Praising the Lord!

For those who are following the blog and praying for my dad, we had a wonderful surprise of good news today from Craig who called Joella from the emergency room--and then she emailed the family. A few weeks ago, Dad went to the doctor, who put him on asthma med for his breathing issues, only to find out a few weeks later that wasn't the problem at all! Dad ran the gamut of a doctor visit, then tests at the hospital yesterday, then a blood test this morning which told the doctor that Dad had acute kidney failure. However, after being sent to the ER, the doctor there found out that Dad's prostate had a blockage that was causing all this backup of fluid. The doc said he had never seen such an enlarged bladder in his life, and that everybody else he has seen in this condition has been in extreme pain. They were going to drain the fluid, and the doc said that in a couple of days Dad should feel like a new man. It appears that really it is not his heart or his kidneys at this point, although everything was under severe stress because of the blockage.  More info processing I'm sure later.   We are rejoicing in the goodness of God. All of us believe Dad and Mom's careful, healthy diet and relying on natural remedies has helped Dad make it thus far as well as he has--especially being in this condition without pain. God is good to those who obey and trust Him. Many people think we can eat whatever we want and however much we want, but God said that whatever we eat or drink, that we do it to the glory of God. Do we ask, "Is eating this second or third plate of junk food to the glory of God?" or do we just follow our flesh and our appetites and do what we please, giving the excuse that the Bible says that "The kingdom of God is not in meat or in drink, but in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost"? Eating good food, without trust in Christ, will never get us to heaven, but eating bad food might get us into a lot of unnecessary trouble! Sorry I don't have time to post some kind of photo to go along with this post!!  :))

Let Everything That Hath Breath...

I am not sure how this little clip ended up in with my photos,  (let's hope it isn't copyrighted)  but it is perfect for today, after finding out that my dad is experiencing quite a number of the classic symptoms of congestive heart failure.  He had a very bad night, feeling that he only made it because of oxygen. It has been hard for me to concentrate today, while Mom and Dad were going to the doctor and then being sent to the hospital for an EKO and two or three other tests. Dad went to the doctor a few weeks ago, only to be sent home with asthma medications--which didn't work, of course, because asthma was not the issue.

So Dad struggles to breathe.

And I must breathe, too.

Must keep up with the needs of the day with my own family while making phone calls to parents and siblings and discussing and crying and emailing back and forth,

must pray and trust God,

take a walk in the sunshine,

thank God that He first took away a huge burden from my life before allowing this one.

Because I have breath, I praise Him!

Pray, if it's God's will,  for breath for my Dad.

And may we remember to take it slow,

 

to smell the flowers while we may,

and to give the flowers to others while they are still alive...

to remember in all things to give thanks!

Sometimes meds can help people with heart failure continue to live for quite a while.

Mom and Dad are having to make significant decisions right now, especially about where to live now that Dad is not able to function well, and since he seems to be worse at home, perhaps allergic to something in the house. I'd appreciate prayer for them.

Craig, Joella's husband, is being such a loving and strong support to my folks right now. What would we all do without him?

He surprised my mom by showing up at the hospital for her while Dad had his tests done.  Thank You, Craig!

In Estonia, Elon is anxiously trying to decide whether to go ahead with plans to go on to Mongolia this summer, or are these events with my Dad signaling that he should return to the States for now?

Please pray for our family. 

Carrie's Pinata Bashing

Carrie got to celebrate her birthday about four times since her dad and mom were gone over her actual birthday. Grandma made a cake for her on Sunday, Iva's family had a party for her on Wednesday, then on Thursday when Mom and Dad got home from Fort Myers Rescue Mission, they brought her a pinata to bash--a monkey!!

 

Sammy's turn to bash that pinata!

And of course the children had gifts for Mom, too! The girls had this beautiful basket of gardening gloves, hand-knitted dishclothes; home-sewed, lace-edged place mats, etc.

They had the house cleaned up so nicely--even the boys' bedroom!

Name Written in Heaven!

This photo is of Sunday evening inside the chapel at Fort Myers Rescue Mission, during the youth revival for the Spanish group there. The rescue mission swapped chapel meeting places with the Spanish church, which usually meets in the little old chapel on the first floor of the dorm.

 

On Wednesday, the chapel was again back to the rescue mission. The highlight of our time at Fort Myers Rescue Mission was Wednesday evening when two of the homeless men responded to the invitation Bro. Phil Ledger gave. Bro. Wooten, assistant director of the mission, said that it had been a long time since he had seen any of the men so broken and weeping so hard like that. One of them was a big, burly black man who had a heart attack two weeks earlier while on the mission grounds. In the hospital he confessed to Bro. Wooten that this was a wake-up call, and that when he got back to the mission, he was going to pray! And pray he did! A puddle from weeping had to be wiped off the altar as all around him the rest of us were shouting and praising God as a new name was written down in glory! God was near in a powerful way!

A frightening moment happened when Jonathan was standing near the edge of the roof two stories up and the roof edging piece slipped under his foot because the tar was melted in the hot sun. If Tim Lynch had not been right there in the lift to catch his foot, Jonathan may have fallen off the roof. How we praised God that night during worship time for His mercy to us!

Mission Helps Team at Ft. Myers

Mission Helps Team to Fort Myers Rescue Mission

Dave Weaver, Tim Lynch, Jonathan and me

The work team is joined by a dear brother from the mission who had been in a terrible accident when the semi truck he was driving had to avoid someone pulling out in front of him. He ended up in the water somewhere with his load of watermelons floating past him. His leg is scarred from being tangled in barbed wire fence as he tried to free himself from the wrecked truck. His brain, his doctor said, was squashed down into the lower part of his head! The doctor told him he would never walk again, but it wasn't long before he was walking out of the hospital! He was a big help to the guys on the team. 

Here is the old bus that used to be used to serve meals to homeless people. 

Inside it are double bunks all the way along for nights when there is an overflow of homeless people because of bad weather. 

On the right is a dear Ukrainian man who struggles with his English and who was so delighted when we spoke to him in Ukrainian! He came from Kiev eight years ago, hoping to earn money to help his son through college. With economy downturn, he was among the immigrants who are first to lose jobs. Now he has no work and feels very hopeless. Jonathan asked him if he has a Bible and he said he did, and that he has read in it. Pray for this precious man. In this picture he is playing checkers one evening with another man.

I should have taken this picture when most of the bikes were still there. Would this be called a bike parking lot? Further to the right is an area where they repair the bikes. Many of the men ride bikes to work or to get wherever. A bike is a big blessing when many men have DUI's or no vehicle.

While we were there, a middle-age couple came to visit. The man was telling how he had come to this mission years ago and stayed here while he worked at a job. With the first paycheck he bought a car. Then he started to get on his feet, got married, now has children and is living with hope and Christ in his life. He and his wife wanted to share about the mission and raise money for bicycles for the guys. 

Below, Jonathan got a quick snap of two homeless guys walking up to the welcome sign and gate to the mission. The building behind the sign is the chapel.

 

On my birthday, Monday,  Jonathan wanted to take me out to eat, but we had hardly had time to help much yet, and I felt guilty to leave already, so said I'd be fine to just eat in the cafeteria. It was such a gift to me to just be with Jonathan here at the mission! However, the guys decided they weren't hungry at supper time, and they kept working in the cooler part of the day. Meanwhile, I, who need to eat small meals very regularly, began to go to pieces! Finally I went over to see if the cafeteria would have some of that delicious spaghetti left, but it was locked and everything put away. I began to see that perhaps I should have let Jonathan take me out somewhere! When will I learn my lessons?

Finally, Jonathan remembered that I had a few little sausages left in the frig from breakfast, so I ate cold sausages for my birthday supper! HA ha! Next time, I will let Jonathan take me out to eat!!!!!

Later, we all bought burgers or onion rings at the little snack shop, and then....

 

 

Jonathan steered me back over to the cafeteria where there was a lovely icecream cake waiting for me! Bro. and Sis. Wooten, the cook, and the Mission Helps team all sang "Happy Birthday" to me and helped me eat that delicious icecream cake! They were all so very sweet to treat this very weary mother so kindly!



Florida Flowers!

At Fort Myers Rescue Mission, I drank in the beauty of the flowering bushes.

I am a Pennsylvania girl who loves greenery and flowers and grass and trees--so after years of Colorado drought and seeing so much brown, I am captivated with all this beauty.

More beauty! The guys living at the mission help with the landscaping and gardening. 

Sorry I don't know what kind of flowering tree this is.

A fence row of flowering bushes along the side of the mission.

Here in front of the beautiful chapel are flowers with butterflies fluttering around them--only to our surprise, the butterflies were solar operated! Smile!

On the Sunday we were there, the rescue mission switched chapels with the Spanish group that usually meets in the smaller chapel on first floor of the main building. On that Sunday, the Spanish church group was holding a youth revival, so they met in this larger, new chapel. We peeked in after our own service to see the altar lined with people praying. 

A beautiful place to spend my birthday!

Mission Helps Trip to Florida

Over our birthday weekend, Jonathan and I were blessed to travel together to Fort Myers Rescue Mission in Florida to join the Mission Helps crew working there repairing roof damage.

I had not imagined how beautiful the rescue mission was now in comparison to what it was like seventeen years ago when Jonathan and I had a deputation service there before going to Ukraine.

 

Now there are beautiful palm trees and flowering bushes all over the place.

Below is the sign for the mission at the end of their street:

"Bringing Jesus to the Homeless and Helpless"

Monday morning Jonathan gets on the lift with Tim Lynch. Tim and Dave Weaver had already gotten a good fraction of this side of the roof repair done Saturday before we arrived.

Some of the guys at the mission are building a new counter piece for the cafeteria. The guys who live here at the dorm are required to work here, have a job elsewhere, or be actively looking for work in order to get supper! 

Here is an example of the rotted roof edge. 

I took this picture from the second story of our dorm building. To the far left is the cafeteria, and to the right is staff housing. 

Twice a week, this truck comes in loaded with food donations from the community. The community is so thankful to have this mission here ministering to the homeless and keeping some of the troublemakers off the street that they heavily support the mission. This is a great blessing! 

The guys line up to help bring in boxes, which are gone through and what is left is sent on to another soup kitchen or food pantry. As you can see, there is no lack for food! We heard that this mission feeds the folk off the streets about as well as any other mission of its kind. 

Later in the week, Florida rains required the crew to work under a huge piece of plastic in order to repair roof leaks!

 

Working again. This is the building we stayed in , on 2nd floor.

 



Another view from the front.

A close up of the solar heating panels for hot water. This is how the hot water is supplied to the homeless shelter there.