Not looking back, but keep going.

When I have not written for awhile, not counting my weekly little devotionals , my heart urges me to write again. I will not look back at the date that I wrote on my blog last. I just want to keep going. Life has its ups and downs but with Christ aboard our vessel we can over come and be blessed from day to day. One of my children suggested to write each day in my journal one item of thanksgiving. It is uplifting to do so, because each day has its blessings. We just do not see them or count them.
Today the sun is shining and the snow is melting. It really feels that spring is not far away. When I look at the pictures on my walls and shelves I realize how rich I am with my family. My husband has a neurological disease which is shredding his body apart. His mobility is very poor and it is beginning to rob him from enjoying life. Some of his organs are not working properly anymore which is devastating for him. Still we can see how the Lord protects him when we have to go out somewhere and there are no falls or mishaps. As long we are open to see His protection and guidance. The prognosis is poor, but doctors have been wrong before and we rely on a Holy God who makes the rules about living and dying.
It has taught me to look around and see the needs in our town. There are many lonely people, who are housebound because of age and infirmities. I see it now in my own home. People are afraid to take my husband out because of his poor mobility, but the business of life breaks down communication and visitation. Many elderly people have no family here and some spent days on end in bed or in a chair. How can we help them? I try, but now I feel my place is at home with my husband who is also lonely for visitors.
We need to pray that the Lord will stir hearts and bring about commitment to seek contact with the elderly in our communities. It is not until we experience it ourselves that we see the need around us.
My heart is hurting.

Investigate before you decide.

It is always nice when something exciting happens in the family. I found out that a Dutch writer wrote a book about the family background of my first husband. He passed away more than 30 years ago but I stay in close touch with the family. Of course I want to have a copy of this book. The only setback is that it is written in Dutch and my children do not read any Dutch. I asked the author permission to translate some parts of the book that would be of interest to my children. He gave me that permission freely.
It is a very expensive book and I want to pay my brother-in-law the cost of the book. No problem. I go to the bank and get a banknote for the amount of the book in Euros. About a week later my brother-in-law phones and tells me that it will cost him 25 Euros to cash the banknote of 52 Euros. He did not feel right to do this and was suggesting a different way of doing this. His son his coming to Canada this Christmas and visit my youngest son in B.C. He will bring the book and I will work things out with my son. Sounds like a good plan so I tell him to tear up the banknote and I will go to my bank to cancel the note.
When I go to the bank with my request they tell me that it will cost me $ 20.00 to cancel this note. Unreal. I debate (maybe argue) a little and they say that they will wave the fine. They propose this fine, because head-office has to investigate that the note indeed was not cashed. If the note would have been returned I could just have cancelled it at the bank.  Ok, I phone my brother-in-law in Holland again. He just finished tearing up the note (in little pieces) and put it in the garbage. He just wanted to make sure that nobody could dig up the pieces, putting them together and cash it. Just for me he was willing to dig the pieces of banknote out of the garbage, put them in an envelope and send them to me. I now have prove in case they do not want to wave the fine on this end. Nobody ever told us anything about fines, either in Holland or in Canada.
We all had a good laugh and learned a very valuable lesson. Investigate before you beside.
A new job is waiting me with the translation of parts of the book for my children.
When I phoned my brother-in-law the other day for his birthday he told me that the "snippertjes" (little pieces) are on its way. The Lord has given us common sense and it will all work out for the best.

Trust

When do we trust a prognosis from a doctor? My husband has a neurological disease which impairs his mobility and takes away his strength bit by bit. The last time we went to see the neurologist he told us that he would give my husband six to nine months to live. We better prepare our future, according to him. We were stunned with this verdict. It was like a death sentence. This happened 2 1/2 months ago. Should we believe this doctor? We have heard over and over from other people that you can not trust a prognosis, because the doctors have been wrong so many times. We know now that if we make it till the new year we have broken the six months. If we make it till his 85th birthday the end of next March, we have broken the nine months prognosis.
However we refused to live that way. We are blessed every morning when we wake up and still have breakfast together. We are happy that we can still be together in our home. We know that God is in control and we will accept His prognosis for our life. Our future is secured, we know that Heaven  is waiting and we can still enjoy peace and rest together. We are still so blessed knowing Who is in charge and Who we can trust.
The doctor could be right or wrong. We do not care, but just live one day at a time and enjoy each other.

Fall is just around the corner

It is about time that I put down a new post.
Many things do happen in more than two years. That was the last time I posted a blog.
It is the first of September, the wind is blowing, clouds are filling the sky and it feels like fall is just around the corner. Most farmers in our area are behind schedule because of a very wet spring which meant a late seeding and then more and more rain. They are anxious to go out on the field and start their harvest.
 I see many pictures of people who are putting the produce of their garden up and have some canning done. I am thrilled to see the younger generation starting up this great time consuming task.
I remember it was my mother-in-law's hobby to have the shelves in her pantry full with jars of vegetables. She looked at them with pride and all she really did was giving them away to family and friends. It just gave her such a feeling of satisfaction and her face would shine with glory over another task accomplished.
We are not all like that. I love my indoor garden and have a sun-room full with plants and in the winter time the geraniums from my deck are still added to it.
Well I made some jars with applesauce from my neighbor's apples and froze them and some jam from raspberries someone gave me. My claim is that we live in town, half our backyard is parking, we have a three-car garage and the rest is for the dog. She needs some room to run too.
What I do enjoy is making slippers. It is an easy pattern and I can even watch t.v. and make them. On my trip to B.C., when I went to see my family,  I took 18 pairs with me and was still two pairs short, because even some of the grandsons liked them also. I crochet extra big ones with double yarn for the auxiliary of the hospital. People who have had surgery on their leg or foot like the big sizes. I always have a pair on the go.
It is productive, it kills time and this way I can spend much time with my husband who is pretty well housebound  with a fatal disease. He farmed for more that 60 years but is not able to do this anymore. I am thankful that we still have each other and can be together this way.
One desire of my heart the Lord provided for me. After the children were grown I had hoped to be able to sleep in, but an active farmer gets up early in the morning and goes to bed late. Now that my husband is home all the time we get up late, enjoy our breakfast together, have our daily devotions and the morning is more than half gone. I love it because I am not a morning person.
God is good, if we know Him and are able to accept what He has in store for us. He will give us the desires of our heart in His time.

Answered prayer

Does God answer prayer? Yes, he answers lifesaving prayers, but also small, to many insignificant prayers. Both answers came to me last week. I had to undergo some minor surgery and the surgeon promised to leave me a note to say what had been done and what the result was. The first line that stood out to me when I read the note after I awoke was "benign." She did not even want to see me again unless I had further problems. I was ready to jump off the bed. To me this was the best answer I could get from a doctor and to me it meant a new lease on life and to be able to continue what I so much enjoy, like my reading, writing, crafts and music. 

By now it was 5 pm and I had not eaten or drank anything for 20 hours. Oh, did I ever have a craving for a milkshake to quench my thirst and stop the growling in my stomach. At 5 pm it is extremely busy on Main street in Winnipeg and I did not say anything to my husband when I saw a big M on the left side of the street. He would probably have made a U-turn to please me. I prayed that if the Lord would provide a big M at the right side of Main street I would ask my husband to stop so I could get a milkshake. Would you believe it that when we were almost at the Perimeter, where we had to turn off, there I saw a big M? Yes, it was easy to get there and the milkshake never tasted so good and quieted my stomach until we came to our daughter's home, where supper waited.. 

I thanked the Lord for answering my prayers twice that day. Yes, He answers prayers, great and small.

Answered prayer

Does God answer prayer? Yes, he answers lifesaving prayers, but also small, to many insignificant prayers. Both answers came to me last week. I had to undergo some minor surgery and the surgeon promised to leave me a note to say what had been done and what the result was. The first line that stood out to me when I read the note after I awoke was "benign." She did not even want to see me again unless I had further problems. I was ready to jump off the bed. To me this was the best answer I could get from a doctor and to me it meant a new lease on life and to be able to continue what I so much enjoy, like my reading, writing, crafts and music. 

By now it was 5 pm and I had not eaten or drank anything for 20 hours. Oh, did I ever have a craving for a milkshake to quench my thirst and stop the growling in my stomach. At 5 pm it is extremely busy on Main street in Winnipeg and I did not say anything to my husband when I saw a big M on the left side of the street. He would probably have made a U-turn to please me. I prayed that if the Lord would provide a big M at the right side of Main street I would ask my husband to stop so I could get a milkshake. Would you believe it that when we were almost at the Perimeter, where we had to turn off, there I saw a big M? Yes, it was easy to get there and the milkshake never tasted so good and quieted my stomach until we came to our daughter's home, where supper waited.. 

I thanked the Lord for answering my prayers twice that day. Yes, He answers prayers, great and small.

Time flies