Good morning and Happy February

I read a quote this week that did what I believe quotes are meant to do, they cause us to think. In the Bible especially in the Psalms, you will see the word Selah. it means to PAUSE and think about that. Not sure in our fast-food, push-button world that we take advantage of the resolve that can come from just Hitting the Pause button 😊

Recently I had the opportunity to see my still in the womb great granddaughter. (Scheduled arrival February 17)

I will admit I am ultrasound challenged. But I do Nod and say Wow according to cue. (I hope) But I must be honest most baby ultrasounds look like a second graders unfinished clay project to me. 😊 However we did get a couple nice 3D facial views last week. Autumn has yet to see her granddaughter’s face on an ultrasound. She seems to be saving that for the big reveal day. When I take Kaci to her appointment, little Miss Wren Elizabeth is up and moving. When Autumn goes, she is very still and quiet. Autumn says” My voice is so comforting to her she decides to nap.” 😊

Last week we went from St Mary’s hospital, back to UW hospital to pick Autumn up. They had made a couple last minute appointments for her. She had testing to help determine if she is eligible for an immunotherapy study. All chemo has stopped. The test showed the cancer is growing, so we are headed to the next plan. Now according to their criteria that is a good thing. They now have some measurable baselines.

THE QUOTE: There is no finish line, only mile markers.

 Even if we quit, it’s not the end, it’s just A MILE MARKER!

This all causes my mind to roll back to May 22 of 2019 when our first Great granddaughter was born. Nearly 7 weeks early weighing in at 2.8#. She of course remained in the infant ICU for many weeks. She was strong and for the most part just wasn’t big enough to stay warm or eat enough to sustain her. Well as you may or may not know, they now have a camera near the bed so anyone with the code can watch the baby. Well, this channel 😊 became Jim (my husbands) favorite. I got all the play-by-play action or most times inaction😊 But he loved her before he ever saw her in person. After she came home and was able to be around people, they enjoyed each other’s company whenever possible. They made faces at one another, and each could make the other laugh at any time.

Their paths crossed for 7 months and 1 day. Though she will not remember Papa, she was a Great Highlight in his life those last weeks and months. On December 21/2019 a mile marker was placed on the path signifying the end of Jim’s time here. She is walking her path and already has the first day of school mile marker on her road.

As I think of all of this, I can’t help but wonder how many weeks, months or years Autumn and her granddaughter will share their trail.

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A scripture from the Bible in 2 Timothy 1:12b  says for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him until that day.

       This verse is a great comfort to me. To know that My God is Able to Keep everything I ask Him to Keep. Now He may not Keep it to my liking. However they are always in His care. He always Keeps that which WE HAVE GIVEN TO HIM TO KEEP!  HE can’t Keep what we don’t give!

THE FALLS (Enjoy)

Chapter 2 Part 2

The rest of the trip down the mountain was difficult, and yet encouraging, as I listened to the  Soyla’s (one of our team leaders) continuous accounts of God’s faithfulness. She and her husband had been on the mission’s field together, until he passed away, a result of a car accident. Even at age sixty-five she flies back and forth between Texas and Honduras monthly. Despite the extreme discomfort I was in, my faith was being strengthened, as we traveled down the mountain.

I don’t remember what time we got back to the city; I think around 9 pm.  It was apparent to everyone ,after getting off the bus that I would need medical attention. Therefore, we flagged a cab, and it was somewhat like Funniest Home Videos. I hope I can give you a mental picture. Here I am 200 + pounds attempting to back into the back seat of this Mazda sized taxi. I also was trying to be careful with my left leg. As I slid in, I took hold of the back of the front seat, which was loose, it tipped backwards on me. I then lost my balance, and my momentum. I was lodged between the front and back seat. I put my right hand on the back seat attempting to lift my self up for another lunge backward. My hand slipped into a 6-inch gap between the seat. Let’s just say that didn’t work as well as planned, it too was broken.

All this time Soyla (one of our group leaders) kept saying “Are you in sister? Are you in?” The taxi driver as well as a few others was yelling “Hurry! Hurry!”  There was a lot of traffic on a very narrow street. I laughed so hard. Laughter does the heart good like a merry medicine.  The joy of the Lord is our strength. I knew if the enemy could get my Joy, he would have my strength. Besides that, it was hilarious. I felt like a BIG ladybug that had flipped onto it’s back and couldn’t move.

The first verse the Lord gave me when I prayed about Honduras was ‘No weapon formed against you will prosper.’ I didn’t understand it. This was my third mission’s trip. I wasn’t afraid at all. Yet, it remained a whisper in my spirit, as I prepared to go.

 Many times, that promise is all I had to stand on. You might be tempted to think he didn’t keep his word. However, weapons are made to kill. I lived, and I did not die. So now, I am here proclaiming the word of my Lord. That is part of the reason I am writing this book. If nothing else my family will know about the faithfulness of my God.

The ER in Tegucigalpa was interesting. They turned the lights on in the emergency room when we arrived. I jokingly said “I must be an honored guest.” To which there was a sharp, quick response “No! tourists are the only ones that have money to come here.” In hindsight that is a very sad thing.

The Dr. was there immediately, but there were no nurses or assistants. Whoever came with you would be the assistants. Soyla and Paul church team leader came. I remember how much it hurt getting my leg in the right position for the X-ray. Paul said, “The last time a woman squeezed his hand that hard she was having a baby”. I said, “OK I’ll take one with big, beautiful eyes”. “You put the baby in my suitcase, and I’ll take it home.”  I remember praying a lot and I kept saying, I am OK, just do what you have to do.

An x-ray machine was all they had there. No CT or MRI equipment. There are official terms for the injury, but in my husband’s words it was a football injury. I blew my kneecap out of the cradle. The Dr. said I should go home to America where they have good medicine. He was a very nice man, and I planned to see that he gets a copy of this book.

 The first visit ended with an ace bandage and a brace. In the middle of the night, it became painfully clear that it needed more. It was so swollen by morning; I think I cried off and on all night. Poor Karla, she shared a room with me. I told her it was only fair; she is the one that invited me on this trip in the first place. We laughed and cried together for the rest of the trip.

The next morning, we went back to the emergency room. This time we decided against the taxi thing. Across the street from our hotel was the police, and National Guard station. They said they would call the Red Cross truck, and that is what they did. They came and took me out on a stretcher; I think my faith grows by leaps and bounds each time I was put on a stretcher, no matter what country I am in. Let’s just say this was no exception. They put me in this Red Cross truck. To my knowledge, there wasn’t one piece of equipment, medical or otherwise. I really think I remember an M-16 rifle in the corner. It wouldn’t be unusual: it seemed they were a common accessory there.

The same Dr. took care of me. This time we went with a half cast. Started at the thigh and went about mid-calf. It felt so good to have it immobilized. I went back to the hotel. Part of the team, left to do school ministries, and the rest did electrical wiring in some homes. I stayed back of course. This was the end of my physical contribution to the trip.  I was determined that God would still be glorified in my being there. Doesn’t take a good leg to pray. Don’t even have to bend your knee. OUCH!

 We still had four days there. Maybe not the smartest decision, but I decided to stay and fly home with the team. At that point all we  knew, no bone had been broken.

I laid down in my bed, and fell asleep. I had my leg elevated on the wall at the end of the bed and the swelling went down. This may sound like a good thing, however as the swelling went down so did the cast. I awoke in horrible pain, my cast had slipped off my knee, and thus it was no longer immobilized.

While not earth shaking, it did take me a bit out of my comfort zone. There were no 911 systems, the team members were all gone .and would not be back for hours. No cell phones, and I couldn’t speak the language. The only thing worse would have been for me to leave that room, alone. So, I stayed put, and reminded myself that God hadn’t gone anywhere.  So, there I was, just me, God and, a bright blue cast around my ankle. In the book of James, it says if ANY lack wisdom let them ask and I will give it freely. So, I did.

I laugh when I think about that. It reminds me of another time I had prayed that pray. We just had a new foster placement. A twelve-year-old boy that had been kicked to the curb by a multitude of insignificant others his mom brought home. He was a big boy. He was a neat kid, but understandably angry at the world.

 About the third day he was there, we had an altercation. I don’t believe I have ever been referred to in so many colorful ways all in one breathe. The only too repeatable words were fat and stupid. Neither of those gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. After a couple swings at me, I left the room. Standing outside his door, I said now Lord, you brought him here, so what is your plan. The plans swirling in my head, I was quite certain weren’t from God.

God reminded me it wasn’t me that he was angry at. It was life. Another lesson in the “It’s not all about Hope Bennett series”. How well you cope with things, may very well come from our understanding that concept. Life is much less chaotic if we don’t try to make it all about us.

Anyway, asking God for help in those I don’t know what to do times, is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of trust.

My leg felt so much better when it was snugged up tight in the cast. I had to figure a way to get it to stay there. So time for some MacGyvering. I took the ace bandage from the night before, and cut it in half. Then I took a coat hanger [remember it was around my ankle no way for it to get stuck] I made a circle hook on the end. I ran it down the inside of the cast and when the cleaning lady came in, I had her hook the ace bandage to it. I then pulled it up through. We repeated with the other half on the other side, now it was in a sling I pulled it up to where it belonged, wrapped the ends around my waste and tie them. The cleaning lady and I laughed so hard. She couldn’t speak my language, nor I hers, but the laughter was the same. I thought it was very ingenious.

 This would be like something my dad would have done. He had a car one time, with two shifting levers. I think first and third was on the column and second and reverse were on the floor. Can’t remember why he did that? I don’t know, but if necessity was the mother of invention, my dad was the father. He had more ingenuity than anyone I had ever met. I was blessed with some of that. That heritage comes in so very handy on Missions trips. The places where you either don’t have the things you need, or you don’t have the money to buy it.

I kept that cast on until Friday morning. The morning we were leaving, we went back to the hospital, and they put on walking cast. It was also blue. When we got to the airport we found out, I couldn’t ride in the regular seats because my leg would be in the aisle. After some discussion between Soyla and the airline attendant, they put me in first class. You know, the place with the big seats, and the food. When the rest of them boarded they walked through first class. Remember my two friends, the ones that encouraged me to go down the falls, they felt really bad. I winked as they went past me seated comfortably in first class and said “ Thanks guys” 😊

 The ride home was uneventful, unlike the flight down. Besides getting through costumes in a wheelchair, and them finding a roll of quarters in my carry on, which upset the metal detector {this was 9 months after 911}. I forgot it was in there, or I would have left it with people that needed it. We then left Miami and flew into to Chicago, Illinois. We divided into two different vans, for the three-hour ride back to our individual worlds. With both blessings and challenges ahead. 

 (Chapter 3 Coming soon)

Blessings! Thanks for Reading!