God in His great mercy and grace supplies it all, and after the fact, we marvel that we made it through one more life event and lived to tell about it.
Jessica, Chris ~ Jess' Wonder Man, and Samuel, their blond haired almost 3 year old Gift from God have lived here with us for almost a year. There might be a rental house for them at some point in the near future, but so far, it hasn't opened up and things really are quite comfortable just as they are. God is good, meets our needs, and sees us through the tough times. He gets the glory for the fact that 2 families, 3 generations, can survive unscathed in the same house day after day.
Jess continues to wait on Cleveland Clinic for the determination to put her on the transplant list. Now waiting to have liver biopsy done sometime in the next month, to decide if she also needs a liver transplant at the same time a double lung transplant is done. While she usually LOOKS as pretty as always on the outside, her daily existence is full of more complexities just to accomplish waking up, making up, dressing and eating than most of us could imagine. Her lung issues, infections, liver disease and scoliosis make the things most of us take for granted and never think about a task that requires more energy than her body has available. Ingesting enough calories just to maintain her respiratory effort and keep her weight up can be more of a challenge than she is up to some days. She'll never let on, or give indication that her back hurts, or her organs ache or that her ailing liver is causing copious amounts of blood to be lost when she coughs. Her sleep is interrupted by necessary position changes, coughing, blood sugar lows that require attention, bone chilling muscle aching fevers and frequently up to use the bathroom. Not to mention the 3 year old that needs to know that Mom and Dad are close by and visits for that assurance in the middle of the night. Just a few of the details that don't show on the outside. She smiles and looks pretty. And says, "oh, I'm OK". Because it's every day. And she figures no one really wants to know, it would take too long to tell, it's rarely any different and it just takes too much energy to give the long answer to that question. All prayers on her behalf are most appreciated. God's wisdom, comfort, rest and direction are always needed.
Chris is a solid rock. He is supportive, gentle and kind and so good for and with Jess. We could not have asked for a better husband for our daughter. A great dad to his kids too. We love him as our son, and are so very thankful for him.
Samuel continues to entertain us, and keep us all on our toes. He's becoming quite a little farm boy, and is Grandpa's shadow.
Our other kids all seem to be doing well in their various places on the planet. Julie and Michael continue their work with the youth at church, and both are working full time. Julie has recently celebrated her 41st birthday. Wow. where has that time gone! She notices a few more lung symptoms but takes them in stride and does well.
Jon and Kristie and the kids are thriving in Alaska. While we all miss them terribly, we know they are where they need to be and thank God for His timing and direction. Miss seeing the kids grow up, miss so much about having them close enough to visit in person! However, we are most grateful for the technology that does allow frequent communication. That helps a little.
Jen and Dereck and the girls bought a house in Monroe around Christmas time last year. They are settled in and are now experiencing the "joys" of homeownership, the good, the bad and the ugly. The unusual amounts of rain this summer brought unexpected water issues in their basement that they are researching now for answers. The girls are growing up way too fast...all into lovely young women.
Our garden was down sized this year. We still have plenty of canned goods on our shelves and it seems our days are so full of other thing, tending a larger would have cramped our style, so to speak. And honestly, I think my gardener is weary. It takes a lot of energy to live up to the "Grandpa" status he's established with Samuel. We take more frequent breaks now for R & R. And we are thankful we have that option, and even more thankful for the up close and personal time we can have with this part of our family. We wouldn't change any of it...except maybe Jess' health, if we could. But, God's in control of that, so we'll be grateful for His hand and accept what comes.
Most recently, when Jess is up to it we spend our hours in the barn sewing. It started in the winter with an invitation from Tom to take my sewing machine to the vacated wood shop. I did. Jess joined me, and we spent many happy hours creating quilts. This summer we have other projects we are working on and it's been a source of great time together and productivity as well.
There...in a nutshell, that's where we are and what we've been doing. In another update I'll post pictures.
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