Hosea 6:1-3

 ¹ "Come, let us return to the LORD. 
       He has torn us to pieces 
       but He will heal us; 
       He has injured us 
       but He will bind up our wounds.

 ² After two days He will revive us; 
       on the third day He will restore us, 
       that we may live in His presence.

 ³ Let us acknowledge the LORD; 
       let us press on to acknowledge Him. 
       As surely as the sun rises, 
       He will appear; 
       He will come to us like the winter rains, 
       like the spring rains that water the earth."

13 YEARS

Yesterday was the 13th Anniversary of my wedding. I thought I would post what I wrote to Mr. Smith.

13 Reasons Why I Still Love You:

1) Because I will never forget the first dance or the first kiss!

2) Because you were my friend before you were my boyfriend.

3) Because you are an incredible daddy and my kids love you to pieces.

4) Because you still think I am beautiful even though I can’t fit in my wedding dress anymore.

5) Because when I am really sad, you put your arms around me and say “Awe, poor baby”

6) Because we have secret jokes no one else will ever understand.

7) Because you forgave me for hiding from you that night and making you think the rapture had come. I still feel bad about that, but it was so funny!

8) Because when you talk about a story in the Bible, you always teach me something I didn’t know or show me something in a different light.

9) Because you have forgiven me a thousand times at least.

10) Because sometimes when you are laughing, or playing with the kids, or sometimes even when you are sleeping, you still look like a little boy.

11) Because you “get me”.

12) Because you’re the first person I want to talk to when I am happy, excited, mad, hurt or sad.

13) Because I promised to and I meant it.

HAPPY 13th ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Post I Never Wanted To Write

So I am gathering all my courage to write this post. There is so much I need to say, but somehow writing what has happened in the last 2 weeks, makes it all seem more real and right now everything is still raw.

Thursday, September 17th I returned from lunch thinking that it was just another work day. My mom had told me that morning that my dad wasn't feeling well. He was working outside of Chicago and had called to say he woke up with a ringing in his ears. 

The next thing I know I was getting a call from my mom that my dad was in an Emergency Room and had suffered a stroke. The next hour was a blur as I had to pack, make plane reservations and make arrangements for my kids and be on the road to Dallas to catch our flight all before they even made it home from school.

The next call from the neurologist in Indiana (he was in a hospital 30 minutes southeast of Chicago), was that my dad's stroke was very severe and that the situation looked very grim. The nurse held the phone up to him so I could talk to him, by then his speech was so slurred that he couldn't really respond.

My amazing super hero husband drove my mom and myself to Dallas to catch a flight to Chicago. We arrived around 11:00 pm and still had to rent a car and drive the 45 minute drive to Merrillville, Indiana. We finally got to my dad's bedisde at around 1 am.

For the next 4 days we barely left the hospital room except to eat and sometimes sleep. Most of the time we just slept at the hospital and we took turns getting a good night's sleep at the hotel. The following Monday, I had to go home because let's face it. I have a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old and while my hubby was being a wonderful daddy, I knew it was time to come home. I left not knowing when I would see my mom or dad again. I was just as worried at the point about my mom being left up there as I was about my dad. Luckily my brother works 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off and he was able to stay with my mom throughout the rest of that week.

Once I got home I immediately started working on getting my dad transferred back to Texas. I wanted to know at what point he had to recover before they would do a medical transfer. It was no easy job finding a company who would do a non emergency GROUND transport for over 930 miles. Thank You God for Ameritrans. They were wonderful and took such good care of my daddy.

To make a long story short, on my birthday (yesterday) I drove to Tyler and anxiously waited to meet the transport team and my dad. What an incredible birthday gift! He still has a long road ahead of him with therapy and rehab, but praise God he is in Texas!!!

I am still wrapping my brain around the fact that this has all happened in less than 2 weeks. It is difficult to compute. And don't even get me started on the emotional rollercoaster. 

So for the few of you faithful readers left at my blogspot. Please take a moment to remember my dad. And ask that the Lord would speak to his heart during this time. If I have learned nothing else from this situation it is that our days are not promised and are time here is so short.

So if your daddy is still with you. Take a moment tonight, pick up the phone and tell him that you love him.

This is daddy learning how to walk again.