, this is the God-Nudge that came to me.  You might remember that the night before The Husband had been admitted to the hospital with a possible bowel obstruction.

Twenty-five years ago when The Husband and I were expecting our first child, he had a bowel obstruction.  The doctors told us his abdominal x-ray looked like a rubber band that has been rubbed between your hands and is nothing but a twisted mess.  Surgery was done to straighten the twisted mess.  And within 24-hours of post-surgery, The Husband was worse!

See, he grows scar tissue like Campbell's makes soup.  Back to surgery he went and within 30 minutes of the start of surgery, the surgeon walked into the room where I was waiting.  For the second time in The Husband's life, the surgeon could not even cut him open.  The scar tissue (adhesion) was so dense, that the surgical team was breaking scalpels trying to cut open The Husband.  Those adhesions had completely closed up any remaining bowel.  He was closed up and laid in the hospital bed for two months waiting for the adhesions to soften so food could pass.  

Monday morning, I knew that this was a very real possibility in front of us.  

And the only way out of this was our Amazing God.

War:  The Fight is On

The Fight is prayer.  In prayer I worship, give honor and glory to the Living God who is and has been faithful to The Husband and I.  There were many other prayer warriors that joined me in praying for this loop of bowel to unkink.  

Again, God was faithful.  He amazes me. 

Stress and fear try to creep in when these health issues pop up.  Sometimes I am tempted to make a list of all the 'issues' in my life and there are some ongoing Could-Be-Stressful-Issues.  If I spend time reviewing that list, wow, I can really get myself into a funk.  

War:  The Fight is On 

includes my thoughts.  There is a war for my thoughts.  I have to choose to NOT review the list and to keep my thoughts on the One-That-Is-Faithful.  

Which brings me to one of my favorite songs, "This Warrior Is a Child".  I found myself singing this song today.   I hadn't heard it in years but it has been a song that I have felt could be my trademark song.  When the battle is on.  When there is War and the Fight is On...sometimes the Warrior Is a Child and needs to go running home to God.  To His Home to be refreshed and re-strengthened.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with issues in life.  If you are needing to know God's incredible, refreshing and unending love, run to Him.  

You can choose to trust in Him just as I do.

Home From the Hospital

The Husband is home from the hospital.  On Sunday I took him to the emergency room with extreme abdominal pain, nausea and excessive diarrhea.  The Husband doesn't have his colon so he gets dehydrated quite quickly.  With the diarrhea he'd been having, dehydration was a concern of ours.

After two hours of waiting in the lobby at the Emergency Room, a nurse came to re-assess The Husband and she found his blood pressure dropping and while she was talking with him, he passed out and started vomiting while he was unconscious.  Medical staff came running and cleared The Husband's airway.  It was all quite exciting...NOT!  He immediately was moved into a critical care room and for the next six hours, he had fluids pushed through his IV.  Those of you medically trained, the IV pump in this picture is not the one from the ED but the one showing his IV rate once he was in his room.  

 A CT scan showed a partial bowel obstruction.  With his history of these and with the surgical risk he is, he was admitted to a medical unit to receive IV fluids and to wait (and pray a lot) for the kink of bowel to unkink.  Three nights and four days later, he is able to drink more fluids (input) than the output his body is making.

During his hospitalization, Kidlet Three and I visited often.  Kidlet One and Favorite-Son-In-Law did also come to visit.  Here, Kidlet Three is getting ready to do his homework with his dad's help.  It was algebra and I am just dumb in algebra so Kidlet Three needed his dad's help.

I was so intrigued that the hand sanitizer has its own holder welded onto the end of the bed.  Every healthcare person coming in and out of the room used this.

IV fluids and McDonald's soft drinks.  And homework. And prayers.  Oh we prayed and thanked God for being with us during this adventure.

Thank you SO MUCH for praying for The Husband and the rest of our family.  We know that God heard your prayers.  In the past, The Husband has rebounded so quickly from a partial bowel obstruction.  

We are amazed and grateful.

Hospitalization

The Husband was hospitalized on Sunday.  I have to re-prioritize and am unable to post.  Stay tuned and pray for healing for The Husband!  Thank you!

Hair Secret

Today I feel like revealing a hair secret.  Not that this secret will ever be published as a major news release like the Kardashians. . .

Nonetheless, I continue on in my need to confess.  Last Friday morning Kidlet Three was taking his sweet time in the shower before school.  I needed to get ready for work.  My hair needed washing and the shampoo was in the bathroom, behind the locked door where Kidlet Three was scrubbing his teenage torso.

Side note:  he was probably sitting in the bathtub with the shower running....dozing.  That is what Kidlet Two used to do.  We'd have to pound on the bathroom door to wake up Kidlet Two...teenagers!

Back to the secret.  I went to the rag bag and grabbed an old towel and headed to the kitchen sink to wash my hair.  Here is the secret:

Dawn dish soap was my shampoo of choice last Friday.

To me it was no big deal.  It was the first time in my whole like that I remember using dish soap but hey, no one was going to know, right!

Here is the funny part.  I do not ever putz with my hair.  I dry it and whatever it looks like I spray it and go on with my day.  Well, Friday's style, was pretty awesome.  Whatever happened between the Dawn and the hair dryer, my hair looked good on Friday.  And you should've heard the comments I got from my co-workers.  "Did you just get your hair cut" or "your hair is really nice today" or "wow, what did you do different to your hair today".

Go figure.  The moderately-expensive shampoo we usually buy has never given me the style and compliments I received on Friday.

I just may try Dawn again on another day and see if I get the same hair results.  If I do, I may be writing to the Dawn company and submitting to them the new angle to their product!

Amazing Dawn!  Give it a try on YOUR hair!  tee hee hee....

Set Apart

God planned and packed you on purpose for his purpose.  Heaven's custom design.  At a moment before moments existed, the sovereign Star Maker resolved, "I will make __________."  Your name goes in the blank.  Then he continued with [all] your characteristics.  Insightful.  Clever.  Detail oriented.  Restless.  And since you are God's idea, you are a good idea.  What God said about Jeremiah, he said about you; "Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work" (Jeremiah 1:5).  Set apart for a special work.

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From Max Lucado's book, Cure For The Common Life