Monday, March 9, 2009

Just in case

Friends, here's the address to the celebration of mom's life:

9325 W Newberry Rd
Gainesville, FL 32606
(352) 332-8770

Love you

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Friends,

We are distraught for ourselves and overjoyed for her, and the Lord is filling us with grace.

Please join us, if you can, for a celebration of mom's life on Tuesday the 10th at 11am at Grace Methodist Church here in Gainesville.


We love you.

She's well

Friends,

Mom is with the Lord, and she has not left us alone. Terribly sad, but not alone: we have her Lord with us, taking care of us.

We love you.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

We are still together, and so many friends have come and held us. Thank you - if you are in Gainesville and want to come, feel free but by no means feel obligated. She knows of your love.


Pastor Denny read this out, from Song of Songs chapter 2 - I think this is what God is saying to mom:
"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."
Friends, the doctors say the time is near. Juan, Dad and I are with Pastor Denny here. We love you - pray for us.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Friday

Very brief update - very tough day. Her creatinin stayed the same, but other measures of kidney problems rose. Also, her hematocrits took a sharp fall - one of the only indicators that had been doing well.

When she is awake, she is now uncomfortable and, often, in pain. Dr. Morgan advised us to increase the drugs for pain to keep her comfortable, so we have suggested them to her sooner than we would have before. That means she has been sleeping through the day -

The good news is that we are able to manage her pain. The rest is not good - our encouragement is that, whatever God wills next, it will be better than this time of her life. We pray for mercy. "We hope against hope until the dawn breaks," as Tozer put it. I still know God can heal her, and think it may be His will, but as always - our hope is not in healing, but in the Healer.

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Today mom has been pretty anxious and with quite a bit of discomfort. We were very worried because we found out this morning that her Creatinin levels doubled after the narcotics on Tuesday (creatinin is a waste product in the blood that the kidneys remove - when it rises, it means the kidney function is impaired). The rise indicated that she was getting pretty close to kidney failure.

Thankfully, her creatinin started to decrease today. Her level of kidney activity is still extremely low, but the rise may indicate the kidneys are bouncing back... We hope the improvement continues during the day and that it translates into mom feeling better overall.

The doctors have been trying to get us home, but today mom nearly begged them to keep her here. I think she feels much safer with so much medical personnel surrounding her, and helping us.

Pray for her kidneys, our wisdom, peace for all and healing as it pleases God.

Lu