If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

I was listening to a preacher expound on this verse found in Psalm 11:3. I only got part of it but was impressed with several things. First off, when man sinned in the garden, God could have pulled the plug so to speak but didn't. Instead He went looking for them...oh what love the Father has bestowed upon us!!! Secondly the conditions of this country are going downhill...you can get most anybody to agree to that but start to talk about the answer to mans problems... most aren't open to it. They cry themselves to sleep over their problems but still refuse to accept that the conditions are a result of man's sin and that they need Jesus. As Christians we have several options in this deteriating society....we can fight, flee or focus on Jesus. The first 2 are not good responses although I would venture to guess we all have done them or at least thought about doing them. Whether it be our own personal world that feels like it is falling apart or the world in general....we need to focus on Jesus. He is still on the throne and He will remember His own. He never will leave us alone!!!! Life isn't about us...it is about what God wants to accomplish and if it be through bad things or good we can trust Him to see us through. I am God's and no man can pluck me out of His hand. WE can choose to leave but no one can take us away from God. We serve a risen Saviour...lets proclaim Him to a dying world.

shopping and friends

Yesterday a friend and I went thrift store shopping. It was neat to see how God helped me to find things that my family needed and it was really nice to do it with a dear friend!!! She has been such a tremendous blessing to me. The other week she helped me cut out a dress and even sewed part of it to give me a boost. I was ready to wear it for church this past Sunday but had to stay home because I had pink eye for the second time!!!! Pink eye is not fun...I like to wear contacts but when you have that you can't. Anyways it was nice to get out with a friend yesterday. Took my 2 preschoolers along and in the process my youngest lost one of his favorite stuffed animals. Wasn't sure just what would come out of it but so far he has took it quite well. Last night at bedtime he was so tired he didn't think about it most likely plus I had already told him it was bye-bye at a store. He doesn't like ladybugs and right now they are crawling out of the cracks and he is absolutely afraid of them. So he hasn't really liked sleeping in his bed--it doesn't feel safe after seeing ladybugs in the room I guess. So last night he fell asleep on the floor and I carried him to bed. To all of you dear friends out there I love each one of you and enjoy reading your posts.

Winter again

I wonder...did March and January get mixed up??? It is winter and this week was the first day of spring...oh well such is weather in Crawford Co. sometimes. I do know that God will send us warmer weather eventually...I can't wait for green grass, warm sunshine, fresh vegetables and garden time. Pretty flowers and picnics...oh I think I have spring fever.
But for now...my house awaits some cleaning and I need to be faithful in that as well. Anyone have tips on how to keep things organized and neat ? Seems I struggle big time with that...I can get some of it organized but then it goes downhill again. I guess that comes with having a family. Cleaning is not my most favorite thing in the world to do either and so I can let it slide too much.
Have a great day with Jesus.

3 years ago continued

We were in that hospital for almost 5 weeks. She had 2 major surgeries and 2 ICU visits in that time frame as well as several other surgeries that weren't quite as major. The first major one was to do a skin flap which is deeper than a skin graft. This they took from her right arm which then in turn had to be covered with skin from her thigh. This was a touchy operation because they had to hook up blood supply to the front part which was included in the skin flap. She was in a isolated ICU room and under pretty constant supervision because of the magnitude of everything. The next major surgery was to put in nerves from her legs so that she would have feeling in the palm and fingers. They also installed little rods to hold open places for the tendons to go eventually. That surgery to replace tendons was done several months later and again were taken from her legs. Then about a year later she had surgery to remove scar tissue in order to gain more function of her fingers but the therapists we had at the time didn't really know how to work with her and so it felt like a loss until we got hooked up with another therapy place about 6 months later and then we began to make progress. Now we have been going there for over a year and have basically reached the potential she has currently. We were just to Pittsburgh again this week and the dr. is talking about possible surgery to restore more motion to her hand. We still need to continue with therapy for maintenance but at least we don't have to go every week anymore!!! At one time we went 5 days a week for around 3 months and some of the other times we were going 2 or 3 days a week. So once a week didn't feel so bad at first but now I am glad to see the time we don't even have to go that much. This month has brought back a lot of memories and sadness. But at the same time I can say that God has walked with us and that He has been faithful. There were times I couldn't find Him but that was my problem, not Gods. He has used this for a refining process in my life and tho I don't wish it on anyone I think I am at the point where I can thank Him for what He has done in the process of this whole accident. It is hard to see your daughter go through all this but I trust it will have a softening effect on her life as well. Pray for her that she can see God in the middle of all of this. The devil sure likes to wreak havoc where he can but God is GREATER than the devil and He will be VICTORIOUS.

3 years ago...

March 19,2003 started out as any day would...but by the end of the day we were sitting in Children's Hospital wondering just what all lay ahead of us. Our daughter, Rosalie, 7 at the time, had gone out to the shop with her brother to help and be with daddy. I finished clearing away dinner and opened the door to give some scraps to the cats and heard the screaming. Instantly I knew something was drastically wrong and I ran for the shop. I got there just as John was releasing her hand from the wide belt sander. I saw the look of horror on his face and decided that someone has to stay in control here so I didn't look at it...just grabbed her and basically carried her to the house, grabbed some towels and wrapped it up. Told my husband to call the ambulance and proceeded to lay Rosalie down to help with the shock. She was crying and kept repeating how bad it hurt. It seemed to be ages till the ambulance came and took over. They were able to give her morphine as soon as they got her loaded and we set out for Meadville. John took our other preschoolers and the baby and set out to find them a home. I was nursing our 7 month old and told him to bring him along because I knew we were in for an ordeal. She was transferred to Pittsburgh and John again was left to find his way alone with the baby. Upon arrival there, she was seen by a plastic surgeon that didn't offer us a lot of hope for her hand. But she was stabilized and they asked if it would be okay to wait for another plastic surgeon to see her. That was an answer to our prayers because he offered hope and reconstruction of the hand. The whole palm of the hand was gone, the only thing keeping her fingers alive was the back of her hand. Her thumb was broken badly at the second joint. Some of the bone and all the tendons and most of the muscles and nerves were gone. Thus began an almost 5 week stay in the hospital in Pittsburgh. By the way I had to send my baby home the next day with John and have someone switch him to a bottle. I was able to pump my milk but decided not to keep up the supply because I didn't know what all was going to happen and didn't have the energy to do what was needed to keep up the supply. I just pumped for comfort until my milk supply dwindled away. Rosalie was in so much pain...we cried with her much of the time. They eventually got pain control involved and differant meds were tried...it was quite an ordeal to keep her comfortable most days in the beginning. To be continued...