Sunshine and Shadows

I just wanted to thank everyone for your calls, sweet comments, and prayers that I know are being offered up for my family right now. I can't tell you how much we appreciate them.

We celebrated Mom's birthday yesterday, and I know she was blessed by all the friends and family that came. Harry threw her a Hawaii 5.0. party, and with Caleb acting as the floor show entertainment, we were never short on laughter and smiles (you should have seen him with the hula-hoops!). :) At some point, we all got up to share favorite memories of my mom. What a blessing to see people she has known her whole life share what they love best about her. :) I am really thankful that in the midst of all the health stuff with Grandpa, Mom was able to relax, smile, and realize how loved she is. Happy Birthday, Me-me!

On Friday, the doctors moved Grandpa to hospice. They've given him three months. Since my step-grandma, Lou, can't live on her own right now owing to her own health problems, she is in the process of moving to assisted living nearby. Mom, Harry, and I will be driving out to the desert tomorrow to visit Grandpa and see what we can do to help. They own a condo in Palm Desert, which they were planning to sell in the near future, but now must be sold even sooner.

In the middle of all this, Caleb has decided he is either sick or teething or both, and has not been quite himself this week. "Clingy" is not a word that usually describes our son and yet that is exactly what he has been. I don't know if this was a design of the Devil to complicate our lives right now, or if it is some design of Jesus' that will eventually work for our good. Either way, Caleb is requiring more attention than usual, at a time when energy is already in short supply.

So, I guess I'm begging for your continued prayers, my friends. I was reading Psalm 30 to Caleb the other morning (a sort of breakfast habit we've developed), and I'd forgotten that this psalm held some of my favoritetest verses in the Bible:

". . . weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" (v. 5)

"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent" (vs. 11-12).

God is good, my friends, and He is faithful. He is a master musician, orchestrating Life in ways we can't even imagine. And that truth gives me hope.

Happy Sunday, ya'll!