Weekend Do-Over
Tag: waiting on the Lord
Breakfast of Champions
Keeping it real today: it was the best breakfast I’d had in a long time. Held me over for hours. Can you believe it?
The ingredients were: gluten-free oats, coconut/almond milk, ghee butter, lactose-free whey powder, 2 walnuts, and bacon! Gee I often wonder if I need a ketogenic diet (KD) since I feel so much better after eating ghee butter and red palm oil spread by the tablespoonsful! I’d like to try the KD when I can find the medical professionals I’d need to calculate ketones and monitor cholesterol levels in this middle-aged frame. Otherwise it’s probably not a good idea long-term. Until then, just please pass the avocado oil for my coconut cream and blueberry smoothie!
The “champion” this morning was not me, however. My beloved Stevers was my hero as I was unable to move without eliciting seizure attacks in bed. So he fed me. Spoonful by spoonful of rich bliss came to me with breaks in between bites to catch my breath. I was so depleted from another hellish night dontcha know that I needed to rest often. And then I revived enough to take myself to the bathroom and return to bed for more sleep. A brief noxious episode ensued, an indeterminate amount of sleep, and waking convulsions on the other side. Holy cow!
My other hero today who kept me company when I awoke sometime in the afternoon was our pup, Elle. She often watches over me these days, sleeping within view of the bed. Next to Jesus Christ, I love having a friend nearby with fur-on. That is true only if my friend with skin-on has to go to work! My beloved got there 2 hours later today for having taken care of me this morning. I am so grateful for his care and hope his boss understands . . .
The afternoon was slow-going as I progressed from being beat-up to stable. I recovered quickly from a brief afternoon replay of this morning. I am glad that thereafter I was able to finish the Fall clean-up for Winter and gather some anise hyssop seeds for a friend before lopping off the last of the spent garden beauties. Then I plopped myself down in front of the computer for a few hours and was able to do nothing else. My sewing project 2 feet behind me, due in 2 weeks, will wait once again. Such is life in the preparatory stages of mercury chelation. Working on kidney detox to aid the chelation pathway for inorganic mercury. Hmmm. Sure hope I clear before Thanksgiving . . . sure would like to travel to see some friends and family . . .
My heart is heavy with all of this. Knowing my brother may be stuck in a nursing home for more months is a burden too. His Social Security Disability Income will likely take awhile to be awarded even though the left side of his body remains quite debilitated from the stroke in April. I am glad that he was able to go “home” with his fiancé for a few hours yesterday: the first time since this all happened. Finally! Sish. The occupational therapist in me has been frustrated more than once by the whole ordeal. Therapy is on hold again for Mike due to Medicaid paperwork delays. So life in a better nursing home is where he will be indefinitely. Kinda sad, really.
In case this is sounding like a pity party I will end it right here. Just keeping it real. I still have that joy in my heart that I wrote about this past weekend. I still have hope that I will be restored to health and probably land in an even better place a couple of years from now when the mercury chelation process has succeeded. I still am grateful for so many blessings that were never in my life even one year ago. I have a plan for recovery! I still look forward to the simple pleasures that make life so sweet. Ah yes, here comes our German shepherd wagging her tail from having played with my hubby in the front yard since arriving home from work.
It’s late. It’s time for the dinner of champions, Steve and me. And it’s a good thing I saved a little bacon for us too. I mean who doesn’t love bacon? JJ
Waiting on the Lord
Waiting on the Lord,
Clinging to this keyboard,
Playing the “how long psalm” in my head.
Where does my help come from?
So obvious that it’s Him once again
And yet the troubles trouble on.
“God is not Santa Claus,”
I once wrote a fellow sufferer, or
One who hands us our lottery happiness ticket.
The Lord knows no boundary of time
So our journey must not be measured so
Lest we push ourselves out of His perfect plan.
For if we take the reigns
And steer off course by will
We may never see His glorious promise revealed.
He will never leave us or forsake us.
He is with us now and til the end.
His mercies renew and He graces us with abundantly more.
Humbly shall I remain
Waiting on my Lord with open eyes
For His return in glory: it will be soon.
And on that day I know I will be glad for all.
A Pig for Sale
Only in Indiana. Or maybe in any other State with farming. Well that would include all 50 States. I guess it’s just new to me . . .
The Facebook page for selling stuff in my town had a posting for a pig for sale: $300 for the live beast. I actually thought about it for a moment! The biggest issue would be finding a place to store all of that meat. Our lil’ freezer just ain’t big enough for my hubby’s ice cream and my bone broth in addition to a virtual bevvy of pork! Darn. I’ve been missing BBQ ribs for some time now!
I suppose that someone else with a chest or upright freezer will jump on the offer. Maybe our neighbor who bought our used freezer will find it in her budget to feast on Porky Pig for the rest of the year? Or maybe not. But if she invites us over for some Famous Dave-style ribs I am sure that we would oblige! We will even bring my Grandma’s famous potato salad. Yeah I won’t forget the horseradish, pickle relish, and bacon grease (aka “secret ingredients”)!
We live in a time where you can buy and sell just about anything. With the diversity of our world and our accessibility to most of it via the internet, we can get much of what we want for a price. Do you want someone to paint your business logo on his hairy belly and sing a song for you? Just check out the gigs on http://www.fiverr.com and it will be yours for the price of a latte’. My preference for that one would be “NOPE.” That is, in the physical realm. There are other realms for which I would need a song you know. And tonight my heart realm can’t buy me even a lullaby for peace of mind. My heart is breaking and there simply is not much I can do about it but pray.
My brother, Mike, whom everyone else calls Michael, continues to live in a wretched inner city nursing home after a serious stroke. He is four months post-CVA and three months enduring the “3 hots and a cot” provided by a one-star facility. I flipped when I found out that he had an infectious rash on his hemiplegic hand! I asked his fiancé and Mike to check for signs of bed bugs and call the State Ombudsman immediately if they found any signs of them. Mike’s roommate itches too. Hopefully it will be a case of an allergic reaction to the laundry detergent. But why would the bumps become infected? Good golly. Water (no juice, milk, or coffee) for breakfast, a delayed response for significantly elevated blood pressure, and no follow-up whatsoever on a 6 cm kidney tumor ARE ONLY THE FIRST THREE items in the long list of substandard care complaints. So sad.
Lisa, Mike’s precious fiancé, is at her wit’s end trying to get Veteran’s Administration or Medicaid benefits processed correctly to change his situation. She faithfully visits him when she can, brings him home-cooked food, and follows up the paperwork nightmare as Mike’s legal guardian. Just when I wonder if things moving forward fast enough or why she hasn’t returned my phone calls I find out that she has started a new job to try an better their overall situation. She is such a trooper. Thank the Lord for Lisa’s love and care for her Michael. And our cousin, Lisa, helps out where she can as well. Cousin Lisa is an optometrist for the nursing home and has more than once been able to positively influence his care by her presence, her visiting, her dipomacy, her support of fiancé Lisa. They are doing the best they can and that is both a gift and all I can ask from 200 miles away.
This is such a curious situation, you know. I am an occupational therapist with over 30 years of professional experience including patients with the very same medical condition as my brother. Yet due to a severe illness I am enduring, I cannot even visit him! The dirty conditions of his living environment would surely trigger seizure-like attacks for me. Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, or whatever you want to call this nightmare is keeping me from seeing my brother. And this is the Lord’s plan for both of us right now. I don’t understand it. My heart is hurting. I would be honored to work more closely with Mike, even provide supplemental therapy or visits. I cannot do it right now. Oh sure, I send him something in the mail occasionally or make a phone call to his facility and get placed on hold for a very, very long time before actually getting through to anyone less than 50% of the time. We are all doing what we can and waiting on the Lord. It’s just so very frustrating for each of us!
So if you’ve got an extra 300 bucks to donate to our cause, kindly send it to St. F—— Nursing Center in D—–, room 207. Leave the pig and get my brother out of there please! They might not notice Mike missing for awhile since a piece of meat is a piece of meat when you don’t care much for the sweet sense of humor that used to characterize my tall lanky sibling. Oh geez, I’m getting a little upset here aren’t I? Well at least the pig will stomach the food a little better without complaining. Like the Cheerio’s commercial said many decades ago, “he’ll eat anything! Hey Mikey!” Yeah but it won’t be Mikey. One day Mikey will be gone from the place he and his fiancé are calling, “the dump.” May the Lord pour out His grace on those left behind when he does go.
I just hope that moving day will be soon. O.k. I’m done venting. Gotta get back to praying. JJ
The small things matter too
My holiday weekend will be measured by small things, small joys. And these are no less than the big trips, celebrations, fireworks, and gorgeous mountain views from my friends on Facebook. Here are the things that matter most to me:
A view out a bedroom window that captures the emergence of the giant hibiscus flora.
The sweet look of concern from our furry friend when she knows what’s up and how to love with her eyes.
My beloved who can live in the moment with me no matter what life brings.
I made it through the time that needed to pass while awaiting a medical appointment on Tuesday.
The creative block with Trinity Jewelry by Design broke through with a new bracelet design and a bunch of cute variations with more to follow soon.
Tending to the William Battin roses that exceeded my expectations early this Summer.
Witnessing the promise of a bumper crop of cucumbers to redeem the poor showing with the cool Spring last year.
Time to relax with Steve at home, to review, to plan, to talk, to enjoy meals together.
A couple of phone calls with my brother who is making the most of a frustrating recovery from a stroke.
Long moments dwelling with my Lord in His Word yielding encouragement and refreshment for my soul.
A firework display from the comfort of our kitchen table, compliments of the neighbors next door.
Yes, the small things matter too whether you are recovering from a serious illness or not. I’ll bet you can think of a few special things too? I’d love to hear about them Gentle Reader. Your words encourage my heart and I’d like to get to know you! Take care, Just Julie
Jesus is for the Wounded 
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