Carla had surgery on her spine to help with the pain from a condition called Arachnoiditis. She is on her 4th day since the surgery. She
is still in a lot of pain. She has 27 staples in her back that won't be
removed until December 6.
My dad (84) who broke his hip a while back is not doing well at all. He is not eating and has lost a lot of weight. We have fixed
his home living room like a hospital room. We have contacted home
health. If he stayed where he is he was going to die. We are hoping
coming home and eating home cooking will help; it is his only chance.
This decision was made after talking to his rehab center's staff, his
doctor's office and praying. He is very depressed where he is and wants
to come home; today he is...
Please remember Carla and my dad in your prayers. God bless!
We live in Kentucky and just returned from vacation in Florida. I
really love Florida and have good reason to do so. I grew up in the
sunshine state; I was about 1 month old when my family moved there from
Kentucky. So, I had more sand in my shoes than clay. I really enjoyed
my early childhood years in Florida except for a major hurricane
(honestly for me it was an adventure), the passing of my mother when I was 5 and the assassination of President Kennedy.
When
I was 9 years old my dad, brother, sister and I moved back to Kentucky
(my dad remarried). Most of the time I was in Kentucky I talked and
dreamed of moving back to Florida. In 1977 a few months after I got
married, we were living in Florida. So nice, so many palm trees... so
HOT! We adjusted to the climate change, I eventually got a wonderful job
on a great fire department in Sarasota, we had 2 beautiful children and
met a lot of fantastic friends.
After
13 years on the West Coast of Florida we moved back to Kentucky. Now 24
years later I often think about what it would be like living back in
Florida. Most of my friends live in Florida and the greatest fire
department in the world is there but ... they are not looking for a few
good (old) men.
So
how would I like moving back to Florida? This year something has
changed... when we flew out over Florida and I looked at the land below I
saw a sparse dry flat terrain. Then as we were over Kentucky,
everything was lush, green, hilly or mountainous and actually beautiful.
Florida with the exception of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean
has a man-made manicured beauty while Kentucky has a natural beauty.
Now even without this new revelation I would never leave my children and grandchildren and move to Florida.
I realize just how hard to please I am sometimes. I know that even
though I'm happy with Kentucky right now, come this winter when we have
ice and snow I would love Florida more again.
The
Lord wants us to concentrate on important things, not where we live or
what we own. These things are nice but our relationship with Him and our
families is and should be number 1. When we put God and our families
first everything else will fall into place and we will be happy no
matter where we are.
How
are you today? We all struggle like the disciples did. One difference
is they walked and talked with Jesus. They witnessed His miracles. So I
guess it's OK to have some unbelief, right? Nope, we need to work on this. How? Our faith will
strengthen as we trust the Lord. Sounds easy doesn't it? Not convinced,
think of your relationship with someone you love. As that relationship
grows and you begin to truly trust that person your "faith" in them
grows. If either one of you hurts the other, the trust/ faith in them
fades. One big difference with our Lord is He will never hurt you. So if
the trust/ faith seems to vanish it can only be our fault. You are not
alone, I struggle often. Let's pray for each other.
In life's journey you are never alone. God is near; He will come as
close as you let Him. There was a time when God actually talked directly
to man. There was a time when God actually walked among men. Now we
live in a time where God's Spirit desires to live in man, to help him,
to love him and to give him peace. Still we have a free will to accept
or reject God. The troubles of this world are not God's fault but the
results of our free will.
