Interesting

I know I am not a "blogger", this is obvious based on the fact that my last post was back in April. My goal is still there to make sure I don't go a full year without posting something-so at least that is working for me.

There have been a few things that have taken place over the past few months that made me think "I should blog about that", of course I haven't....until now.

I am amazed how God is in control of our lives. Of course I always think I am in control of it and sometimes get in the way of God. But there are days like today that I am GENTLY reminded who really is in control.

So I wake up early to get my properties mowed to beat the rain, but more importantly I wanted to go to Starbucks and read a little. This might not sound odd, but to those who know me-I never take time and go to Starbucks to read and relax. I use Starbucks as a place to give me more energy to do more crazy things throughout the day....never relax.

So I get the mowing done and get ready to head out.

A few weeks ago Erik (a guy from my small group) got a job at Starbucks, so instead of heading to the 4 that are within 2 miles of my place-I decide to head to his. Of course they decided today to close 116th street off of Keystone, so it took me way longer than I thought it would and actually contemplated going to a different one. But I didn't and headed into the store, ordered my drink and sat down in a comfortable chair. The Management Team at Grace is starting a new book and we need to have a portion of it read by Thursday's meeting-so that's the book I brought along (I will tell you the title later). Sitting there I started to read the introduction, and made it through the first page when Erik came over and started to talk to me. He was done with his shift (which started at 5:00 am) and was about to head out. We talked about a lot of random stuff for about 15 minutes. He went to grab something from the counter when I realized that the lady sitting in the chair next to me was reading a book also. I couldn't see the title of it, but I thought how distracting we probably were and if it was the other way around I probably would have moved already. So I apologized if we were bothering her, of course she said that were weren't. Erik came back to the area and realized we were in a totally different conversation than when he left.

I wasn't really sure how everything got started, all I know is I was head deep in a conversation with a total stranger in need. Within just 10 sentences of asking her if we were bothering her I found out that her father just passed away and she was so confused with life, her Church and the lack of friends around her. I said good-bye to Erik and continued with the conversation. She longed for her Dad to be alive, she lost her mother 9 months ago and her Dad lived with her till he passed. It was an unexpected death, but more than that she was alone. She was an only child whose best friends were Mom and Dad, and now she was alone. She has been going to a church in the area for years, but it was "the Presbyterian thing to do", not that she was really feeling fed there. She really is in tune with the presence of God, and longs to grow that relationship-but she is not being helped or fed by her church. So some how we got talking about Grace, the presence of God, and how we needed to work hard every moment of the day to see how God was working in us and through us. She wants to come to Grace this Saturday and is excited about Church and the possibilities of seeing God working in and through the church to reach not only her but others. There was a lot more but that is the gist of it.

I left Starbucks realizing that I didn't read more than 5-6 paragraphs of my book, but I was fine with that. I was thinking "How did all that just happen"! How do you sit down and go from sorry-to what I described above? Well as I was driving I looked down and noticed that for the first time (since the staff day of service) I was wearing our "Grace Staff" t-shirt. It didn't even cross my mind as I put it on today. Better yet the title of the book that I was reading (or trying to)..... The Attentive Life, Discerning God's Presence in ALL Things! I started to smile and then thanked the Lord for my wonderful Starbucks experience this morning.

Wonderful Weather

So this will be the hardest part of recovery. Now that I am feeling better, having to rest-sit around-not do anything.....that sucks!!

It has been 2 days since I took medicine-which has been great. I did take advantage of this wonderful weather by walking 3 miles on the Monon yesterday and today both. I took my dog Amber with me both days, so she of course is sleeping after a huge workout. She has loved this time that I have been spending at home. She sleeps on the end of the couch all day long and even when I sleep at night. So both of us are spending over 20+ hours each day laying on the couch. She probably is wondering when I will leave and go back to work. She might even be looking forward to it!!

I hope that you all will get a chance to enjoy the weather this weekend

Turning the corner

I wake up today to a few visitors. It did make the morning go by fast, but it was a pleasant change to my normal mornings. I do feel like I am starting to win the battle with my throat and the surgery. I am still in pain, but it is because I am trying to get off of the pain medicine. Each day is getting better, I am hoping to be off some of the hard medicine on Wed-we will see.

Sunday

So my roommate came down at 10:22 am and I woke up. I went to bed around midnight or 1 am, so 9+ hours of sleep all at once-Amazing. Until now only twice have I slept more than 3 hours at a time. So this was great sleep finally. But it did come at a price. I was suppose to have a dose of Vicodine at 4 am and 8 am, so it is completely out of my body for a long time. Also the other pain medicine I was suppose to take a dose at 8 am and I am late on that as well. So getting off of the couch was very painful. I took my medicine and just laid back down working on my breathing and counting the minutes down. I figured it would take 20-30 min to work, about 12 go by and I really notice a difference.

So today has been a good day. Still dealing with the sore throat-but gargling with warm salt water and the throat spray I have has helped with the pain.

I am one day away from going an entire week on a water and Gatorade minus a few sips of a shake and yogurt. So I thought I would try some applesauce. 1 cup down and no hiccups. So that tells me that there is improvement. I am not jumping to a full meal anytime soon, but I am excited to have some more applesauce for dinner tonight!!

I have watched so much TV it has been crazy. Tate, Trey and Caden Medcalfe purchase Lego's Star Wars-which has been SO great to take a break from TV and play the game. It has also helped with the boredom of just sitting here. So thanks again!

Also thanks for all the cards, balloons, flowers, videos (huge thanks Sandy!!)-that have just shown up here at the house.

Until the next update....

Thurs-Sat with ups and downs

Thursday was a great day so that evening I tried something other than water and Gatorade, about 1/2 cup of yogurt.

Then the hiccups came. Let me tell you that I never thought they would hurt as bad as they did. Every 6-8 seconds it was like a knife was being jabbed in my gut. After 6 sets of the hiccups, I finally figured out that it was the yogurt that was getting caught in my throat. So back to Water and Gatorade for now.

Friday was a good day

Saturday, not so good. I woke up at 4 am with a very sore throat. After talking with the Doctor, he finally sent me to St V's Immergent Care (thanks Mrs. Whener for your help!!). I found out that I got a virus (probably from someone at the hospital) which has caused the sore throat. Not only that but I have 3 ulcers in my throat. The good news is no strep, bad news is I have to just deal with the ulcers. So we are praying for the virus to stay where it is and not move to my chest which would cause me to cough.

So enough up and down for now.

It has been a while!!!

I didn't want to hit the one year mark since I wrote anything on the blog! Also I am getting a lot of people asking how I am doing, which I do appreciate-but I thought this would be a little more productive.

I found pictures for those of you who learn more visually.

So on Tues morning at 6:00 am I arrived at the hospital to prepare for the surgery. I have a bad case of GERD (Gastro- Esophageal Reflux Disease) which has been damaging my esophagus. I also have a hiatal hernia which is where your stomach pushes through your diaphragm.








The LES valve is where your esophagus and stomach meet and this value keeps everything in your stomach. Well mine wasn't able to close anymore.




So the surgery was to fix all these things. They cut me in 6 spots in my abdominal area to get this done.






















OK enough of the pictures.

Coming out of surgery wasn't fun. I was holding my breath because of the pain, which caused me to take a deep breath (much worse pain), so one of the nurses was showing me how to breath to help the pain. Finally I go to my room and people start visiting. It was really nice to see friends, even though I was out of it and didn't talk to you too much. Even with my eyes closed I was still listening, so thanks!!

The morphine that they were giving to me wasn't really taking care of the pain. It was amazing when 7:30 came and a new nurse took over. Dayna was VERY nice, her first goal was to get the pain under control, and by 8:00 I finally felt better. I was wondering why this couldn't have been done earlier, but if you met the afternoon nurse you would totally understand why. Not a nice person!!

So Wed was a great day, with my pain managed now I was able to get out of bed and even walk around in the hallways. When the afternoon came by I started to ask what I needed to do to leave that day. I really didn't want to stay. The main reason is my bed filled with air every 5 min to try to avoid bed sores, great invention-but bad if you are trying to sleep.

My mom arrived around 1 today and will be with me the next couple of days to help take care of me. The good news came around 4:30 that I could go home. Wed night was good, what I remember of it. More water and Gatorade, which is all I have had since Monday dinner! But I don't have any appetite what so ever.

Who are we to decide?

More thoughts about the book...

The conversation came up about what is good and what is evil?
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Mack was asked "how do you determine whether it is good or evil?" His answer was, "I guess I would say that something is good when I like it-when it makes me feel good or gives me a sense of security. Conversely, I'd call something evil that causes me pain or costs me something I want." I tend to sound justifiably angry when somebody is threatening my 'good' or what I think I deserve. But I'm not really sure I have any logical ground for deciding what is actually good or evil, except how something or someone affects me."
The Holy Spirit responded, "Then it is you who determines good and evil. You become the judge. And to make things more confusing, that which you determine to be good will change over time and circumstance. And then beyond that and even worse, there are billions of you {all of us} each determining what is good and what is evil. So when your good and evil clashes with your neighbor's, fights and arguments ensue and even wars break out." "If there is no reality of good that is absolute, then you have lost any basis for judging. It becomes just a language, and one might as well exchange the word 'good' for the word 'evil'.
Mack said. "I spend most of my time and energy trying to acquire what I have determined to be good, whether it's financial security or health or retirement or whatever. And I spend a huge amount of energy and worry fearing what I've determined to be evil."
The Holy Spirit responded, "This allows you to play God in your independence. That's why a part of you prefers not to see me. And you don't need me at all to create your list of good and evil. But you do need me if you have any desire to stop such an insane lust for independence."
"To fix this, you must give up your right to decide what is good and evil on your own terms, choosing to only live in me. To do that you must know me enough to trust me and learn to rest in my inherent goodness."
"Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated yourself from me: Life."
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So you and I both determine what it means to be good in our life and what it means to be evil. We play God every time we do this, and become more independent (away from God) when we judge things this way. How can we look at stuff of this world, including how people treat us and others, without creating a conclusion of Good/Evil?
The more you are independent the further you are from God and his love.
We live in a world that tells you to take charge of your life, take control of your future, set goals and gather as much "good" as you can.

Here is a question I leave you with.....
How can we live in this world and not become of this world?
If you have a quick answer to this, then you haven't really thought about it!