June 30 - “She’ll be missed”

The ol’ back felt pretty good when I woke up. I was a little stiff all over after my walk the day before. First stab at exercise in a long while. But the throbbing I have grown accustomed to wasn’t there. When Chris went for her walk, I stayed behind and started cleaning house for home group. Well, I did my part, anyway. That would be vacuuming. And the ol’ back remembered that motion right away. I got the chore done, but then I had to sit down for a bit and let the spasms subside. 

In the afternoon we had to divide and conquer. Chris had an appointment with the lymphedema clinic. No big deal. They cut her loose. 

Meanwhile, I drove up into Texas for the funeral of a very sweet lady, Patsy Glass. She was very encouraging to both of us when I first started at Seaside. She was even nice to me back in my high school days when I was a somewhat rebellious young punk who wanted to hold hands with my girlfriend during the service at their church. It was good to see some of the folks who were young whippersnappers with me back in the day there to honor her as well. Patsy will sure be missed. 

Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬ ‭says, You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

Father, thank you for Patsy’s life and the legacy she left behind. Amen. 

June 29 - “Altogether too cold”

I took my chances walking with Chris yesterday. Of course I only went a mile. My back did pretty good. No barking. Not even much of a whine. Only problem was some generalized soreness from the exertion after such a long layoff. I’ll take that. 

Chris spent much of the afternoon working on a scrapbook. She is reliving our trip to the Panama Canal right now. Not sure where she’s headed next, scrapbook-wise. It’ll end up being amazing, though. 

I had the chance to talk to my good friend in Minnesota for a long time in the afternoon. He’s been praying for Chris and me through our medical issues, and we have been praying for him in some career decisions he is making. Gary’s a great guy. Just lives where it is altogether too cold …

Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭12‬ ‭says, So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Father, please be with Gary as he works through his work decisions. Amen. 

June 28 - “Behind the wheel”

“Back to Texas” day again. Chris had a follow up appointment with the cancer surgeon. This is the one that last week the office called and tried to cancel, insisting that the doc only sees patients 6 months after surgery. Chris challenged them. We have an audio recording of the doc specifically saying six weeks, not months. And they made the appointment that day in the clinic. I was interested to see what happened with this one. 

As it turned out, everyone acted like we were supposed to be there. Except maybe the front desk. They didn’t ask for any money. Always an odd welcome. The doc did her exam and declared that all was well at this point and ready for radiation. She emphasized some of the stretching exercises Chris has been doing. They will prepare her for the inevitable further tightening of the skin during radiation. She made us an appointment for six months down the road, at which point they begin the regular mammograms again. 

After the appointment, we went over to Luby’s for lunch. It has been a while. No liver and onions in sight, so I went for the chicken fried steak. Chris had boring baked chicken. The food certainly did not stand out (except for the chocolate ice box pie. My favorite). But the service was the best we have had since we have been going to Luby’s. She even called some of her customers by name when they walked in. Impressive. 

As we were finishing up, we got a text from Christina. Seems Micah took his driving test and scored I try 100% on his driving test. He is officially all licensed up. Congrats, Micah. I’m proud of you. 

Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭14‬ says, Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Father, thank you for Micah. Protect him in his new endeavors behind the wheel. Amen. 

June 27 - “Here’s to a sense of humor”

Chris advised me to take it easy for another day after my back shot. So she got to take her walk by herself. She was probably OK with it, though. That way she can up her speed level by six or seven times. Meanwhile, I made my way through what remained of the jigsaw puzzle after the girls filled in several spots yesterday.  Of course I left a few pieces for Chris to actually complete the puzzle. She’s good at that. 

We made a quick Randall’s run. My phone has been blowing up with reminders that each of us has a prescription ready to be picked up. We also had a pleasant distraction in the parking lot. Jim and Charlotte were just getting into their car as we arrived. They were on an as-yet unsuccessful search for chocolate milk that cost less than six dollars. Sigh. She might have to switch to Ovaltine. We were a little more successful on our quest. Oh, the prescriptions were easy, but we scored a few more buckets of Blue Bell on sale for $5.99. 

Back at the house, we were watching a Hallmark movie when suddenly, a thundering tornado crashed through our front door. Oh, wait. That wasn’t a natural disaster.  It was Noa and Ezra. They had been to Moody Gardens with their mom and a friend. They were just stopping by to say hi. 

Last night we started watching The Chosen again. We have had season one on DVD for some time, and we just added seasons two and three to our collection. It’s been quite a while since we watched it, so we just started over. It’s pretty amazing what those folks have done on a budget covered by crowd funding donations. We’re looking forward to the new episodes. 

2 Corinthians‬ ‭7‬:‭10 says, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Father, thank you for the commitment of the movie folks to try to get the story as close to the biblical account as possible. And thank you for the sense of humor they have attributed to you. Love it. Amen. 

June 26 - “Stop”

We took a quick Sunday morning road trip of sorts. We ran up to Santa Fe to pick up Cailyn and her friend, Alexis (aka, Grizzy), so they could come to church with us. It was a long drive into Texas and a long one back, but it was worth it to get to hang out with those two wacky teens. Especially when we found out that during a Bible study the two had done together the night before … Grizzy gave her life to Jesus.  That’s a BIG “Praise the Lord.” 

After church we stopped at PitStop (hence the “Stop” in the name. That’s a barbecue place for those unfamiliar with Galveston seawall terrain. Chris had a massive turkey salad. I had ribs with sides of Mac and cheese and  crispy fried okra. The girls had chopped beef sandwiches. Just gotta say … we didn’t leave hungry. 

Back in Santa Fe, we chatted with April for a while, then headed over to Kel’s to check on that branch. Christina was out getting groceries. The rest of the bunch was watching Dude Perfect. That’s one funny show. The Waco guys enjoy it as well. It’s always fun to hear so much laughter. 

1 John 5:13 - I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Father, thanks for family and laughter. Great combination. Amen. 

June 25 - “Deliverance”

Up early this fine Saturday morning. I slept from midnight (after the Astros loss) to 5 a.m.  I call that a win after a steroid injection. A big win. But we had to get up early anyway to take Cailyn to her soccer camp in Santa Fe. Chris even beat the alarm and was up around six. 

We got up and moving and made our way northward with no problems. We picked up Cailyn and delivered her safely to the soccer field. We set up shop in our lawn chairs and umbrellas. No, not rain. Sun. It was actually really nice for the first 45 minutes or so, but then the sun found out where we were and enacted its vengeance for us hiding out from it so long. It got seriously hot. Fortunately, the coaches gave several water breaks to the girls, or it would have been a bad scene. 

After lunch and some time to cool down back at the house, we let Cailyn take us to lunch (but we paid, of course).  Mamacita’s Mexican Restaurant. It was one of her all-time favorites. Pretty good stuff. Then we went by Mardel’s Christian Store. We got Cailyn a new Bible. She had found one online she really liked, and we found the same one on sale. We also picked up season two and three of The Chosen - videos about the life of Jesus. 

After we dropped her off at her house, we headed back home. We had to return a FaceTime call from Luke. He was giving us a report on his week at camp. Sounds like it was a good time physically and spiritually. 

Not long after we talked to him, Cailyn texted and asked if I could FaceTime. Sure thing. Come to find out, her best friend had a question about what “deliverance” really means. I did some clarifying to see where she was coming from, then shared the most basic kind of deliverance - salvation. She had a question about demonic deliverance as well, so I dealt with that simply. The two of them asked if we could pick them up for church in the morning, so we will see them again to follow up. Be praying. 

Psalms‬ ‭42‬:‭11 says, Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Father, please draw Cailyn’s friend close to you. Amen. 

June 24 - “No, literally”

Well, my day was a real stab in the back. No, literally. I was stabbed in the back three or four times, actually. No.  I’m not talking about being betrayed. That’s for novelists. I got stabbed. 

Perhaps I should explain. Yesterday morning was my day to receive a steroid injection in my back as an attempt to stifle the pain from ruptured and bulging discs and spinal stenosis. We had to drive into Texas for the big event. It took from around 9:30 to 10:45.  A very brief instant in the grand scheme of things. But included in that instant was the excruciating injection of medicine. 

Why so painful? Well, in the doc’s words, the procedure was “challenging.”  Much more so than he expected. Because of some scar tissue left from a previous surgery, he had to approach the target site from below instead of directly on or even from the side. That meant two or three times the usual numbing medication before the actual tub of steroids dumped through a huge needle. The numbing ones were no big deal. But that big one … It … hurt. 

Afterwards, the nurse hit me with the glorious news that it may take a week or so for the stuff to take effect. Wonderful. Meanwhile, there will probably be numerous side effects … like little sleep and hot flashes and, well, pain. Thank you very much.

I did pretty well last night. I stayed up and watched the entire Astros game live from Los Angeles. Never even got sleepy. I was worried when I went to bed around midnight that it was going to be a long night. But I actually slept until five. Not bad considering I set the alarm for 6:30 so we could get Cailyn to her soccer camp. Guess now I just have to wait it out to see how everything pans out from here. 

Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭6‬ ‭says, Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

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Father, thank you for the hope of relief. Please help it, well, help. Amen. 

June 23 - “Choices … choices”

Chris and April left around 7:15 or so for Chris’ radiation-oncology appointment. It is so good to have a daughter-in-law like April to provide an extra set of medical-oriented ears. I really wanted to go as well, but I also needed to do the funeral. So thanks, April, for being there and for listening!

 I left closer to nine. My drive was up to LaMarque, and April said the traffic was particularly crazy for her inbound trip. No telling what the outbound would look like. It was t bad at all. 

The funeral went well. I met a lot of family members, and they were all really encouraging about the service. Afterwards the Santa Fe fire department hosted a meal for everyone. Great brisket and sausage. 

Now a brief word from our radiology-oncology appointment team. That would be Chris and April, of course. After all the tattooing and measuring and cat scanning, we finally got a bit of a handle on what happens next. 

They want to start the radiation process on July 3rd.  Between now and then we have to make a final decision on partial or full radiation exposure. Partial is less exposure to the heart, so that’s where we are leaning. We also have to decide whether to take a chance and just do one full week of treatment versus the traditional three full weeks of treatment. The total dose is similar, but the traditional approach may have less side effects. Leaning towards the traditional. In fact, they already made appointments for the fifteen treatments starting July 5th. Lots to think about in about a week …

James‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬ ‭says, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

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Father, give us the wisdom to make the right choices. Amen. 

June 22 - “Speaking of frustrating …”

My big task for the day was to get the lawn sprinkler to shoot out in just one direction instead of swathing the whole area. The “Center” and “Whole yard” positions worked fine. The problem Chris approached me with was to get it into to “Right” mode. I played with it a bit and managed to get it to “Left,” but “Right” was just refusing. Very frustrating. 

Then it hit me. Yep, the same thing that you have no doubt already figured out. Why not forget about “Right” and just put it on “Left” and turn the whole thing around. Way too easy. That solution worked like a charm. Imagine that!

Speaking of frustrating, our insurance company took it upon themselves to declare that Chris’ doctor is no longer her PCP. Again. This is the third time they have done the exact same thing in the last year and a half. She spent over an hour trying to get it straightened out, and never did. Somebody from some mystery department somewhere in the UTMB system is supposed to call her within 24 hours. I’ll believe it when I see it. 

Last night I went into Texas to the visitation for the funeral I’m doing this morning. I needed to meet the family and let them see who I was. 

Meanwhile, this morning April is going with Chris to her appointment with the radiology-oncologist. They are supposed to get her all measured and marked up for the radiation treatments. 

Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ says, And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ

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Father, please be with Chris at her appointment today. And be with this family as they deal with their loss. Amen. 

June 21 - “Slip-n-slide Kickball”

We made a big Walmart run yesterday. For bananas. And by the time we checked out we had only spent $122. Well, it was a little less than that. We bought some red delicious apples, but they charged us at tangerine prices. Then we had to stand in line forever to get the refund. But it got done. Bananas are in hand.

Chris had an appointment with the lympho-something or other clinic in the afternoon. Their job apparently kicks in when lymph nodes have been removed. Gotta cover all our bases here. Their recommendation was basically to wear a compression sleeve and do some particular exercises. 

Last night we went to Santa Fe for Cailyn’s annual summer party. Not sure how we made the guest list amidst all the junior high kids, but we felt pretty special. Oops. Wait. They are almost high school kids. My bad. But we felt so special that we took along some of the coveted Dr Pepper float ice cream. 

The youngsters played in the pool, but they had a really great time playing kickball with slip-n-slide base paths and kiddie swimming pool bases. That was hilarious to watch. We had sub sandwiches and grapes to eat. Thanks for letting us oldsters hang out. 

Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬ says, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Father, thank you for the good kids we met last night. Bless them with your grace. Amen. 

June 20 - “Latest holiday weekend”

So how did we spend our latest holiday weekend in Galveston? Well, I’ll say up front that we didn’t go anywhere to speak of. Holiday weekends mean the population of the island rises by the tens of thousands. 

I did have a phone call first thing in the morning. Nathan was checking in with Happy Father’s Day wishes, since he couldn’t make the call on Sunday. It’s always a lot of fun chatting with him. 

So first we did a little yard work before it got too hot. We planted two replacement azaleas in the front flowerbed. Easy part. Then we trimmed back some of the vines on the back fence. Harder. Also did some flat out flower bed weeding. 

After some lunch, Chris kept the workday going. She washed clothes and a certain little dog. Both smell quite a bit nicer now. The clothes and dog, I mean. Chris always smells great. 

2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬ ‭says, All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation

Father, thank you for our quiet day at home. We need those every so often. Amen. 

June 19 - “Best (Goofy) Dad Ever”

I was greeted with a package at our front door when we arrived home from church. Before I even opened it, I had an unmistakable clue as to who it was from. The return address read: “From Not Kel or Nathan.”  Could it have been Josh?  

Inside was a very cool shirt. Big picture of Disney’s Goofy with the words, “Best Dad Ever.”  I took a picture of the shirt and the return address and posted it on Facebook. Of course Nathan replied, “That definitely has my name on it. You’re welcome. Happy Father’s Day!!!!”  Now I’m confused …

Josh called later that afternoon to stake his claim further. He didn’t seem surprised at all by the attempt at usurpation on my Facebook post. Seems he thinks his brothers have done similar surprise attacks in the past. Hmm. 

Malachi‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬ says, He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

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Father, thank you for my three boys and the lovely ladies who accepted them as wives, not to mention the fabulous grandkids they presented me with. Amen. 

June 18 - “However … Fortunately”

I had a wedding meeting yesterday. Just me and the bride and groom and their dogs. They are coming down from the Dallas area for a destination wedding at the San Luis Hotel. Always a treat. 

Most of the time the weddings are outdoors in their gazebo. Very pretty, and everyone has a great view of the beach. However … it gets hot. Really hot. Especially for formal weddings. Fortunately … in this case, they arranged for the wedding to be indoors in the Grand Ballroom. Good choice. 

I was with them for a good 45 minutes. We discussed cruises and fishing and rescue dogs (they have two) and galveston traffic and oh, yeah … their wedding.  This one should be a fun one. The groom’s family is Muslim. The bride’s family is Catholic. Quite the combination. The couple most assuredly wants a Christian wedding, though. She even picked out three or four New Testament scriptures to be read at the service. 

Luke 6:36 says, Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful

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‬ ‭Father, be with this young couple as they go through wedding and marriage preparations. Amen. 

June 17 - “The music continued …”

I was putting away the lawn mower and preparing to get up on the roof an do some tree branch trimming. It is hurricane season, you know. As I bent over to tighten a bolt on the mower, suddenly I heard a noise. Sounded like one of those “hope you go to heaven” songs they play at funerals. I stood up. The music continued. I looked all around me. I supposed, briefly, that it could be coming from our new neighbors next door. But they are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. No way. It could have been their dogs. They are getting used to the Galveston heat. Not an easy task for a German Shepherd or a husky, to be sure. Maybe they cracked under the pressure of the heat and humidity, stole their master’s phone and reprogrammed it to play … yeah, no. And yet the music continued. 

I finally determined that maybe it was me getting somewhat closer to heaven. I had been out in the sun for several hours, so I was really hot. And as they say, “when you reach a certain age …”  and the music continued. 

As I began to run through my mental list of thanksgivings and regrets, amidst the now-very pointed funeral chimes, I quieted the thoughts racing through my head and really listened. Yep. There it was again. The music was clearly being punctuated by a voice. And what was that it was saying? Speak, Lord, I’m listening. 

“Wait a minute,” I thought as I came crashing down from my reverie. That’s … that’s … That is a commercial for a funeral home. OK. Color me fooled. Apparently, as I bent down to work on the mower, somehow my phone (in my pocket) turned on Facebook, and the all-seeing Facebookians felt it would be in my best interest to either stop and cool down, or get ready for the worst. Scary creatures, those FaceBookians. 

Oh. I never got to the roof trimming. Figured it must at least be time to get out of the sun. 

1 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬ ‭says, Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

Father, I am ready. There are a few more things I’d like to do and see first, though. Amen. 

June 16 - “Stabbing … part 2? 3? 4??”

Our regular Thursday cleaning day went pretty much without a hitch. Of course my part in the CD whole scheme of things just involved straightening up the office and vacuuming the carpets. Any complaints there, come and see me. Chris did the rest, so I already know there won’t be any complaints. She’s a master cleaner, that’s for sure. 

We had to get as much done as possible before 10:15. That was departure time. I had an appointment with my back pain doc. He’s the one that did the stabbing back there once before. Then we had to put stabbing part two (of three) on hold because of Chris’ surgery. Now my neurosurgeon has added a stabbing part four to the mix. And part four will most likely jump to part three in priority. Are you keeping up with all this stabbing?  I barely am. This new one is to steroid-ize the Jurassic- er, I mean thoracic level (I think) pain I’ve been having. It’s the higher up in the middle of my back area. 

As it turned out, the doc kind of left it up to me. Did I want to get the thoracic shot now and see how that does and do the lumbar later? Or do I want to finish out the lumbar first? Easy decision for me. Hit that thoracic button. That procedure is set for the end of next week. Gives them time to shake down Medicare to see how much we have to pay before they’ll do it. 

On the way home we stopped at Olive Garden to celebrate. Celebrate what? We made it through another doctor’s appointment. Hey, when you reach a certain age, you celebrate whatever and whenever you can. 

Nahum‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭says, The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him

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Father, thank you for doctors and their commitment to find issues and help others deal with them. Amen.