Kelley's Korner

February 17 – “Steps forward”

2012-02-17T05:36:00.001-08:00

There has been a change concerning the benefit for Nathan and April on the 25^th. The event is still on, and it will still be amazing, but the organizers and cooks have decided that it would be counter-productive to try to offer two so vastly different-to-prepare food choices. So, to keep everything simpler, now the dinner will simply be barbequed chicken. Hey, simpler is always good.

April is doing well. She's getting more and more strength back every day, and she even went back to class yesterday. That was a big obstacle to overcome, and she still has to work out a special schedule to make up what she missed and pick up her clinical hours when she is released to do them. But it was definitely a move forward. She even felt well enough to celebrate with a shopping trip to the mall. I understand that was probably an important piece of her recovery puzzle in some female, I-will-never-understand-in-a-million-years kind of way. But I'm glad she could do it.

Last night I was called up to Clear Lake to make a hospital visit. Our youth pastor's Dad has had two heart attacks in the last week, so he is being followed carefully. He asked Mike of I could come up and pray with him. Don is a great guy. He obviously loves his family, and he had nothing but pride in his voice as he talked about them. And underlying everything he communicated a sense of peace about his life and death that said he was ready for whatever God had prepared for him next. Of course he would just as soon stick around a while longer, and his family obviously concurred. I know there is still fear and uncertainty, and well there should be. But Don is ready for whatever comes next. He said he was going take things one day at a time. Great attitude. Reminded me of Matthew 6:33-34:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Father, thank you for "forward." Great concept. Amen.

February 16 – “Diagnosis”

2012-02-16T05:34:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday, Son Josh.

No, that's not the diagnosis. But we did get one for what has been causing April's problems. She had an appointment with the Infectious Disease doctor yesterday, and he unloaded one of those multi-letter syndrome names on them. Nathan wrote it down, of course, and the doctor was very patient with him so he could get it all spelled right. Then he proceeded to say, "Now don't look that up on the internet." Wait. Why would he say that? Is there something that he was not revealing? Well, not exactly. He followed up with, "If you look it up on the internet, it will just tell you that you only have a few days to live. That's not the case with April." Wait. What? A few days?

He didn't leave it at that, thank goodness. He went on to explain pretty much what we had already been told. Her immune system is really messed up. It does weird stuff. Sometimes it's fine. Sometimes it goes overboard. Sometimes it doesn't do anything at all. And sometimes it turns on itself, as it was doing when April's white blood cells were at war with her red cells. He also told them that her spleen had apparently been bleeding for some time. It wasn't just a result of the trauma she experienced during her hospital stay. The plan was for her to touch base with the highly renowned hematology doctor in Houston (that would be Aunt Sue to them). She would then push them in the direction of the world's leading geneticist, who just happens to be on staff right now at Texas Children's Hospital. April's biggest concern has always been for Cailyn, and what effects might have been passed on to her. I guess a geneticist is just the person to see for those kinds of answers.

And so once again we wait. And … yes, I did it, too … look up that syndrome on the internet. The symptoms April was having are pretty much all there. Fever that doesn't necessarily spike. Low counts on everything in the blood. Even blood clots, which would mean she has had evidence of this since she was eighteen at least. It does mention the whole death thing, but I think that part is behind us. She already went pretty close to that point and made it out on the other side with the help of lots of antibiotics, six days in ICU, a great trauma surgeon, and of course lots of prayer (which, as far as I'm concerned, made possible everything the doctors did).

Isaiah 64:6 says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."

Father, Thank you for one more step toward clarity for April. Keep them coming. Amen.

February 15 – “Gift of a memory”

2012-02-15T05:14:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day was an interesting one around our house. I got up before anyone, as usual, and sitting on my desk in front of my computer was my Valentine gift. Wrapped together in a neatly tied bow of ribbon were one of those giant Nestle Crunch bars and a creamy milk chocolate bar, just as big. Yummy stuff. Chris snuck it out before she came to bed the night before. Great surprise. I had to wait for her to wake up to pull out my gift for her. It was hidden in a box in my closet. No candy or flowers this year. Instead she received the fruit of my garage projects labor.

The single most difficult thing for Chris to accept losing after Hurricane Ike was her piano. It was the one she learned to play on when she was a youngster. It already had a cracked sound board, but there was extreme sentimental value there. She cried silently when we carried it out of the house, and she really lost it when the Claw reached down and grabbed it and dropped it into the dump truck. Quite the touching moment, but certainly one of great anguish. The only thing we salvaged from the old piano was the wire piece that held up the music you played. It was shaped into a musical score. We thought we had the long skinny mirror that sat just behind it, but that disappeared into the post-Ike abyss.

So for Chris' gift this year I was faced with the challenge of figuring out what to do with that musical-looking piece of wire. It took a long time to clean. It was covered in rust and gunk after sitting in the garage since 2008. I tried several sprays and sandpapers, and finally got it presentable. But since it had no practical use that I could think of, my only option was to figure out a way to mount it on something as a display piece. I finally lit on a piece of our old cedar chest. The chest itself was a casualty of the storm as well. The cedar was fine, but the water had dissolved all the glue holding together, so all we had left was a stack of cedar pieces. I found a piece that was wide enough and mounted the frame on top using brackets. Nathan came by as I was finishing it up, and he made a suggestion that I followed up on. I printed out a copy of the song Amazing Grace on some of that thick parchment paper. Then I tore around the edges so it would look even older. Finally I glued it in place onto the wire frame so it would look like a piece of music waiting to be played. Again, there's not really a purpose behind it, other than to be a conversation starter about the storm or the old piano or maybe Chris' childhood. Something else to dust. But she seemed to like it. I think she almost cried, though. Is that a good thing?

Isaiah 64:4 says, "Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him."

Father, that's one thing we're not so good at – waiting. Could you make forgiveness one of those mighty acts in our behalf? Amen.

February 14 – “A Valentine’s Day Eve to remember”

2012-02-14T05:14:00.001-08:00

We got confused not once but twice by things Cailyn said yesterday. Nathan called and asked if we could babysit while he and April just got out of the house for a while. They went to a movie. Sounds like a simple date, but every little step toward normalcy for April is huge to us right now.

So. Chris told me about an interesting request made of her by Cailyn. They were sitting on the couch reading books. At one point, as Cailyn slid down Chris' legs to the floor, she got that "aha moment" look in her eye. She turned toward Chris and said, "Let's do the toilet, Nani." Now that's an unusual request. Did she have to go to the bathroom? Is that some kind of new dance move? Chris asked, "What is toilet?" Apparently it wasn't something that a three-year-old could adequately explain, so Cailyn simply announced that "Andy did it." Thankfully, she soon realized that Chris just didn't get that one, so she moved on to something else. Chris didn't forget, though. When Mommy and Daddy came to pick her up she asked about Andy and the toilet. Seems they were at a friend's house and the guys would lift their legs into the air so the kids could crawl under the "toll road." Of course. "Toilet." "Toll road." Close enough.

At "nap time" Cailyn and I were in her room "resting." We read some books, but that did little to calm her down. She simply wasn't ready to crash, unlike her DadDad. But I held out gamely. Suddenly she sat up as if remembering something crucial. She pushed the little doll-sized rocking cradle over by the bed and started singing to the baby doll. I didn't recognize the song at all, but I picked out the words "My way," interspersed among "Daddy and Mommy and Cailyn and Nani and DadDad and MeeMaw." The song, however incomprehensible, was incredibly sweet, and I was captivated. Until she asked me to sing with her. I tried "Rock a bye baby," but she quickly nixed it. "No, DadDad. Not that one. Do the other song." I wracked my brains for another possibility. Did I mention that I was already quite ready to take a nap? Not much of a flurry if ideas there. So I just dove right in with my own rendition of "My way. My way. My way. Nani and DadDad. My way. Mommy and Daddy. My way. MeeMaw. May way." She listened, obviously evaluating, for a time before she cut in with a gentle prodding, "And Cailyn, DadDad." Of course. I continued, "My way. Cailyn. My way. My way. My way." I guess the baby finally went to sleep out of boredom. Cailyn put her finger to her lips and told me to "Be berry quiet now."

We finally ended the pretense of rest time when she asked me to dance with her. How could I refuse? First I picked her up and started turning in circles, but that was not what she wanted. She wanted show me some of her own moves. So we joined hands and twirled and pranced down the hall to some of that granddad-granddaughter music we both could hear somewhere in our heads. We got "the Look" from Nani when we swept past, but we were by then so taken in our revelry that we barely noticed. A Valentine's Day Eve to remember.

Isaiah 61:11 says, "For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations."

Father, we could use some of that righteousness in our nation. Maybe the praise will have to come up first. Amen.

February 13 – “You’re not the only one”

2012-02-13T05:05:00.001-08:00

I went to a meeting yesterday afternoon about the benefit the fire department family is planning for Nathan and April. They have asked me to be in charge of the funds that come in to make sure it is "kept in the family." Wow. That's looking to be a big responsibility as this thing is coming together. On the 25^th starting at 2:00 over at the Firemen's Union Hall on Heard's Lane (7400 block, I think) they have some amazing things set up to happen. There's going to be a dunking booth, and both of the key mayoral candidates for Galveston have agreed to take a turn. That should be fun to watch. Nathan has even agreed to sit on the block for a while. There's also going to be a mechanical bull available to ride and bouncy houses for the kids. Sure hope the weather is nice. Inside there will be a big silent auction. I say big because I heard some of the things that have already been donated: a deep sea fishing trip, a stay at the Victorian, tutoring by a schoolteacher, a Texas Rangers autographed baseball (that one looks promising), a Ben Crenshaw autographed plaque, numerous gift baskets, artwork, baby quilts, and the list went on and on. Tickets are now on sale for the food. For $10 you can get either a fish or chicken dinner. And that food was all donated as well.

Nathan was at the meeting and he was almost in tears. His only words were, "We are overwhelmed." I was pretty much stunned by the sheer volume of it all. It was the first time I had seen an expression of love like that that wasn't initiated by a church. And speaking of church, I was proud of Seaside. They contributed several hundred dollars back when April was still in the hospital that they really needed right away. The afternoon made me recall another Cailyn-ism. One day at the dinner table Chris and I told her that we love her. Expecting the politically correct answer, we waited for a "Love you too," or something similar. Not so with Cailyn. There is little that is typical with her. Her response came back, "I love Mommy and Daddy and DadDad and Nani and April and Nathan." You're not the only one that loves them, Cailyn. You're not the only one.

Isaiah 61:10 says, "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."

Father, the love you show through the people around us makes delighting in you so easy. Amen.

February 12 – “Rainouts and rescues”

2012-02-12T05:13:00.000-08:00

We woke up yesterday expecting to go to another of Jachin's flag football games. We even arrived at the field right on time, a first for us this season. However, there were no players on the field. Fortunately, Kel and Christina and the boys were sitting in their car in the parking lot, so we sauntered over. Alas, once again the game had been rained out. Except it was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. It was a bit brisk, especially in the wind, but this was after all, football. The problem was the large lake that had accumulated right in the middle of the field. Can't argue with that one. Although that would have been one fun football game to watch. Kind of like the soccer practice we watched one time in Denver when it was snowing. Funny stuff.

Since the game was history, we moved on to Chris list for the day. First thing was a trip to the naked furniture store. OK, it's actually bare furniture, but I like to call it like I see it. Or don't see it, as the case may be. She has been looking for a bookcase/curio cabinet to put her Precious Moments figurines on. And I'm all for that. They have been boxed up in a back closet since Christina wrapped them all up after Hurricane Ike. We're not sure which ones made it through without getting broke, so it'll be good to take a peek. And that will get rid of yet more boxes around here. We saw some possibilities, and they will make pretty much whatever she wants. I think she liked the one she saw over at the Amish furniture store better though.

I also got started on another of my garage projects. I began cleaning up an old table that was in my grandmother's house for as far back as I can remember. It was moved from there to Mom and Dad's back porch when she died. I thought I would have to sand it, so I did a small area with the only scrap of sandpaper I could find. I think it has two or three coats of paint on it, but that shouldn't be too hard to remove. When the sandpaper gave out I decided to try out some of the super cleaner we got after Ike. Amazingly, the table came out really clean. I still need to sand before we paint it, because it's glossy paint. And there is lots of rust on the metal legs, but it's not as bad as it could have been. Here's why … my Dad painted everything – usually red. Even his tools. So his red paint protected the legs a lot. I wish I had time to do more of this project stuff. Maybe we'd get our garage cleaned out.

Forgot to mention that we went to Home Depot to look at lawn mowers and weed eaters. Looks like we'll need to buy another one of each. The weed eater has completely fallen apart. It still turns, so I'll keep it for getting into hard to reach places, but it really hurts when one of those things smacks against your leg. The lawn mower is another issue. I guess it could probably be repaired. A friend did that for us last season. I'm sure not any good at small engine repair, though. I think we may just get another one and give the old one to the guy in our church who runs a lawn care business. I'm sure he can do something with it.

Speaking of church, time to get ready. I start a class on archaeology today, and it's been a long time since I have waded through that material.

Isaiah 61:1-3 says, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."

Father, please send that Spirit on me today. And on Kel. And Josh. And Dennis. And all the others who are preparing to speak for you later today. And not just those who will do it from the pulpit, either. Nathan, as he cares for his wife and daughter. Chris, as she struggles to get Mom out of bed and to church. Christina and Christi, as the work with the little ones. April, as she heals. Amen.

February 11 – “A Tiny Table”

2012-02-11T06:02:00.001-08:00

It's cold outside. Especially for Gilligan's Island. It was 41 degrees with a wind chill of 32 when I woke up. After my quiet time and a leisure reading of the newspaper it's now 40 degrees with a wild chill of 30. That wouldn't be so bad, but we're supposed to go up north into Texas to see Jachin play a football game at nine o'clock. Nothing like standing around in the freezing wind watching a football game. That's yet another reason why baseball is superior … it's a summer sport.

Last night I tried my hand at another of the projects in the garage. This one was a little toy table we salvaged from Mom's house after Hurricane Ike. It was actually part of a set along with two little chairs. The chairs were fine. The table legs broke off and it crashed to the ground. Well, however much of a crash there can be when the object is about six inches tall. The table was made by carving a peg end into some branches off of a tree and inserting them into drilled holes in a square piece of wood. There was glue involved and some tiny finishing nails. The problem came because the peg ends broke off, leaving the holes clogged with a wood and glue mixture that was nearly impossible to clean out. The tiny nails blocked the drill I used, so I ended up having to scrape it out with a screwdriver and my carving knife. Then I had to carve out another peg and figure out which holes matched up. It was way more of an ordeal than I had hoped. Chris asked at one point if it was turning into more than I had bargained for. My first thought was, "The fact that I'm doing this at all is more than I bargained for. I probably would have thrown it away along with the rest of the stuff. But my lovely wife wanted to keep it, so here we are." Nope. Didn't say any of that. Just mumbled something like, "Yep. Sure is."

But as I carved I noticed a little strip of paper glued to the bottom of the table. It was a note from Mom that explained the table's origins. It read, "Made by Judge W.N. Stowe for his children & given to me in early 40's. He was in his 80's then. He & his wife lived at 1124 37^th & we lived at 3617 Avenue L." Well, that changes things somewhat, don't you think? Now it's no longer a random hunk of tree branches glued together to resemble a little table. No. Now it's a piece of history, made by a guy who was born around the time of the Civil War. A guy who lived through the 1900 Storm. A guy who sat in judgment over cases in Galveston. Who was this mystery judge? I googled him and found out that there is some kind of information on him in the Rosenberg Library rare documents room. Not much else, though. Maybe one day I'll trudge up there and just see if he made a name for himself in something other than children's furniture. And maybe the glue will hold on that ornery little table.

Isaiah 60:19-20 says, "The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end."

Father, thank you for Dads who care enough about their children to carve out little pieces of history just for them. Amen.

February 10 – “The Grand Ball”

2012-02-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the day of the Grand Ball. I should have expected it since this weekend begins Mardi Gras here in Galveston. But this one had nothing to do with the parades and beads and floats on tap for the weekend. In fact this one didn't take any outside preparation at all. I didn't actually attend. I just listened as it happened. Cailyn and Chris were there, though. It took place in our bedroom. Sounded magnificent. Wish I had been invited. I might just have walked away from my computer for something like that. I'm still holding out for the chance to dance with her at her wedding. She told me the other day I could.

When the Grand Ball ended they started another game of some kind. This one required a closet with the door closed, so I didn't hear as much from them about that one. I did get a few scattered reports from Chris, though. I know they took turns playing Angry Birds for a while. Then Cailyn realized that it was actually quite dark, so she asked for a flashlight. Chris indicated she didn't have one – I'm sure she checked her pockets first. That didn't deter Cailyn, though. She immediately remembered that good ol' DadDad had a flashlight ap on his cell phone. So she excused herself with the command, "You wait right there, 'kay? Don't move, 'kay? Just stay right there." Of course Chris modeled perfectly obedient behavior – always the teacher, you know. I wondered what she was doing, though. Shut in the dark closet all by herself, not at all sure that Cailyn would actually return. Would she get side-tracked? How long would Chris be able to stand in that small, dark, enclosed, full-of-coats-and vacuum cleaner, (did I mention small?) space? This is the ultimate in claustrophobic wife of mine who has great difficulty succumbing to an MRI. I considered delaying Cailyn for a minute or two to see if Chris would escape, but then I decided I really enjoy being married – and being alive – both of which would be in danger of ending had I caused even the slightest postponement. So I turned over the iphone and she skipped merrily back to closeted confines. I don't know how long they actually spent in the closet. Cailyn did return later to ask for permission to use the actual flashlight that stays by my bedside. That may have been a different game altogether, though. Maybe they went back to the Ballroom and used it to light up the big disco ball for some retro-dancing.

Isaiah 60:18 says, "No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise."

Father, that will truly be a great day. Amen.

February 9 – “A dream”

2012-02-09T05:56:00.001-08:00

Cailyn was over for a few hours yesterday while Nathan went over to the fire station to see about when he would get back into the swing of things at work. He has a big month-long certification class coming up in Houston that he doesn't want to miss. And I think he might be getting just a little bit stir crazy. April was taking a nap, so we got to hang out with Cailyn.

Now Chris had received a gift in the mail right before she arrived. It was two little Precious Moments tea sets from her really good friend Olivia. Very tiny pieces. Very fragile. The kind that look like they will break if you look at them wrong. Chris set them up high on a shelf to protect them from tiny hands. And guess what was the first thing Cailyn noticed when she walked through the door? Yep. She grinned at me and pointed directly at the tea sets and asked, "What's that?" I stayed out of that one. Chris obligingly pulled them down and the two of them sat on the floor behind me and had one of those proverbial tea parties I have always heard little girls like to have. Very strange.

After the tea party went on for a few minutes, Cailyn's eyes started noticeably drooping. Nap time. That meant I got to take a break from the work I was doing and read a few stories. It didn't take her long to crash, though. Me, too. But I didn't stay out as long as she did, so I returned to the computer. A few hours later when she woke up it became rapidly apparent that she had been dreaming. Not a nightmare, mind you. She called out for me like she usually does, but it was more of a dreamy, I-have-something-to-tell-you kind of a cry. Sounded very interesting, so I headed back to her room.

Sure enough, she had a story to tell. She didn't preface it with the expected "I had a dream," though. Instead she just started right in like it had just happened to her. Much more exciting that way.

As her eyes focused sleepily on the princess book we had been reading before she drifted off, she announced, "I had a wedding, too. At my wedding I was on the roof with Mommy and I was dancing and wearing a Cinderella dress with big sleeves 'cause it was brrr-y outside." I tried to pry a few more details from her, but, hey, she's three years old. That said it all as far as she was concerned. Besides, she was already on to the next thing in life. She wasn't sure what that next thing would be, but whatever it was, she was excited about it. Wish I could consistently live with such a spirit of anticipation.

Ephesians 3:20-21 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Father, help me to live as an anticipator of your inevitable invasions. Amen.

February 8 – “Aliens and electrocutions”

2012-02-08T04:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. Check out this texting interchange between me and Nicole. Nicole, a friend of Nathan and April's, has been trying to set up a PayPal account so people can donate money online to help them out with expenses. Let's just say it hasn't been the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.

Feb. 4, 2012 10:25 AM

Me: Hi Nicole! The football game was canceled so when can we do the PayPal thing?

Nicole: Does this afternoon or evening work better for you? I'm having my car worked on and hope to have it back by 1:30. I'm flexible with whatever works for u … once I get my car back :) Sorry for the delayed response I didn't even hear my phone ding.

Me: No problem! I should be flexible this afternoon too. Text me when you get your car out of bondage!

Nicole: Deal.

Feb. 4, 2012 2:48 PM

Nicole: I came home to a giant hole in my roof right in my closet. Steve's in duty and I have no idea what to do. My parents are on their way. Could we get together tomorrow? My apologies I just don't know what to do. I'll be out of church around noon or maybe even this evening. My entire closet … shoes, clothes, everything soaked and the roof uh just gone in what looks like a 1 ft diameter.

Me: Oh no! Maybe it was a UFO or a meteorite or something exotic like that. Hopefully you can at least get a tarp nailed over it like they did after Ike. We get out of church around noon too. Just text me and let me know.

Nicole: Thanks Kelley I'll check in this afternoon/evening if I'm able to. Perhaps if you're free it could work but for sure tomorrow. Again my apologies … first the car breaks then the house! Trying to remain thankful that I even have a car and home … not really helping at the moment though :)

Me: Hang in there girl!

Feb. 6, 2012 5:26 PM

Me: So did you capture the alien invader that crashed through your roof?

Nicole: I'm thinking whatever it is stayed in my house. Yesterday I got electrocuted my ceiling caught fire I then proceeded to drop and break a glass, crushed a light bulb between my hands and 3 picture frames flew off the wall as I walked by and all 3 shattered. Obviously the Lord has a message or something but I haven't a clue what it is! I just figured I was better off turning off the phone in case I sent bad juju through the phone. Lol Are you free this evening?

Me: I'm not sure I want to be anywhere near you! Lol We are hanging out with April and Cailyn while Nathan hangs out at the blood drive. Be home later on.

Feb. 6. 2012 8:05 PM

Me: Just got home

Feb. 6 2012 9:31 PM

Nicole: Sorry was at gym how about we talk on the phone tomorrow and I can get it done or u can come up to my office. Actually Steve's on duty tomorrow and I pick up kids near u I could stop by then. Whatever works best for you. Apologies again I'm really not usually such a flake

Me: No apology needed. You have a hole in your roof and an alien loose in your house! We have to take my Mom to the doctor in Houston tomorrow. Can I just text you when we get back and see where we are?

Nicole: Sounds good.

We did finally make contact and she got the link to PayPal set up. It's now available on the TeamApril FaceBook page. Good job, Nicole.

Isaiah 60:1 says, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you."

Father, that's a great wake up call. Keep you glory rising. Amen.

February 7 – “Blood drive thanks”

2012-02-07T05:44:00.001-08:00

I went over to the blood drive at Fire station 5 yesterday that was put on in honor of April. Those who donated were given a voucher that will allow Nathan and April to take $20 off the costs of blood products when they get their hospital bill. I don't know how much the blood part will be, but that hospital bill promises to be enormous. She was in intensive care for six days, had emergency surgery, and was on a ventilator for two or three days after that. Not to mention all the specialists that came in to check out her case. Or the myriad of lab fees. Or the multiple X-rays and MRI's and CAT scans. Or the emergency room charges. Or the medications. And we can't forget the little plastic pitcher and vomit basin they issue in each room. I don't know all the details of their insurance, but twenty percent of any of that would be a handful for anybody. Thank you so much to everybody who has donated blood in April's name and to those who have so far donated to the special account at Texas First Bank in her name. Every little bit really helps.

While I was there yesterday a few of the firefighters noticed something that really struck them as funny. The mobile blood bank (a renovated bus) was parked in the street right in front if the station. It was a great place to be seen and made for a really good picture, in fact. Except for one tiny detail. It was parked right next to a fire hydrant. Anyone else see the irony there? I guess one of the guys said it best, "If we need to use that particular hydrant, we have a lot more trouble to worry about than just where that bus is parked."

Meals have started to arrive for Nathan and April and Cailyn. I never cease to be amazed by the power of technology. There is a website that allowed a signup list to be placed online for those who wanted to bring in food each day. Who thought that one up? Or more significant, who knew that it was even there? If only all we needed to diagnose April's ailment was technology. She'd be well on her way to specific treatment long before now. As it is, we still wait.

Isaiah 59:19 says, "From the west, men will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along."

Father, breathe some of that breath down here in Galveston so more will see the glory they must one day revere. Amen.

February 6 – “Commercial frenzy”

2012-02-06T04:49:00.001-08:00

Everybody was abuzz about the big super bowl game yesterday. I knew the Yankees were playing the Red Sox, but I was more interested in the commercials, myself. I've always been a sucker for good imagination. So we hosted a super bowl commercial party. Twenty-five people came over for good food and great fellowship. Nobody claimed to be particularly in favor of one side or the other in the football game. But during the last few plays of the game, I must say a certain group of girls (with a not-so-secret connection to New York, I might add) showed their true colors. When the Hail Mary passes went into the air, the noise level coming out of their mouths got exponentially greater. The screams did get everyone's attention. We all thought another commercial was coming on.

It proved impossible this year to come up with a clear cut favorite in the commercial judging. The Audi car headlight that vaporized the vampire gathering was an early hit. At least they didn't just sparkle. We got a chuckle out of the race between a cheetah and a Hyundai. That was when the cheetah turned on the guy who let it out of the cage. The naked M&M's proved to be an interesting concept. Never thought if it that way before. Now I'll be forced to try to disrobe the next one I try instead of just chomping down. Of the two Bridgestone tire attempts, the curving football one was by far better. Now my personal favorites were by Doritos. The first one was a Great Dane who had been involved in the disappearance of a cat (always a good story line). He used Doritos to bribe the man who discovered his misdeed into keeping silent. Then they came up with the granny sling-shotting the baby to take the bag away from the taunting bully. That was a win. The kid who thought he got a car for graduation was funny, but I had seen it on You Tube, so it lost some of its effectiveness for me. The VW fat dog that went into a training regimen so he could fit through the doggie door was a good one. And Darth Vader doing the Heimlich was an unexpected random touch. The Chevy Sonic doing crazy stunts like bungee jumping was kind of fun, but the Sketchers bulldog wearing little sneakers who comes from behind to win the race against greyhounds was hilarious. Especially when he turned around and moon-walked over the finish line. The e-trade baby going speed dating at the hospital nursery got a brief rise, as did the BMW that read emails out loud. Just as he drives up to the house, the guy hears that his mother-in-law is visiting. He tries to back away, but the next email says, "Where are you going?" Cute. Oh, and the Chevy end of the world apocalypse, slam on Ford was OK. I liked the newspaper that mentioned the Mayan calendar. Of course I had seen that one on YouTube as well.

The second half wasn't quite as full as the first. The Oikos yogurt probably got the strongest reaction. The guy teased the girl by offering her a spoonful over and over until she just head-butted him and finished it off. Ouch. The H.E.B. alien invasion guy who just wanted to go shopping in that goofy garb was a plus. Jack-in-the-Box got some reactions with the guy who marries a piece of bacon. The pastor tells him he can now eat the bride. Rather odd. MetLife had one with a collection of old cartoon characters that was kind of fun. I would actually like to see that one three or four more times to see if I can name all the little dude for my childhood. KIA's clumsy sandman who trips and spills a bucketful of dreams into that guy's head was one of the most well-done of them all, I thought. And the ugly little dog named Wego that fetched a beer every time someone said "Here we go," did have its rooters.

By far this year was much better than last year's crop. We couldn't come to a consensus on a winner, so we gave the award to the imagination of the ad companies. Thanks for the fun, guys.

Isaiah 59:15-17 says, "Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak."

Father, thank you for the interlude of fun last night. Sometimes we need just that. Amen.

February 5 – “Understanding competition”

2012-02-05T05:15:00.001-08:00

On the San Antonio front, we got to have a FaceTime chat with Caleb and Zakary the other day. They were on their way to sign Caleb up to play soccer. Wait. He's three years old. He's really old enough to play soccer? Yet there he was, all decked out in a real soccer shirt and holding up a real soccer ball. We figured he would do great at the running around and kicking a ball part, but we wondered if he could understand the whole competition thing. That concern was put to rest during the conversation. Out of the blue, as he kicked his ball around and showed off his soccer t-shirt, Caleb declared, "Zak gonna lose. I gonna win." There it is.

They do grow up. Speaking of growing up. One of the Cailyn-isms we heard the other day was priceless as well. She was engaged in a deep conversation with Chris about cooking, I think. She loves to crawl up onto the counter and help out. By herself, mind you. None of this lifting her up any more. "I do it myself," is her mantra. She drags her cow chair over to the cabinets and climbs it like stairs. And once up there she helps with pouring and mixing and cracking eggs and tasting. If she learns to be as good a cook as Chris, some guy is going to be in heaven one of these days. That is, if her Daddy ever lets her have a first date. Anyway, back to the deep discussion. The part that stuck with, since I have no idea when it comes to cooking, was the brief bit of philosophy I heard. "Nani," Cailyn said, letting out one of those big sighs, "when I grow up, I gonna be bigger." Profound.

One of our good Seasiders from church brought us a frozen homemade chicken pot pie. We couldn't hog something like that, so we took over some supper to Nathan and April on Friday. It was just what they needed, I guess. April ate a little bit. Her appetite is slowly returning. Cailyn kind of waved at it one time as she ran around the house in circles. She was busy. Nathan had four huge helpings, though. The boy hasn't eaten very well for the last ten days. Having your wife at death's door just doesn't do wonders for the appetite.

Isaiah 59:1 says, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear."

Father, thank you for that listening ear and that strong arm. We have sure needed both lately. Amen.

February 4 – “Mommy’s Home”

2012-02-04T06:36:00.001-08:00

We got the preliminary results from the investigation into April's spleen yesterday. The spleen now lives at Methodist hospital in Houston with the top specialist in the world on that sort of thing. Sounds like it is some kind of autoimmune disease disorder. A.D.D. Hmm. Isn't that one of those labels they give kids when they are crazy wild? Maybe not. In this one the white blood cells are attacking the red blood cells. Some kids just can't play nice. If the diagnosis is confirmed, they said it really shouldn't be all that life-altering for April. The one thing she remembers them saying is that she might develop arthritis. OK. So might anybody who lives to be older than ten or eleven. They also said this disease was probably the cause of the initial blood clot she had back when she was eighteen. Interesting. It is better to know something, though, than just to live as the "Mystery Ailment Girl."

Oh. And did I mention that they let her go home last night? They pumped her full of immunizations for just about everything they could think of and wheeled her out the door. She still has quite the road to recovery, but she was pretty happy to get out of the hospital. Not to mention the evident happiness in her husband. Nathan spent the night before her release at home so he could get the house cleaned and a bedroom set up on the first floor so she wouldn't have to climb the stairs just yet. And he followed the occupational therapist's directions to a Tee – lamp by the side of the bed, plenty of room to maneuver. He even got fresh batteries for the TV remote. Now that's thinking like a man. And Cailyn was positively giddy. Mommy and Daddy did a FaceBook video chat with her in the morning to tell her they were coming home. She was in a dither the rest of the day. Of course with all the paperwork and stops at the pharmacy they didn't get home until the afternoon, so she was very worked up when we finally loaded up her stuff. Some of April's friends "decorated" the yard with streamers in the trees and a sign on the house. So when we drove up Cailyn shouted, "It's a party at my house." Party indeed. Mommy's home.

Isaiah 58:9-11 says, "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

Father, thank you for walking with April through this ordeal. I know it's not over yet, but being home makes a big difference. Amen.

February 3 – “Poompbaff and Set Market”

2012-02-03T03:50:00.001-08:00

It was another good day yesterday. April felt much better. She walked more and even took a shower, which really made her feel refreshed. Her pain is still there, but it seems to be more related to the surgery now. The actual cause is still much the mystery. Everyone is waiting with bated breath for the toxicology report to come back on her spleen. Sounds like every test known to man is being run ion that tiny sliver of tissue. Our trip to the hospital with Cailyn was after naptime, so she was in much better spirits as well. It was great to see the little family of three holding hands as they took Mommy for a walk around the halls of the unit.

The surgeons are totally pleased with her surgery recovery. I don't know if it is completely up to them, but Nathan seems to think they would release her to go home any day. Loads of follow-ups are in the future of course, from hematology to cardiology to infectious disease. Nathan was talking in terms of spending the night at home so he could get the house cleaned up and set up for the homecoming, whenever that might be. He was even thinking ahead to little things like how he was going to replace his phone. He said he has virtually worn his out with all the texting he has done over the past week trying to keep everyone appraised of April's condition and answering well-wishes.

Meanwhile Cailyn has continued to amaze us with her imagination and with her general knack of handling this whole situation. The other day she suddenly picked up a toy phone and answered it. After a brief conversation of which I only heard one side, of course, she said good bye. I asked who she was talking to. Her answer? "Oh, that was Poompbaff." Of course it was.

She and Nathan entertained us at the hospital. The newly renovated rooms at UTMB are very nice and quite large. The two of them were sitting in a wheelchair. I totally understand the unbelievable temptation involved with that. It didn't take long for Nathan to ask if she wanted to go for a ride. Back and forth across the room they flew. And at each end Cailyn would say, "Do it again, Daddy." The she added, "Do One to the Money." I knew what that one meant. At the house she likes to climb into my desk chair and have me spin her around in circles. Before I let go with the spin I say the old ditty, "one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go." That was fine for a time or two, but she and her Daddy have their own language as well, and that took precedence before long. Almost breathless in her giggling, she began to cry out, "Do Set Market, Daddy." Took me a few times before I actually heard what Nathan was saying. "On your mark. Get set. Go." Hence, "Set Market." Of course.

Isaiah 58:6-9 says, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."

Father, we are stupefied by April's mysterious malady. Yet we are in awe of you as well. We acknowledge that you have brought her through this. It was no accident that Sunday was the day everything seemed to turn around, and even Nathan experienced peace. Keep walking with us. We still really need you.

February 2 – “Groundhog Day”

2012-02-02T04:26:00.001-08:00

We went to the hospital yesterday. April was finally back in a regular room, and she had not run fever all night. She was still extremely tired, though. Her appointed task from the docs was to sleep and get rested up. Most importantly, she had the clearance to receive a certain little three-year-old visitor. We didn't tell her where we were going, but when we stopped at the light in front of the hospital, Cailyn grinned from ear to ear and said, "I going to see Mommy." As far as I know she'd only been there that one time before, the last time we went to see Mommy just before she went into ICU. Smart kid.

While being in a regular room was a huge step forward, and being without fever was certainly a milestone, we still don't have any idea what caused the problem in the first place. There are still numerous tests out that the infectious disease docs ran, so maybe one of them will give us a clue. The spleen they removed was also sent to be cut up and inspected with a fine tooth comb. Surely it will hold some evidence.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Cailyn locked the bathroom door. With all of us on the outside. Oh, she came into my office and fessed up, "I did it, DadDad. I locked door. But I get it." Before I could even respond, she opened the appropriate drawer and took out a pen. Grasping it with both of her little hands, she unscrewed it and pulled it apart. Tirelessly, she then left the casing, took the innards, and skipped happily away. Of course I was intrigued, so I followed, stopping briefly to pick up the little key that comes with those locking inside doors – the screwdriver-looking thing that fits into that little hole in the doorknob. When I caught up to her she was already at work. The innards of the ball point pen were just the right size to fit into the hole. She was poking it through the little hole, doing her best to get it to open. I watched her for a while, not interfering. She did finally ask me for help, so I accepted her offer of the pen innards, twisted my body a bit to hide my actions just long enough to switch out the pen with the actual key, and quickly popped the lock. She perkily said, "Thank you, DadDad," like breaking into locked doors was a common, every-day experience. Now where did she see that one? Frightening.

Isaiah 57:15 says, "For this is what the high and lofty One says — he who lives forever, whose name is holy: 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

Father, it has been amazing to watch the expressions of concern and offers of care that have come forth since April has been in the hospital. It's even more amazing that you have walked with her – and us – through this confusing and frustrating ordeal. She seems better. But you know that, don't you? Thank you. Amen.

February 1 – “A Big Step Forward”

2012-02-01T05:24:00.001-08:00

Our first word on April yesterday was that she had to have another unit of blood. Her hemoglobin dropped below what it should be, and the docs were concerned that she would become too anemic. Second word, though, was that she was waking up and doing her best to communicate by writing notes. By late morning April was fully awake and had obviously proven herself to the docs, so they removed the breathing tube – a major step forward after surgery. She moved from sitting in a chair to a brief stint at walking.

She is still running that low-grade fever, though, so the virus or disease or whatever-it-is is still to be dealt with. She's not out of the woods yet. My cousin is married to the guy who is the head of infectious disease research on the national level. His comment was that the biggest problem in dealing with infectious diseases is that it takes so long to get results back. Boy, does he ever have that one right. Of course when the sick one is your loved one, anything over, oh, ten minutes or so is too long.

We did our daily picture for mommy and daddy with Cailyn. We either take a picture of something she is doing, or she sits with me at the computer and chooses one of the ones we have on there. We print it out and she colors a picture on the side, kind of her signature. Yesterday she was all ready. "I make mommy happy." The first one she chose was taken when she went on an outing with her cousins. She is sitting on the lap of the Chick-fil-A cow guy in a costume. (Yes, there really is such a thing). She drew a picture of mommy to the side. Big circle. Two eyes. Nose. Then she said, "I want mommy have smiley face on her." So she drew it. It was not located inside the circle, but it was there. Then she stepped back to check out her work. We anxiously anticipated her comment, but she surprised us and said "I don't like it. That not look like my mommy." She wouldn't let us take it. We let her select an alternate, but we secreted that first one away. That's one they will love.

Late last night Nathan texted us that April was being moved out of ICU to a regular floor. I'm sure they assured him she would still be watched closely, or he would have balked. Then around ten o'clock, the time Nathan usually calls Cailyn to tell her good night, he texted Chris, "Have Dad log in to FaceBook." I did, and we discovered that there is a video chat option. I never knew it existed, but then I'm an old guy. Why would I? Come to find out, April had to tell Nathan about it. Anyway, Cailyn was able to spend a few minutes chatting with her mommy and Daddy and actually seeing them. The sound wasn't so great, so Nathan called her on the phone. That took care of that. Great to see all three of their faces.

The Team April group put out a flyer with details on the benefit party for the family. It will be Saturday, February 25^th, starting at 2 p.m., at the Fire fighters Local 571 Union Hall. 7401 Heards Lane in Galveston. The cost will be $10 presale or $15 at the door. Catfish or chicken plates will be served. A silent auction will take place as well. For more details or to offer items for the auction, email TeamApril2012@gmail.com or check the FaceBook page under TeamApril.

Isaiah 57:13b says, "But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain."

Father, thank you for small steps. They add up to giant leaps. Amen.

January 31 – “Team April”

2012-01-31T05:46:00.001-08:00

Yesterday April was taken off her sedatives in hopes of her waking up enough to take her off the vent. That's going to be a long process. She was too sleepy to maintain breathing on her own, but she did manage to follow Nathan's gentle commands. I think she even kept her eyes open long enough to glare at him once or twice when he kept pushing her to stay awake. Definitely some flashes of good ol' April. Nathan said she held her eyes open the longest to look at pictures of Cailyn. Nothing quite like the drive of a Mommy.

Many people asked about donating blood. That is for sure a possibility. Come to UTMB John Sealy Hospital Annex Room #5.212. They are open Mon - Fri 8am - 4:30pm. The blood bank guy said he would collect the vouchers as people donate blood, and then Nathan can pick them up from him. The vouchers are for $20 off of anything the insurance doesn't pay on the hospital bills.

The fire department family has begun an effort to help out Nathan and April with medical bills and day to day expenses. Along with covering his shifts, they have set up a benefit party on February 25^th at the firemen's union hall. They will be selling fish dinners and chicken dinners. There will be live music, and silent auction items. I heard everything from a deep sea fishing trip to two weeks of swimming lessons at the YMCA to law service to artwork will be in the auction. And if anyone has something they can donate, please let me know and I will get it to them.

They also set up a bank account for donations to help with medical bills and day to day expenses. Donations can be sent to:

April Vaughan Benefit
C/O Texas First Bank
P.O. Box 3399
Galveston, Texas 77552
There is also a paypal account in the works for those who live online. That will be available in a few days.

Please check out the FaceBook page they have set up under "TeamApril." It will have updates on her condition as well as on the benefits.

Thanks so much to everyone who has been encouraging us through this. Please keep the prayers coming.

Galatians 6:9-10 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Father, thank you for the expressions of love we have seen so far. Would you give April a little nudge to help her wake up and breathe on her own? Amen.

January 30 – “Benefit to come”

2012-01-30T05:48:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was assigned to be a day of rest. Not just by God. The docs told Nathan in the morning that they were going to keep April just under the "knockout point" (my words, not his), so they can focus on the infection and she can get some rest. The infectious disease doc said he considers April his biggest challenge and the most important case he has right now. Test results should begin coming back today and should be arriving throughout the week. They did indicate that the parvo test was negative. Nathan showed he still has a sense of humor. He was excited that now we are sure she’s not a dog.

She does come to the surface on occasion, though, and she responds to what is happening. When Nathan told her he was coming to play with Cailyn she tried her best to open her eyes and look at him. Guess she couldn't completely focus, though. Yes, Nathan came over to play with Cailyn yesterday afternoon. It was good to see the smile on his face and the hugs they exchanged. He stayed long enough to put her down for her nap. Nice afternoon.

Folks have begun bringing food, and that has been a big help. Nathan hasn't been eating well, but he wolfed down a whole bowl of chicken soup for lunch. He shared one anecdote with me. A friend of April's Dad came to the hospital. He is a Christian, and he told Nathan that he had not felt comfortable about coming to the hospital for some reason. So he had been praying at home and had enlisted his church to join him. Yesterday he woke up with a definite peace in his heart, so they came to show their support. Nathan's response was what encouraged me. He told the guy that for some reason he woke up with a strange sense of peace as well. He told him to tell his church that "it worked."

The fire department had as meeting yesterday to begin work on a benefit activity for Nathan and April. They are planning a big fish or chicken dinner extravaganza on February 25^th. Details are still in the works, but there will be a silent auction, so if anyone has items they can donate for that, let me know. I heard things like a deep sea fishing trip and lawn mowing among others. There will also be a carnival of sorts with a dunk tank. Sounded like that has been a big hit for them in the past. Along with captains and each other, they are trying to get city council candidates and police officers to volunteer to be dunked.

They also will be setting up a bank account at Texas First Bank for donations to be received to help with medical and day to day expenses. I'll find out more about that this afternoon. Seaside took up an offering yesterday for them, and a few others have given money directly to Nathan. And that's in addition to the great outpouring of love and encouragement they have felt over the last week-that-feels-like-an-eternity.

Isaiah 56:6-7 says, "And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called

a house of prayer for all nations."

Father, thank you for the outpouring of love being shown to Nathan and April. Thank you especially for the peace Nathan felt yesterday. Give him more of that. Amen.

January 29 – “Brrr-y”

2012-01-29T05:46:00.001-08:00

I had to start off this post with one of Cailyn's favorite words. Brrr-y. Actually I'm not sure how many R's should be in there. That's a factor of just how cold it really is outside. It didn't get too bad on the island last night. Just around 47. I heard over in Texas it was supposed to hit the 30's. That's way too Brrrrr-y for me.

The docs weren't able to wean April off the ventilator after all yesterday. Her lungs showed evidence of more fluid buildup, so they kept her on the machine to give her time to rest after surgery and them time to discover if the fluid was the result of a new secondary infection or the original mystery one. The good news was that when they brought her up closer to consciousness, she was able to follow the simple commands like "squeeze my hand." She is still hanging in there and fighting. Nathan is hanging in there, too, but as the days go on, he is getting pretty tired. He doesn't sleep much, and he's very frustrated that there is absolutely nothing he can do. Of course. He's a fire fighter. He saves people for a living.

I have been trying to read my new Stephen King novel. Actually I think it's the first one by him I have ever read. I've seen some of the movies based on his book. This one is quite the endeavor, though. It's about two inches thick. Has over 800 pages. It's a very engaging story, though. All about some guy going back in time and trying to stop the assassination of President Kennedy. It could do without the foul language and still tell the story. Anyway, reading in the intensive care waiting is kind of hard for a natural people watcher. And even when there were few people around, I kept getting interrupted by some breaking news about April or by a breaking nap.

Headed to church in a few minutes. I'll have to really preserve my speaking voice, though. It's already raspy just from talking to Cailyn about breakfast and the wedding section of the newspaper and which dress she picked out for church. That's another good thing about her being a girl. I really don't have to say much.

Isaiah 55:6-7 says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon."

Father, we are really seeking you on behalf of April. Even if we can't see it yet, find her. Amen.

January 28 – “Surgery”

2012-01-28T06:09:00.001-08:00

April had surgery last night to remove her spleen. The doctors waited virtually all day with the surgery team on standby. They were hoping the bleeding would stop on its own. The surgeon called in to do the procedure was the head of the trauma surgical team. He's the guy they call to do emergency operations after car wrecks and the like. Talk about the best guy for the job. He told us after the surgery that the spleen and blood vessels around it were really inflamed. The spleen itself had two holes in it, so the blood loss issues was happening right there. She had a lot of blood pooled in her abdomen, and that was causing most of her breathing issues. The surgery went well. She was to spend last night on the ventilator and sedated to allow her to rest without having to worry about "minor" issues like pain and breathing. They will wean her off the ventilator today.

She is definitely not out of the woods yet, though. Her liver was swollen as well, and that's a pretty important organ they will be watching. There is still an infection that they haven't determined a cause for yet. The best minds from the infectious disease team came by yesterday to draw blood and begin their search in earnest. They are testing for everything from legionnaire's disease to lyme disease to parvo (Yep. That's the disease one of our dogs had). My sister-in-law Sue, who is a doctor at the medical center in Houston and who is familiar with April's history, faxed over some of her old records. She also talked to the doctors at UTMB. When they found out April was her niece, they really stepped it up a notch. Gotta take care of their own, so to speak. Fine by us.

Cailyn once again got to spend some time with her cousins Jachin, Micah, and Josiah. This time they came over to our house, so Mom was able to enjoy their presence as well. We ordered a pizza or two for them before we headed up to the hospital. As the night wore on, Kel took the boys on home, and Aunt Christina read six or eight Princess books to Cailyn before she finally fell asleep.

Today I really need to find some time to go over the sermon and teaching for pastor's class. Sure hope I can get through both of them tomorrow. (Tomorrow is Sunday, isn't it?) I have had a lot of drainage in the back of my throat, so I've been coughing a lot, and can't talk for very long at a time. Guess that means good news for the congregation – short sermon. Times like this I appreciate the people at Seaside. They are quite forgiving.

Isaiah 55:1-2 says, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

Father, now that the spleen is out of the picture, please give clarity to the docs who are searching for a way to heal April. And we would be really happy with a miracle about now. Amen.

January 27 – “Hard to focus”

2012-01-27T05:12:00.000-08:00

Paramount on our minds over the last few days has been the condition of our daughter-in-law April, Nathan's wife. She is still in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at UTMB. And her condition is still a mystery to doctors. It's a case that most certainly could be, and probably should be, assigned more to the TV show House than to the real lives of this small-town, simple Galveston family. Josh drove down from San Antonio to give Nathan some support, and April's Dad is due here in the morning from Corpus Christi.

The doctors tried once again to put in a central IV line. And once again failed. April's veins just seem to collapse. They were able to get a picc line in (that's like the one I had in for a few months back when I had that MRSA infection). They also managed to complete an arterial line so they could keep a more accurate reading on her blood pressure. She has been on a machine off and on that helps her take deeper breaths in an effort to keep her oxygen saturation levels up. When she tries to talk they drop into the 80's and even 70's instead of staying near 100. Her blood is not producing enough white cells to fight off infection, so she is on doses of two different antibiotics, and she has received two units of blood. Her lymph nodes are swollen, as are her liver and spleen. And her spleen is bleeding. They are watching that carefully, with an emergency surgery team standing by in case it ruptures. Results on bone marrow biopsies are due back today. There are a number of other things going on as well, believe it or not. And the doctors are still stumped as to the root cause.

Our list of people offering up prayers has grown to 29 different sites. The fire-fighting community has been tremendous in encouraging us. Cailyn has been a little trooper through the whole ordeal. She just knows her Mommy is sick, and she always has a sweet prayer for her when we eat and go to bed. Nathan is trying to stay strong, especially when he is with April or Cailyn. But the sheer exhaustion is wearing on him. I guess we are getting pretty tired as well, though certainly not on his scale. That's what being a parent, and a friend, and Christian family is all about. Being there at any time, any place, for however long it takes.

Cailyn spent some time playing with her cousins yesterday. They went to Chick-fil-A and got to see a guy dressed up like a cow. Now that would be a fun job as long as it wasn't a hot day. It was good to walk in and hear Josiah's welcoming cry, "Nani and DadDad." And it never hurts to get one of those hugs that only a toddler can give. We were going to leave for San Antonio for Caleb's birthday today. Looks like if we go it will be a quick trip down and back tomorrow. I have the basics down for the sermon Sunday, but I sure haven't spent much time on it. Many have asked if there is anything we need or anything you can do for us. Please keep the prayers coming. Beyond that, it reminds me of the feelings we had after Hurricane Ike. I don't know for sure what we need, so I don't know how to answer. As the flow of this post shows, it's just been hard to stay focused.

Psalms 23 says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Father, it always helps to remember that. Pretty basic stuff, but sometimes I forget. Thanks for being there. Amen.

January 26 – “A mass of medical mess”

2012-01-26T04:54:00.001-08:00

Our day started out with a trip to Houston for Mom's neurologist follow-up appointment. Cailyn was still with us, so she rode along. Her and Mom slept the whole way up there. Wait. So did I. So glad Chris was driving. We were right in the middle of the downpour that came through Houston around noon. No problems with flooding, though. When we got there we found out that Mom's supplemental medical insurance had lapsed. I called to check on it, and hopefully that will be resolved today. It did mean a bit more out of our pocket than we expected. That's an easy fix, though. It's only money, right?

The neurologist did the exam and basically said that Mom has Alzheimer's. It's just affecting her differently than it did Dad. He never slept. She sleeps all the time. She has slipped further down in memory recall and confusion and balance. The next step is to increase one medication and add another. But we understand that what we are looking for at this point is quality of life. Tough call.

Once we made it back home, we took Cailyn up to UTMB to see her Mommy and Daddy. Cailyn was happy to see them, but April barely opened her eyes the whole time. She was feeling pretty punked out. It was tough getting Cailyn to come home with us willingly. She was hoping to stay with her Daddy at least. But he was worried and hesitant to leave April's side, so we made it out OK. Chris had the idea to text Nathan and give him a message from her. Her message was sweet, but didn't calm Cailyn down much. So I took her phone and handed it to Cailyn and told her to send him one of her own. It took a second or two for that to register, but once she got started she took off, punching line after line of characters onto the screen. She even occasionally mumbled what she was writing, "Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy. Mommy sick. Mommy get all better. Daddy stay with her. Doctors see Mommy make her all better." Finally the mumbling turned to nervous laughter and then to hysterical giggling when I showed her how to push the send button. I think Nathan got six or eight very strange texts before I got a turn and clued him in on what was happening. Mine read something like, "Cailyn sends many hugs and kisses to Mommy and Daddy." That was all I could get in before she took the phone back and began again.

Nathan texted us around eleven that April was being admitted to the intensive care unit, so I hurried back out there. After the earlier onslaught of every test in the book relating to hematology and cardiology and a few other ologies, the last thing I heard that they were working on before Nathan and I left around 1:30 was that she has some kind of mystery infection that has affected the lining surrounding her lungs (as I understand it, that is the definition of pleurisy). X-rays showed fluid in that lining and in her abdomen. Thankfully, the tests did show that there was no involvement with the blood clots she has had a problem with since her teen years (Sounds so long ago, right? She's not even thirty yet). The trip to ICU scared them both (Who am I kidding? It scared all of us at least a little). Her fever spiked again to 102+, her heart was racing, her oxygen saturation levels were in the low 80's (should be in the high 90's at least), and she was panting. The rapid response team was called in and they sent her to ICU so she could have one on one care at least through the night, and probably until they discover for sure just what she has. Once she got there, they were going to put in a central IV line, but couldn't get it in. They decided to wait until later in the morning to try again if she still needed it.

By the way, the list of places where people are praying for her has grown to 25. Thank you all so much, and please don't stop. Spending a few days with Nani and DadDad is great, but Cailyn misses her Mommy and Daddy.

Isaiah 53:11 says, "After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities."

Father, could you also send some extra bearing of pain and illness our way? It's getting kind of heavy around here. Thanks. Amen.

January 25 – “Mommy to the hospital”

2012-01-25T06:06:00.001-08:00

The big news from yesterday is that April was admitted to the hospital. We picked up Cailyn in the morning since April has not been feeling well. She's had fever off and on for about five days, but she was determined to take a test for her nursing school class. I think she made it through the test, but then she started having pretty severe pains in her chest, and when some of them started toying with the idea of crawling down her left arm she got really scared. Nathan was at a fire fighters' training event, but she called him anyway, so she must have been really hurting. He left immediately, with the blessing of his captain, and took her to the clinic. As the pain worsened they decided to go on to the emergency room.

God was watching over them. The ER was having one of those rare slack days. Plus, they "just happened" to know someone who was working there, so she was ushered right to the triage area and was seen quickly. April has a history of blood clots, so that was the primary concern. X-rays didn't seem to show anything, and they were waiting for a cat scan to make absolutely sure. In fact it looks like before they let her go home they will do a "complete heart workup," whatever that means. The guarded diagnosis seems to be pleurisy. Nathan said that's an infection in the tissue surrounding the lungs. Chris said it is very painful. That's my two medical geniuses. I leave all medical stuff in their hands.

Of course all of that took place over a period of … well, the entire day, so Cailyn spent the night with us last night. Kind of tough to explain that situation to a just-turned-three-year-old. But she prayed an incredibly sweet, totally unprompted prayer for her Mommy after we got in bed. She mentioned Mommy, and doctors and Daddy and making her feel all better. And she ended with a triumphant "Amen." I wouldn't be surprised if, at that particular moment, April's pain level dropped at least a little bit. Kids' prayers are awesome. We hope to take her up to the hospital today to check in with Mommy and Daddy. Hope that works out.

Isaiah 53:9 says, "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth."

Father, thank you for going through what you did to make it possible for us to have a relationship with you. Amazing. Amen.

January 24 – “Parenting consistency”

2012-01-24T05:04:00.001-08:00

I finally got our grass mowed for the winter yesterday. I know. It's Galveston. The winter is pretty much over now. It's just that I finally got a day I could go borrow the lawn mower from Nathan and April. Ours refuses to start. Again. I know the feeling. Anyway, I got the front and back mowed. And edged.

Cailyn stayed with us for the day as well. Her Mom started back to school again, so we'll be seeing her regularly again. And right off the bat she rediscovered two of the extremely fragile that Chris' Mom made. They are the kind where the head and extremities are made of porcelain. These in particular look like sleeping infants, wearing handmade dresses. Very impressive. Of course Cailyn, being a girl through and through, wanted to pick them up and snuggle with them. Chris patiently explained their fragility, but encouraged her to look at them. Cailyn stroked them oh-so gently and talked softly to them. Very sweet. Later on I was with her, and she asked me if she could pick them up. Checking out our parenting consistency. I told her the same thing Chris did. This time she again stroked them lovingly, then bent over and kissed each one on the forehead. Then she turned to me with her finger to her mouth and shh'ed me. Said they were sleeping. So I suggested we leave the room. She agreed. Just a bit later we were walking down the hall toward the kitchen, when she abruptly detoured into the bedroom again and went straight to the babies. I asked what she was doing. That got me an abbreviated, but still developing form of "the Look," that quality of females that is reserved for males in their lives who do or say things totally inconsistent with that incomprehensible female logic. She informed me in no uncertain terms, "You woke them up." She performed her little ritual again, and I guess they went back to sleep. I got an extra dose of shhh, and we left the room.

Chris went to see her Dad in the afternoon. The last time she was there he talked about wanting oatmeal for breakfast and even responded with a heartfelt "No" when she asked if he wanted coffee. He has never liked coffee. But he never opened his eyes. Later that night the hospital called to tell her he had been placed in ICU because he had a nosebleed. Not a great thing for someone on blood thinners. They had tried to call her brother but it went straight to his voicemail. So yesterday she went to check on him again. One of his lungs had almost completely filled up with gunky fluid, so they still had him in ICU on a respirator. Chris was able to fill the nurse in on some of his medical history.

After she left Cailyn and I played some catch in the backyard, and then I told her that Nani told me I had to rest for a while. I asked if she would lay down with me and help me read books. She graciously agreed. Who can argue with the word of Nani? She stayed with me until both of us dozed off. The phone ringing woke me up, but she stayed asleep for and hour and a half. Pretty good afternoon.

Isaiah 53:7 says, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."

Father, give Chris' Dad some relief today, and speak into his confusion. Amen.

January 23 – “A pastoral oops”

2012-01-23T06:17:00.001-08:00

Yoikes. Something happened to me yesterday that is the nightmare of all us pastors who aren't smart enough to memorize everything we want to say in a sermon. Now, as a bit of background here, it was one of those weeks where God kind of "last-minutes" me. Saturday night and even into Sunday morning I was still trying to get down just what he was leading me to do.

First, I had to find the right scene from the movie King Arthur to use as a time context-setter for the Biblical Backgrounds class that happens before church. Then, since we are returning to our study of the book of Esther in worship time after a pause for advent and Christmas, I redid the introductory historical setting powerpoint to include biblical history from the beginning of time. Not an easy stunt, but it was fun. I read the history summary as quickly as I could, and the sound guy flipped the powerpoint pictures according to the script I gave him. The people especially seemed to get a kick out of the picture I chose to represent Abraham. Every person there recognized Abraham Lincoln.

And then came the worship time. It was a creative approach to worship using the names of God. I did the Esther background intro, and even read a few more verses into chapter two. Then, I had a grab bag with 25 names of God in Hebrew and Greek with their English equivalent, all printed out on strips of paper with the Scripture verse on the back. I selected five people to each draw out a slip. I gave a quick summary of the context and read the verses. After the fifth one the plan was to draw the conclusions, make the applications, and move into the praise and worship portion. Between each song we would draw more names of God. The problem was, in all the changes and confusion of preparing everything I forgot to print out the last page of my teaching notes. The page that had two quotations I planned to read and the transitions into worship as well as the pastoral prayer for the conclusion of the service. Nothing. Not there. Gone. Crazy feeling. At that point I did some fast adlibbing, so I hope it went OK. I know that when the people started adding some of the personal names they had for God, it was awesome. You would have thought maybe God had something to do with what was going on.

Isaiah 53:8-9 says, "By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth."

Father, thank you for invading the service yesterday in spite of my miscue. Amen.

January 22 – “Missing the monster trucks”

2012-01-22T05:54:00.001-08:00

We got to spend the night with Josiah last night. Not that we slept at his house. We were just there until around midnight. His Mom and Dad and two older brothers went to Houston to watch that monster truck extravaganza. They do it every year with Christina's Dad. They thought about taking Josiah, because he would love the trucks. But then it's really difficult for a less-than-two-year-old to sit relatively still for the two or three hours of the show. Hey, it's difficult for me to sit through a show that lasts one hour.

They figured to be back around 10:30 or so, based on the reports of Christina's sister who went last week. She said they left around 9. Come to find out, that's when the intermission started. Kel said there were so many wrecks and red flags that he didn't think they would ever leave. I thought wrecks were the whole point in something like that. But he did explain that it was hard to continue the show when one of the monsters flipped over on its back and blocked everyone else's path. I pictured a gigantic monster turtle with legs flopping around aimlessly toward the sky. When the show finally ended they got stuck in the parking lot along with the thousands of other cars trying to go home. So they got back sometime after 11:20.

"Why 11:20?" you may ask. I remember that time because Mom's watch is stuck on 11:20. Around 6:30 she was ready to go to bed, since her watch said it was 11:20. Then about every hour or so she made another attempt to find whichever bed she was supposed to sleep in. I don't anticipate it being very easy to get her out of bed today.

Josiah was great, of course. He's really beginning to jabber a lot, and every now and then I was able to understand him. I got "Eat" with no trouble, and he added "cheese sammitch" to that one. Actually Chris made him one. He opened it up, licked the full length of it, then handed it back to her. Guess he just need a quick taste. We started watching TV at one point, so he flopped down on his belly and started groping under the couch we were sitting on. I had no idea what he was reaching for, but he was intent on reaching it. Finally he grunted and groaned and pulled out one of those little kids' size camping chairs, all folded up. He then set to work trying to open it. After a brief struggle he shared another word from his ever-increasing vocabulary, "Help." We got him set up right there in front of the couch, and he climbed on. Settling himself in with one foot up and an arm over the back of the chair, he looked to be the picture of contentment. But then he remembered something he was missing in his tiny little microcosm of a man cave. He glanced over his shoulder at us, reached out an empty hand, and commanded, "'mote please." Of course. What man cave is complete without a TV remote. That's our little man.

Father, thank you for making it possible for us to experience our grandkids growing up. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Amen.

January 21 – “Zombie Prom”

2012-01-21T06:03:00.001-08:00

Now I just don't understand the mutated version of rheumatoid arthritis that has deemed it necessary to attack my joints. First it doesn't have a clear cut signature in blood testing. Then it redoubles its efforts whenever the weather changes. Now it keeps me awake at night with throbbing in my elbow and hands. That's just weird. And to top it off my feet have been doing their tingling and numbness number again at night. It got pretty bad last night. Not to the extent that I cried out and accidentally smacked Chris when I reacted to it. That only happened the one time so far. That time it woke me up out of a dead sleep. This time I never got to sleep, so I was pretty much in control of my flailing. I finally got up sometime after midnight and took one of the pain pills I try to stay away from. Then I returned to my crossword puzzle book. I think I finished up two or three more before the pain started easing enough to let me fall asleep. Not sure what time it was by then. But I woke up at 6:30. That's thirty minutes later than usual, so I guess I slept in. The elbow and hands are not as bad this morning. Toes are still numb, but they don't tingle so far. That's a good sign, I hope.

We went to the Galveston Independent School district musical last night at Ball High. One of the guys from the church youth group was in it. He did a really good job, too. Proud of him. The play was a fun one called Zombie Prom. Typical high school romance thwarted by parents and school administration. Then it took a deadly turn. The guy kills himself by jumping into a nuclear power plant's waste pool. He comes back as a zombie and wants to finish high school. And start where he left off with his girlfriend, of course. They had some sound issues, and with my terrible hearing, I'm sure I missed some of the funny lines, but I got enough to say I enjoyed it. One kid was channeling Jim Carey in Mask. He was quite entertaining. The female lead had a great voice, as did an eleven year-old girl who played one of the friends. She could really belt it out. Our guy from Seaside was miked as well. He has a great voice. Now I'll have to pick on him about using it at church. We also got a kick out of the little guys – second and third graders – who were dressed as 1950's teenagers and doing the same moves as the older kids. One of them got paired up with an older girl in the prom scene. Little shot guy and very tall girl. Very cute. Especially when she did one of those twirls under the guy's arms. Funny stuff. Oh, and I liked it when the kids came down the aisles as zombies and "accidentally" smacked those of us who were sitting on aisle seats. Engaging the audience in the action. Can't go wrong with a ploy like that. One more performance tonight at 8. Check it out.

Isaiah 53:6 says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Father, give those kids a real jolt of excitement as they perform. Amen.

January 20 – “Pasadena”

2012-01-20T06:12:00.000-08:00

Chris' dad was transferred out of ICU at Methodist yesterday. He is now in a long term acute care facility in Pasadena. Ah, Pasadena. Home of the Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses parade. But not that Pasadena. Pasadena, Texas. It's a suburb of Houston that is actually closer to us than the Houston Medical Center was. It's much closer to Chris' brother as well, so from that perspective it was a good move.

Chris thought that the transfer was going to be to another ICU unit. Not so much. The facility was nice enough, but he was on a regular medical unit in a private room. That meant he was not in view of a nurse at all times. When we walked into the room he was moving around in the bed a lot, obviously quite uncomfortable and agitated. He was restrained and hooked up to several IV's and a feeding tube. Chris went up to him and he seemed to recognize her at first. In fact he even suggested they go to K2's for lunch. That's a steak house in Bay City. But then he blinked and returned to the more incoherent mumblings.

He was on a really strong antibiotic, so Chris decided to see if she could talk to his nurse. We went up to the nurse station, but she was at lunch. It wouldn't have mattered, though, because we didn't know the secret code number that would have allowed them to release information. They did send for his case manager to let us know what they could. Problem was, his case manager was gone for the day. Another one came up to talk to us, though. In the meantime Chris managed to get her brother on the phone. He has medical power of attorney. And he didn't know of a secret code number either. The case manager allowed him to "approve" Chris over the phone, though. After all that we finally found out that her Dad has one of those MRSA infections that you get in hospitals and that are highly resistant to most antibiotics. That's why the pneumonia hasn't gotten any better. That makes a tough situation even worse. Chris was able to fill in some of the information blanks in his chart on medical history. Come to find out he had not been officially admitted yet. The transfer happened after hours, so one of those secret codes had not even been assigned yet. In fact while we were still up there, a lady came up from admissions and asked Chris to do the paperwork. She was able to sign most of the admitting forms, but there were a few places that looked like legal documents, so she left those for her brother.

They told us that he would probably be there for up to 27 days. Their responsibility was to get the immediate medical issues under control, then do the evaluations to determine what the next steps would be. The medical team meets every Tuesday to discuss his case, so we can check back on Wednesdays for more information. It was quite a lot to process in a very short amount of time. The family still has some things they need to talk about. Detail after detail. One step at a time.

Isaiah 53:4-5 says, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Father, walk with Chris' family as they attack the many issues that are still before them. And burst through her Dad's confusion to touch him with your presence as well. Amen.

January 19 – “George the Sponge”

2012-01-19T06:22:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was kind of a blur to me. Most likely a combination of things. I had very little sleep the night before. Knocked out my rhythm since we had Cailyn to spend the night. I think I read Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast and Snow White and Little mermaid at least four times. Each. And we had the Beauty and the Beast video going on the TV. Twice. And that doesn't count the endless repetition of the intro music when the movie ends. She finally went to sleep somewhere around 10 or 10:30. But I just wasn't sleepy. I ended up reading a lot and completed five or six crossword puzzles.

Speaking of reading a lot, I finished Inheritance. That's the last book in the Eragon dragon series. Very gripping story, but difficult to follow with all the strange names in several different languages – Elf, Dwarf, Human, Dragon, and some kind of ogre-like creatures. Reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings series to be sure, with fighting and magic and good versus evil.

As always there were some shining moments with Cailyn. At one point she wanted to have a picnic. I suggested that we set up on the rug in the office. But no. She had in mind exactly where we would be and how everything would happen. She took me by the hand and led me to … the bathroom. There she oh-so-carefully placed a towel on the floor. I was instructed to take my place on the little stool she uses to reach the sink (and other key places). She pulled out the Noah's Ark bathtub toy and indicated that the boat was her pot for cooking as well as serving. Must have been one of those new-fangled crock pot things. The meal was amazing. We had some kind of roasted hippopotamus. Yummy.

The highlight of the whole experience came after the meal. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a rectangular object, about an inch thick, four inches wide and six inches long. She asked what it was, and I told her, keeping it simple. She turned it over and over in her hands for a long few seconds. I could hear the wheels turning in her head. Finally she made the announcement. "I gonna read you a story now, DadDad." I settled back in my step bench easy chair, leaning against the lower cabinet door handles (ouch). And she began. Now the story wasn't a long one. The kind you read in the bathroom never are. And I can't remember all the details. But it was about a guy named George. George the Sponge. Great idea for a children's book, don't you think. Write a story on a sponge about a guy named George the Sponge. Can't wait to hear the sequel. George the Sponge Meets Willie the Waterfaucet. Instant classic.

Isaiah 53:1-3 says, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

Father, thank you for being God of the Wee Hours the other night. Amen.

January 18 – “You’re so silly”

2012-01-18T05:34:00.001-08:00

We got a call from Nathan yesterday morning asking if we could come over and watch Cailyn while he went to a fire department meeting. April started nursing school classes yesterday, so she was going to be gone. Tough decision. She was still asleep when we arrived, but pretty soon she was up and at 'em. She grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs into her room to show me, well, everything in her room. She started dumping these nifty little trays full of random toys all over the floor. I asked her why she didn't leave the toys in the trays and pull out the ones she wanted. Guess that was a stupid question. She just looked at me with a quizzical expression on her face, let out and exasperated sigh … and dumped the next one.

She let me know that her imaginary dog friend named Polka Dot was not in the house. I remembered him. Met him one day when we were playing in our front yard. I asked if he was outside. She answered, "No DadDad. He's over at your house. You're so silly." Oh. I should have known that.

She did fix us some pretend macaroni. We learned a while back though, that it's not mac and cheese. She doesn't like that. But she loves macaroni. They are fixed the same and taste the same. But watch what you call it.

She wanted to ride her new bike outside. Not a problem. It was damp and muggy, but as long as she wore her helmet, Nani was fine with it. Ah, but that became a problem. She didn't want to wear the helmet. Time to butt heads. The thing is, wearing a helmet is a non-negotiable item when your Daddy is a firefighter and your Nani is a nurse. She was pretty bull-headed, though. Adamant refusal. So we walked the bike up and down the sidewalk like a dog.

Isaiah 52:13-15 says, "See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness — so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand."

Father, I could use some of that understanding. Sprinkle on me anytime. Amen.

January 17 – “Secret Identity”

2012-01-17T06:12:00.001-08:00

Chris went up to Houston to check on her Dad yesterday. He was sedated again because he had resumed his agitated ways. She did get to talk to a nurse this time, though. Come to find out his lungs are still gunky with some kind of infection. And he is still having trouble with basic swallowing. As a result of that (which is a pretty major difficulty if you think about it), Chris had the opportunity of helping the nurse put the feeding tube back in. That's the one that goes in through the nose and down the throat. Not my favorite image early in the morning. She told me a lot of times the tube misses its proposed track and ends up coming out the mouth. Then they have to pull it up and start over. Yummy. That particular nurse had been off for two days, and she said it seemed to her that his cognitive abilities were not as good as they had been before she left.

I have an observation or two about the comic book Bible I got for Christmas. Actually it's called the Action Bible. It has a picture of Jesus on the spine with a stern look on his face, long hair blowing in the breeze, one arm outstretched in front of him, palm up, and some kind of flicker-looking objects floating above his wrist. I think we may need to contact Marvel comics. Someone's secret identity may be at risk. Minus the long hair and first century robe, Jesus could have been Spiderman.

I've been reading a story or two from it each morning for my quiet time. Today I read about Jacob being sent away to get a wife so his brother wouldn't kill him. Loved the way it started out. A servant rushed into Rebekah's tent, breathless. Frantically she managed to get out that she had just overheard Esau saying he was going to kill his brother. It was the Rebekah character that stood out to me. When they first drew her she was a beautiful young woman. Now she was portrayed as a grizzled, conniving, hateful old hag. Scary. I think I would have gone on a long trip, too. Can't wait to see what Leah looks like.

Isaiah 52:7 says, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"

Father, use me as one of those beautiful people. Amen.

January 16 – “An imaginary movie”

2012-01-16T05:36:00.001-08:00

We had a really great crowd at church yesterday. And then more people stayed for dinner on the grounds than have stuck around for a long time. And this happened even on a day the Texans were playing … in a playoff game, no less. Of course the food was great, too. And taking down the Christmas decorations went extremely fast. Great day. Great working together.

Mom made it to church. She was a little out of it, but she made it. I sat next to her when we said the Lord's prayer, and she recited the whole thing without missing a word. That was kind of encouraging.

I remembered another Cailyn story. A week or so ago she was over here and was engaged in some pretty creative play. Not so much with her collection of imaginary friends this time, although they were around for the first part of the day. She was joined by at least one of them while I was doing some work on the computer and Chris was in the kitchen. I don't know which one it was this time, but Cailyn kept up a continuous flow of conversation with him. They were searching for something together when they came across my wallet on the shelf next to my desk. Her eyes lit up when she first saw it. I was watching out of the corner of my eye, so she didn't realize I could see what was happening. The chattering stopped almost instantly and a deafening silence fell over the room, punctuated only by the occasional click from my keyboard. I peeked a time or two and noted that she was systematically emptying everything out. She started with the pictures and continued through the credit cards, AARP card, AAA card, minister's savings card from Lifeway – everything. And then she looked in the slot where money goes. Ah. Her whole demeanor changed. Money. Not that there was a lot in there. It was, after all, my wallet. But she stealthily reached in with her pudgy little fingers and came out with a one dollar bill. You would have thought she had discovered the mother lode in a gold mine. She jumped up and tossed the wallet to the floor. Money. She had what she needed now. And sadly she left her imaginary friend in the lurch. This discovery warranted notifying a human being. So she rushed right past me to go show it to Nani. Of course by then I was entranced. I couldn't hear everything that went on, so I got Chris to fill in the blanks later.

Cailyn showed Chris the dollar and excitedly explained, "I found a money Nani. I can't find money at my home in any of the wallets or in the closet."

Yes, I know that feeling well.

Chris asked, "What are you going to do with that money?"

And the reply, "I go to store and get food and princess stuff and books. And go to movies. Want to come with me?"

And of course Chris said, "Sure. Let's go."

Cailyn took her by the hand and led her down the hall to the bedroom where she sleeps when she stays with us. They took their places on one of the beds as Chris asked, "how much does it cost to go to the movies?"

Without missing a beat Cailyn had an answer, "Thirty dollars."

Maybe this child has been to the movies more than we thought.

She followed with, "Shh, Nani. Watch the movie," and pointed to the blinds. Chris was fascinated. Not by the imaginary movie so much as by the fact that Cailyn was reacting as if she was actually seeing a movie. She laughed. She pointed. She made comments. It must have been quite a show. Maybe I'll get to see the next one with her.

Isaiah 51:15-16 says, "For I am the Lord your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar — the Lord Almighty is his name. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand"

Father, thank you for being there Sunday. Again. Amen.

January 15 – “Princess Party”

2012-01-15T04:34:00.000-08:00

I got to wear my Superman costume again. Yesterday we went to Cailyn's princess party for her third birthday. I'm not sure who was more excited, Cailyn or her Mom. Nathan and April put remodeling their kitchen on the fast track so it would look nice for the party. It looks good, by the way. Very bright.

The party was not one where there are lots of structured games and a minute by minute itinerary. Not that prepared games aren't fun. Who wouldn't go for a quick round of pin the tiara on Cinderella? Or pin the tail on the Beast from Beauty and the Beast? This time they just let the kids play and the adults sit around and talk or watch the football game. It made it not such a chore when they all came to the table for cupcakes and then when she opened her presents.

Oh, and did I mention that there were nine boys in attendance? Among them were three Batmen, a Spiderman, a GI Joe, and Buzz Lightyear. Nine boys … and Cailyn. Not a single other girl. That's an interesting ratio, don't you think? Seriously. Is this a harbinger of things to come in her future with guys? Watch out Daddy. Nathan wasn't too happy when I pointed out that possibility to him. He went into his customary tirade about how he has already arranged for the entire fire and police department to be on the lookout for any boy that might show even vague interest in Cailyn. Cailyn was oblivious to gender, however. She ran and played just like one of the guys. And the guys didn't seem to mind the pink frosting on the cupcakes. Still tasted like sugar.

She even had two cupcakes. DadDad got blamed for allowing the second one just because she happened to be sitting next to me at the table. I was most proud, though, when she insisted on eating her ice cream with a knife. Now that's my girl.

Isaiah 51:7-8 says, "Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations."

Father, thank you for the little princess in our family. And thank you for the superhero little boys you gave us as well. Amen.

January 14 – “An 84 year-old teenager”

2012-01-14T05:36:00.001-08:00

Mom refused to go to Libbie's Place yesterday. She has some kind of cold or something. Gunky cough. She slept all morning – literally. She woke up at 2:55. Of course when she woke up she seemed fine again. About 4:30 she asked me, "How come y'all started pushing me to go to that place so early? When do I have to be there? I'm ready now." I told her the time and explained that they were getting ready to close now. It was already late afternoon. She wanted to know what was happening to her, so I told her she was becoming a teenager. That's the only thing I could think of that sleeps all day and stays up all night. Except maybe a cat. I shouldn't have put the idea into her head. Last night we went to bed around 10:30. She didn't. I have no idea how late she stayed up.

Chris went to Houston to check on her Dad. He was sitting up in the bed without the breathing tube. He obviously recognized her when she walked in. He reached for her hand and held it while he was awake. She said he tried to talk to her, but the words didn't make much sense. He squeezed her hand and held it up to his cheek several times, though. They were going to do another MRI or cat scan to see what the status of the bleeding was. Sounded like he has a long road of rehab ahead of him if everything else levels out.

I had a dream last night. I don't remember any details, but for some reason I can remember that it was based on the same premise as that new TV show where the guy has built a new super computer for the government that watches every person in the world and predicts when someone might commit an act of terrorism. He gets mad because it also predicts when someone might be the victim of an act of violence, but the government says that is as inconsequential, so he starts a vigilante campaign to protect the person whose number comes up. Actually it's not a campaign so much as it is just him and some ex-CIA, special forces operative running around secretly saving people. They have a crooked cop they have blackmailed into working with them and a lady cop who tries to arrest them. I think the name of the show is Person of Interest. Interesting take on 1984's Big Brother. That would be the book 1984, not the year.

Isaiah 51:6 says, "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail."

Father, please touch Mom where she needs you most. And it would sure help us if you could get her days and nights straightened back out. Amen.

January 13 – “A New Ap”

2012-01-13T06:19:00.001-08:00

I learned about a great new ap for the iphone the other day. I was at the youth worship service on Wednesday night, and I noticed a few of the kids holding up their phones for a few seconds during the songs. Then they would look at them and start talking about something. I finally caught one fragment of a conversation, "Did you get 'Indescribable'?" That was the name of the song that had just played. Very interesting. I stopped them afterward and asked what they were doing. And thus was I introduced to the ap called Shazam. You just let it listen to the song playing, and if that song has been recorded, the ap will find the name and show a picture of the album cover it comes from. I downloaded it when I got home, and as I was playing with it I found another version of it that is actually a music player like ipod. But this one connects to an existing database of songs. It searches the songs you have saved on your phone and if any match up with the existing database, it will play them like a music video, displaying the lyrics. Also quite helpful, though admittedly limited. Maybe it will get a fuller database as time goes on. And don't I sound all up-to-date? Talking about aps and music and databases. Not bad for this old guy.

Kel and Christina and their boys came over yesterday afternoon just to hang out. Maybe Kel can count it as a ministry contact. You know, visiting the elderly. It's always great to have those boys around. Never a dull moment. Jachin and Micah have a perpetual game of chase going on with Chris and me. I can never keep track of who is "it" though. It's usually enough to get the game going if I just suddenly tag one of them at random times as they walk past. That can start a rampage stoppable only by their Mom calling time out. And she's not even in the game. Moms can do that though. They have "The Power." Josiah has discovered he can crawl out of his crib, so that is his newest passion in life. No naps needed any longer, and not much sleep, either. He has a new talent to perfect. Ah, but Mom and Dad are way ahead of him this time. They found this mosquito net-looking contraption that locks him inside. Last night was to be his first time in lock-up. I'm anxious to hear how he fared. He had quite a bit to say to us yesterday. I have no idea what it was, but he said a lot of it. Watch out for that one when he learns some words. He's gonna be even more fun to have around.

Isaiah 51:4-5 says, "Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm."

Father, this is one island that sure needs your arm. Come to Galveston. Amen.

January 12 – “More medical updates”

2012-01-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

Chris went into Texas yesterday to check on her Dad in the hospital. The nurse told her he had been responding to a few simple commands like nodding his head and squeezing hands. He still gets pretty agitated when they try to wean him from the ventilator, though. He was still running a fever from some kind of lung infection, and they were not sure about how much he was really comprehending. She did have a few moments of connection with him. She was holding his hand. He seemed to recognize her and squeezed tightly. She assured him she was there, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. That had to be tough for Chris.

Speaking of tough, it was very difficult getting Mom going yesterday. She's supposed to be at Libbie's Place by 9:00 (not that she has ever made it by then!). We started waking her up around 8:00. We got her to sit up in the bed, but she just stopped there. After quite a bit of coaxing, she moved to the chair in her bedroom and promptly went back to sleep. I couldn't convince her that her next move was to get dressed. She just picked up the clothes and then set them back down. Chris was finally able to get her dressed by staying with her. Next up was breakfast. She usually can get her cereal by herself and take her morning medications. Not yesterday. I set everything out on the table, and we walked with her to the chair. The problem then was getting her to actually eat. She stared at the bowl like she wasn't sure what to do with it. She even fell asleep a time or two. Once we did get her there, the staff said she stayed the same most of the day. She usually is very much engaged once she is there, playing the games and talking with her friends. Yesterday she was lethargic and did her dramatic sigh and "pretend collapse" several times. She didn't talk much after we got her home, either, although she did tell Chris her back hurt. We think that's probably because of the way she sits all slumped over on the couch. We have taken her to the doctor numerous times about this kind of behavior, and so far all we get is the usual "at this age" kind of response. Very frustrating. Guess we just have to hang in there and take it one day at a time.

I did get started on one garage project. When we sandblasted and repainted our fireplace after Hurricane Ike, we took off the little decorative gold-colored balls on top. Yesterday I tried to clean those up. The bolts are still soaking to fight off some of the rust, but I concentrated on the balls. They were pretty gritty and they had a lot of scratches all over them, but they are clean now. I set them on the fireplace and when Chris got home I asked her if she noticed anything different. And this was a first. She didn't notice them. Very unusual for her, but she does have a lot on her mind. We decided to leave them there for a day or two and see how we like them.

Isaiah 50:10 says, "Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God."

Father, things have seemed pretty dark around here with our parents. We are definitely kicking into trusting and relying mode. Amen.

January 11 – “One of those days”

2012-01-11T06:03:00.001-08:00

"Yesterday was one of those days." That has always sounded a bit strange to me. One of which days? How can you start out with a phrase like that? It comes straight from the pen that inspired such greats as "you know how they are" and the always mysterious "you know what they say." Very frustrating to hear and often impossible to understand. Ah, the world of pronouns with no nouns to refer to. An English teacher's nightmare. An old wife's (as in old wives' tale) dream.

I actually thought about doing a whole day's journal on that subject, but I started falling asleep. So how much worse could my boring day yesterday be than that?

I spent most of the day working on the sermon for Sunday. It's going to be one of those state of the church, vision-casting kind of things. But I guess I'm not smart enough to just whip it out in an hour or two. As it stands now I have it set up as a three-parter, separated by the other aspects of the worship service. I've done this sort of thing before, so it should work out. Still have a lot of fine-tuning to do yet.

I helped Chris out with some pictures. She is putting together a scrapbook of Christmases past, so she has to find just the right pictures to tell the story of each Christmas in our grandkids' lives. Quite a project, but it already looks like it will be fun to page through.

I got a haircut somewhere in there.

And Cailyn came by to tell us all about the new princess bed she was going to get. She was beside herself, bubbling all over the house with the exciting news. They sent us a picture of it after it was all set up. It looks great, but I'm still trying to figure out just what makes it a princess bed. Are they going to put a pea under the mattress? (That's a little literary allusion. Pretty funny, huh?). Cailyn said her plan was to put a bunch of princess stickers on it. That should work.

Not that she really needs a bed to sleep in. The other day when she was here, she never took a nap (even though I did while trying to get her to sleep), so by 6:00 she was tired and cranky. About the she got upset at something random and decided she wanted her Mommy and Daddy to come back. It wasn't enough just to let her feelings be made known. She had to make a dramatic exit from the room and send forth some pitiful wails in the process. She ended up issuing periodic statements from her stronghold under my desk. And after a while those comments got fewer and farther between as well as quieter and quieter. We sent in to check on her and she was fast asleep under the desk. After an hour or so she woke up, and she was fine. Very happy. Quite chipper. Who needs a bed, anyway? I don't think a pea will be a problem for that little princess.

Isaiah 49:13 says, "Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones."

Father, thank you for every one of "those days" that you grant me. Each one is one more chance to see the little miracles you perform all around me. Amen.

January 10 – “Monsoon”

2012-01-10T05:30:00.001-08:00

Our Weatherbug program on the computer helped me get the day started yesterday. It read 34 degrees at Moody Gardens. Yikes. It finally reset itself around 10. Changed to 64. That's more like it.

Chris was at the hospital with her Dad, so I had the honors of getting Mom up and over to Libbie's Place. She was actually eating breakfast by 8 and at Libbie's Place by 9:30. That's a record by far. The secret is getting her to go to bed around 9 at night. Maybe.

I spent most of the day working on the sermon for Sunday. And worrying about Chris getting home in the monsoon. The power even went out here for a few hours. That made it impossible to work on the sermon, so I paced a while and read by flashlight a while. One of our neighbors was walking by at one point, so I called out to him and asked if he had power. He didn't. Best he could tell in his damp foot travels was that our entire side of the street was out, while the other side of the street was fine. The rain was certainly the big news around here. Even more than the national championship football game. Of course that was probably because there wasn't a Texas team involved. I actually watched most of that game. Well, during the first half I flipped back and forth between the game and Hoarders. Some guy had 30 or 40 cats living in his house. Evil … the cats, not the guy.

Chris called and said many roads were blocked because they were under water. She had to turn around several times and try a different route just to get out of the Houston Medical Center. Even when she got on Highway 45, she could see side roads full of stalled cars and deep water. And to top it all off, she had not had any sleep at all, so she was fighting the urge to sleep at the wheel. She was going to stop at Kel's in LaMarque to nap, but that exit was under water as well. She finally made it home around 2:30. Whew.

The reason she had no sleep was not that her Dad was any better or worse. He's about the same. They are still trying to fight the pneumonia, and he's having to stay sedated because his heart rate and blood pressure shoot up really high when he comes out of it. The problem was that one of the other patients died, and the family was mourning loudly in the waiting room. It was a large family, and they kept arriving throughout the night. And with every new arrival, the wailing resumed. Understandable grief, but difficult to sleep under those circumstances.

Isaiah 46:11 says, "From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do."

Father, comfort that family who lost their loved one last night. And thank you for the rain. Amen.

January 9 – “A little family tidbit”

2012-01-09T05:11:00.001-08:00

Chris spent the night at the hospital last night so she could have a better chance at talking to the doctor. She did get to spend some time with him and she was able to talk with the nurse as well. Her Dad was placed on a ventilator and sedated because there was some swelling in his brain as a result of the stroke. The plan is to keep him that way for a few days to give the swelling time to go down, then try to slowly wean him off. His speech has been affected for sure, and his memory will probably be affected as well. That will intensify the dementia he has already been experiencing. The next steps were to keep him in ICU for at least a week, then in the hospital for two weeks, then to a rehab facility. That was if no other complications arose. Yesterday afternoon he started running a fever, and now they think he might have a touch of pneumonia. I'm not sure what that might do to the plans.

Chris also got to talk with her Dad's sister. The aunt told her that as a boy her Dad went to church every Sunday, and "proudly carried his Bible with him." It wasn't until he was about 15 that he stopped going, probably because of typical teenage rebellion. That one little family tidbit really gave Chris some hope that her Dad had some kind of encounter with God as a child. Of course she'll find out when we get to heaven.

All the texting Chris and I did last night reminded me of when she was living with her Mom right before she died. I could do without another experience like that, and I know Chris doesn't want it either.

On the home front, Mom was still asleep when I got back from church. In fact it took me until almost 1:30 to get her out of bed. We did get to watch some of the football game together, though. We saw most of the Denver game. Got to see Tim Tebow bow before God after the victory. Way to go, Tim.

Isaiah 46:8-10 says, "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."

Father, thank you for giving Chris that little family trivia tidbit to encourage her yesterday. Amen.

January 8 – “Power in a name”

2012-01-08T05:09:00.001-08:00

They put Chris' Dad on a breathing machine yesterday, because his blood pressure kept dropping and he was having trouble getting enough oxygen. Then we found out last night that they did an EEG to check brain function. Chris plans to head up again today to see if she can talk to a doctor and get some specifics about what's going on.

While she was in Houston yesterday I went in to get Mom out of bed, usually Chris' daily task. After two attempts and after Chris called to tell me she was leaving the hospital, I tried a different tactic. I walked into her room and said, "Chris just called. She's on her way home. You might want to get up before she gets here." Her eyes flew open. She whipped the covers off. She swung her legs over and was out of bed in an instant. Wow. All I had to do was mention Chris. That's some power in a name. I think there is a lesson on spiritual warfare in there somewhere.

I did another wedding in the afternoon. It was lots of fun. Big family. Uncle Hughie played the guitar and sang two songs. I talked to him after the service. He said he was always intimidated to sing in front of his family, especially his sister. I asked why. He did a great job. He said she sings professionally and he always gets introduced as her brother.

The other day when Cailyn was here, we decided … well, she decided … that she was a doctor and I was sick. She set up shop in my office with her new medical kit she got for Christmas. Then she came into the waiting room where I was (I thought it was the den, but I guess waiting rooms also have TV's, too). She took me by the hand and said, "Ur turn." I had no idea what it was my turn for until we got to my desk and I was instructed to lie down. Of course I obliged, and she took my blood pressure and listened to my heart. Then she remembered something. I don't know what it was. Or maybe she received a page from one of her imaginary friends over in the imaginary ER. But she stood up and started to rush away. I raised up from my makeshift bed on the floor to see what was happening, and she stopped dead in her tracks, turned to look at me. Her finger formed into wagging position and she forcefully commanded, "You stay right there. I be right back." I started to argue, "But I'm just gonna …"

"No," she snapped, stopping me in mid-sentence. "Don't you get up. You unnerstand me?" Yes, ma'am, Doctor Cailyn. I unnerstand you. The floor suddenly got very comfortable.

Isaiah 46:4 says, "Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you."

Father, it's good to have a promise like that now that I'm the one with gray hairs and old age. Amen.

January 7 – “Parent mode”

2012-01-07T05:41:00.001-08:00

Quick update on Chris' Dad. The bleeding has apparently stopped, or at least has not increased. They had to insert a feeding tube because he was having trouble swallowing. They also sedated and restrained him because every time he woke up he got very agitated and tried to pull out his tubes. His blood pressure randomly spikes very high, but when they give him medication it drops very low. They are still monitoring him and still don't expect to do any surgery. The good things so far are that Chris got to spend some time talking to her sister yesterday, she began a new telephone acquaintance with another half-sister who lives in Louisiana, and we have been receiving lots of encouraging calls and emails and Facebook posts expressing concern and love. Thanks to all for that. It has made a difference to Chris.

How about some fun stuff now? Today is the Houston Texans playoff game, so that's all anyone around here talks about. I finally watched my first college bowl game of the year the other day. Well, part of it. Oregon and a W-on-their-helmet team – Wisconsin, I think. Oregon won in a shoot-out, very high-scoring and not much defense. Entertaining, though. I missed the Baylor game, but I heard it was much the same. I saw about two minutes of the Cotton Bowl last night. Arkansas was ahead and had just scored, but Kansas State blocked the extra point and ran it back for two points of their own. Didn't see much else, though. The Galveston paper didn't even mention who won, so I had to check the Houston Chronicle. Looks like Arkansas held on.

Here's a quick Cailyn story. Remember that imaginary dog named Polka Dot from the other day? It was not her first foray into the animal kingdom. A while back I heard her talking to someone in the other room, so I went in to check on her. She was sitting on the floor surrounded by books, with one in her lap. As I rounded the corner I heard, "Hush, Doggy. I trying to read here. Don't bark." Apparently the doggy didn't listen too well, because the next step was a tell-tale wag of the finger and this priceless line: "I gonna fank ur's panny." Sure caused me to snap to attention. I hope that doggy did what he was told. I'd hate to think he had to face the further wrath of Cailyn in "parent mode."

Isaiah 45:22-24 says, "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the Lord alone are righteous-ness and strength.' All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame."

Father, thank you for reminding me of the joys that always lurk in the midst of the toughest situations. Amen.

January 6 – “Stroke”

2012-01-06T05:50:00.001-08:00

We ended our day yesterday at Methodist Hospital in Houston. As we were eating lunch, Chris realized that she had missed a call from her sister. She listened to the voice message and found that her Dad was being life-flighted from Bay City to Methodist. Not many details, just that he appeared to be having a brain bleed in the temporal area. Actually it was in nurse-speak. They are both RN's. Chris had to translate for me that that meant a stroke. She tried to call back, but her sister was already on her way to Bay City, and she turns her phone off while she drives.

So we jumped in the car and headed North to Texas. We were the first family members to arrive. He was awake, but very confused about where he was and what had actually happened to him. We spent most of the time just trying to talk him down and keep him calm. I don't think he knew for sure who I was, but he seemed to recognize Chris. The stroke had already affected his speech. Not that it was particularly slurred, but he would fixate on one phrase and say that as an answer to every question. As the afternoon progressed it seemed to get worse. He still did the fixate thing, but he started using inappropriate words. As a result what came out of his mouth was a mixed-up jumble. He got very agitated at one point and almost came out of the bed, but with the help of a large physician's assistant we calmed him down.

They did a second cat scan while we were there. It showed that the area was still bleeding, but very slowly. That PA was very helpful. He pulled up the cat scan on a computer screen and patiently explained to us how they came to the conclusion that the bleed was continuing. He showed us how the screen showed different densities as different levels of gray, which in turn made it possible to assume that the bleed had probably begun several days ago. The area in question had grown over the hours since the first one had been done in Bay City. Fascinating stuff.

We stuck around until around 8:30 last night. The doctors said they were just going to monitor the area for a while. At this point they didn't see an immediate need to do surgery. That remained an option, though. He will be in the hospital for three or four days at least. That's the best case scenario where the bleeding stops on its own and the body dissipates the blood. Chris' brother stayed the night, and she plans to head back up there this morning sometime after we get Mom over to Libbie's Place. I have a wedding rehearsal this afternoon, so we'll see about getting the truck back from Nathan in case she stays most of the day. I've been getting a lot of encouragement from friends on FaceBook that they are praying. Please, keep it up. This guy needs the Lord right now, and he is very angry at Him. Has been for a long time.

Isaiah 45:11-12 says, "This is what the Lord says — the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts."

Father, somehow use this hospital experience to draw Chris' Dad to you. Amen.

January 5 – “Polka Dot”

2012-01-05T06:48:00.001-08:00

Here are some Quick Quips from the Vaughan Cottage that have stumbled and tripped their way to the fore in the last few days.

Chris waking Mom up in the morning to get ready for Libbie's Place is quite an ordeal. It usually starts around 7:30 and we are happy to get her there by 10:00. The other day I heard this interchange:

Chris: "It's time to get up and eat breakfast"

Mom: "Shoot"

Chris: "Shooting it's not gonna get it eaten."

Me: "Huh?"

Cailyn has been over a time or two, most recently yesterday. Her Mom and Dad are trying to remodel their kitchen, so she spent some time with us out of their way. When Chris went to pick up Mom, Cailyn stayed with me so she could play outside. And while we were out there she introduced me to her new imaginary friend. She found him at the end of the street after digging a hole in some dirt. She was very excited at the discovery. Immediately she began describing him. "He has polka dots and eyes and ears and legs and a smiley face." She carefully picked him up and carried him back down to the house. Placing him on the driveway, she decided she would take a picture of him. She reached into her pocket. "I get my camera," she explained. She held it to her eye and aimed in the direction of the new friend. But something happened. I must have blinked, because I never saw it coming. She was visibly upset and let out with one of her "Oh, no!" exclamations that she hears Dora and Diego all the time. I asked what was wrong and she explained, "He knocked my camera and broke it." Of course. How could I not see that. Thinking quickly, I offered to let her use my phone to get the picture. Pleased, she carefully aimed at … well, at a spot on the driveway. She clicked. I asked if she got the picture, and she assured me she did. Now I was intrigued. As I fumbled with the controls to look at the picture for myself (and I must confess I wondered if I would actually see something), I asked her to describe the thing again. In that condescending, yet sweet way of hers, she tsk'ed me a time or two, but repeated herself for the benefit of the old guy. "I told you, DadDad. He has polka dots and eyes and ears and legs and a smiley face. And he's my doggie."

What? Wait. Doggie? I must have missed that the first time. As I was registering this new bit of information she picked him up and headed for the front door. "I take him inside now." As we walked to the door I finally asked, "What is his name?"

"I told you, DadDad, he has polka dots." She chuckled at my forgetfulness.

"I know that's what he looks like, but what is his name?"

"No, DadDad. You're so silly," she indicated, as she opened the door and tossed him inside, "Polka Dot. His name is Polka Dot."

"Of course," I agreed, slapping myself on the forehead with the palm of my hand.

She returned to her task of playing outside until Chris and Mom returned. I assumed old Polka Dot was a thing of the past. Being the true gentleman that I am, I walked over and held the front door open for Mom to go in. And I was immediately chastised for my efforts at chivalry. Cailyn scolded me, "DadDad, no. You can't open the door or Polka Dot will get out." Oops. How could I forget? I told her to go inside first and hold him so Mom could get in. She responded very matter-of-factly, "OK." Polka Dot was safe and Mom was home. And they all lived happily ever after.

Isaiah 44:8 says, "Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."

Father, thanks for letting me meet Polka Dot yesterday. If I take my glasses off and scrunch my eye up just enough, I can almost see him even now. Amen.

January 4 – “The Look … again”

2012-01-04T06:33:00.001-08:00

We made a trip into Texas yesterday to finally get things straightened out with the company that did the pictures of our grandkids for Chris' Christmas present. They sure recognized Chris when we walked in. You'd think they saw a lot of her last week. Before we could even say what we wanted, the manager said she was working up a copy of the voucher for a refund and she was going to mail it, but since we were there we could just take it with us. Good start. Chris then said we never received the promised CD of all the pictures we had taken. Ah. That must have been left in the evil computer that refused to let it go back on Friday. She assured us that bad boy would receive a talking to. Then Chris showed them the three pictures that cut off Caleb's feet. Of course it was all the printer's fault. Of course. Computers and printers can't talk. It must have been their fault. We didn't care whose fault it was, we just wanted some reprinted correctly. They said the offending machine was warming up and they would get right on it if we wanted to go run some errands.

After a brief stint walking around in Michael's, the only thing open at 9:00, we headed back over. The manager was leaving as we arrived, and she said the prints were coming out right then. Well, it wasn't right then. We still had to wait another five minutes, but the pictures did look fine this time. They handed me the envelope and said goodbye. But the envelope had only the three new photos and the CD in it. We had handed them the entire package. "Oh, sorry. It must still be sitting on the desk back there." There you go. Now it's the desk's fault. Sure enough, that ol' desk had hidden the package right there on top. On a whim, Chris asked what they planned to do with the rejected pictures. The lady handed them to her and said, "You can have them. We would just throw them away." We finally headed home, relieved to finally have this excursion behind us. But when we got home we discovered that our copy of the bill was not in either package. I suspect that the cash register must have been hungry.

Mom had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I waited until they were gone, and then I put our Christmas stuff back into the attic. Fourteen or fifteen boxes plus the Christmas tree box. That's a load of stuff. And it's not all that easy any more. What's up with that? When Chris got home she started telling me what all the doctor had said. All of a sudden, literally in mid-sentence, she jumped up from her chair and disappeared into the kitchen. She came back into my office, sat down, crossed her arms, and in a quiet voice, she screamed at me. Yes, wives know how to do that – scream quietly. All she said was, "You put the decorations up." Of course I played dumb – not all that difficult for me. "I just wanted to surprise you," was the best I could come up with. Sounded quite romantic, I thought. All it got me, though, was "The Look." It's great to have someone who really cares about my back and neck and joints more than I do. I love that woman.

Isaiah 44:6-7 says, "This is what the Lord says — Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come — yes, let him foretell what will come."

Father, how many times can I say thank you for the great wife you gave me? Not enough. Amen.

January 3 – “The race is on”

2012-01-03T05:15:00.001-08:00

The last of our kids finally went home yesterday. This place was so quiet. And the departure of Josh and Christi and Zak and Caleb meant one thing to Chris: take down the Christmas decorations. She is not one to linger on and on with stuff like that either. In fact, as they rounded the corner and we made our final weaves and headed back into the house, she nonchalantly reached up and pulled down the wreath hanging by the front door. I noticed the steely look in her eye, that look of determination and drive. "No crashing in front of the TV today," it said. Now, she didn't actually say anything, mind you. She didn't have to. It was all there in the look.

She has a great system. She simply walks through the house, room by room, and gathers everything Christmas. It all finds its way to the dining room table. That is my cue to go up in the attic and haul down all the boxes. Once she realizes what I am doing Chris races over to help. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Why not just push them over to the opening and let gravity take its course? But no. She is worried about scratches on the wood floor and silly little details like me hurting my neck or back. She did the same thing when I went outside to take down the lights. Scares her for me to be up on a ladder, I guess. Better than when I used to just climb up on the roof and hang over. Gotta love that woman.

We follow the same general procedure for taking down the tree. Each ornament gets placed in a category pile: round dated balls, flat painted crafts, sewn or crocheted, chrismons, special or fragile ones that get to live in the closet instead of the attic. It's a painstaking task that she has absolutely perfected over the years. And of course each one has its own special little home. Honestly, it doesn't take all that long, as long as I stay out of the way and leave the final resting places to her.

Now, she did let me have the honor of rolling up the tree lights and taking down the tree itself. We used to get a live tree, but after several years of Nathan allergy attacks, we finally switched to a very real looking artificial one. And it served us well until Hurricane Ike. The one we have now is pretty realistic, but it's not quite as good that first one was. This year I took the easy approach. I started by pulling off the top unit and rolling up those lights. Several years ago we started literally rolling the strands of lights up into balls. Made it much easier to put the back on the next year. Then I removed row after row of branches while rolling up the lights as I went along. Made the whole process less of a chore.

Now all that's left is putting all the boxes back up in the attic. Chris is actually thinking we can do it on our own. That means here we go, unless Nathan reads this before we get it done. The race is on.

Isaiah 44:3 says, "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants."

Father, will you do the same for my descendants? They could sure use your Spirit. Amen.

January 2 – “Interesting, refreshing, impressive”

2012-01-02T05:34:00.001-08:00

Well, New Year's Day was a good one. Kel had a day off from his preaching duties. Josh got to stick around here for a few extra days because he agreed to take an available convention day and do the teaching at Seaside. We heard all about how Jesus was a prophet, a king, and a priest. Nathan was up literally all night at the fire station answering calls related to the heavy fog, but at one point someone asked him why he was named Nathan. He said he then proceeded to tell the story of King David. That was about 1:30 in the morning. He finally had a moment to rest at 5. He could barely keep his eyes open at lunch.

Caleb really enjoyed the singing Sunday. At one point when I was holding him, he doubled up his fists and pumped them into the air in time to the music. That's what freedom in worship looks like. There was a lady in the service whose husband just died a week and a half ago. Very interesting story. They had only been married five weeks when he was killed in a car wreck. He was a brand new Christian, though, so she was encouraged by that. She said the pastor who married them in Hawaii flew in for the funeral and gave an incredible gospel presentation. Two of her husband's family members became believers at the funeral. She was concerned that more of them would get past their anger and find God. Very refreshing visit. Then while folks were milling around after the service was over, just talking and enjoying each other's company, a family drove up. They were originally from India and now lived in Katy. They had a simple request. Could they come inside and pray for a few minutes to welcome in the New Year? You don't see that every day. Very impressive dedication.

Josh and his family head back to San Antonio today. Things are about to get very quiet around here again.

Isaiah 43:25 says, "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."

Father, draw that new believer's family members to you and bring them to your salvation. Continue to fill his widow with your encouragement. And help him to enjoy being in your presence. Amen.