Update....

It's been a long 3 weeks! Randal had surgery on Nov. 16th, friday. [The disk between the 4th and 5th vertebrae ruptured INTO the spinal canal!! This caused him to lose control of his legs. They wouldn't hold him up and he ended up falling all over the place.]The following Tuesday he was mistakenly sent home! He called me from the hospital with the names of two drugs he needed a prescription for...he wasn't certain of how to spell them. I found this very odd that they'd send him home without prescriptions! He was told to go home and call outpatient services. We couldn't even find anything by that name! So called the rehab centre at the hospital. They sent someone over twice. Then after having him home for almost a week I was feeling quite at loose ends as to what should be happening with him. I was concerned about the incision and dressing on his back. He had 20 staples! It didn't look pretty...If I'd thought of it I'd have grossed you all out and taken pictures. :D
So I took him in to see our dr. on Monday, after him being home for 6 days. Our doctor was surprised to see him. He asked why Randal wasn't in the rehab unit at the hospital. Randal told him that the nurse had said that the hospital he was supposed to transfer to was full and that he should go home. Dr. was very surprised! He showed us the letter he had gotten from our neurosurgeon, saying that he'd arranged a bed for him in the rehab unit and that he'd been transferred there!! He quickly left the room and went out to make some calls. He came back in after speaking to the neurologist and the rehab unit. He said that yes they still wanted him in there but now there really were no beds, so go home and wait for them to call. Our dr. seemed very stressed and upset about this mixup! He said you hear about people dying because of medical mixups in hospitals but this was the first time he'd seen such a stupid mistake. They finally called on Thursday afternoon and I took him up there. He stayed until today. Six days with a 24 hr pass over the weekend.
My mom was here for 2 weeks and 1 day throughout this time. It was so nice to have her here. I don't really like staying alone with the kids but do on occasion, if I have to. I didn't ask her to come because I don't like to ask her to do things. She's quite busy with what she has going on at home there and in their church. But she came. So it was great having her here. She took over the cooking, the laundry, schooling Janelle and many other tasks! (I was her assistant :D )
It was so wonderful..We got alot of work done around here too. We sorted out the kids clothes and got rid of the stuff that no longer fits anyone....a huge job to tackle! Another job that she helped me with was grocery shopping...I really don't care for this task. So it was very cool to have someone help me with it.
We also switched two of the girls rooms. We got paint to do their rooms too. We also picked out some inexpensive blinds for the living room windows. There are 5 3x5 windows and I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with them other than the white blinds.
We did alot of different things, including hospital visits, all the while doing the everyday stuff...It has been exhausting.
There is still a bunch of stuff to finish up before we can start our Christmas decorating. Courtenay put up our prelit artificial tree on the weekend. We're debating getting a real live tree that's extra tall...our ceiling is about 10 ft. So we'll have to see how that works out.
Anyway.. that's the long and the short of it. We've just been plugging away here, bit by bit getting things done.
Randal will now have to see a physiotherapist for awhile, privately. We just found out that our health plan doesn't cover this...well I shouldn't say that they don't cover it...they cover $8 of each visit. Each visit is between $50 and $65! But we serve a big God who takes care of his children! He will work this out..even when things seem impossible...they aren't..not with God!
Oh...I almost forgot! His Mom is doing well too. She had a bloodclot that wasn't too big...which is a first! She usually waits until she is going crazy with pain before she goes in and by then the clot is huge. One time she went in with a clot that went from her knee down to her foot! So this was great to catch it before it grew. She's driving and back to herself!

THANK YOU all for your prayer~ I so very much appreciated it!

I just got a call from Randal. There are 15 people in the hallway in the hospital here in town where they want to transfer him. In other words...no beds available. They need the bed where he's at for someone else, so they are discharging him home and having someone come here to do rehab with him. This is not exciting. I'm exhausted and stressed....the thought of looking after him is...well...a bit overwhelming. Not that I don't want him home...it will be nice...I'm just worried about him not getting the care that he needs. He's going to need dressing changes on his back..and I don't know what else...But I guess we'll see about all that when he gets home. I guess this is a symptom of our health program in crisis.
Randal's mom is also coming home today. She'll go to her sister's in town here, as she shouldn't be staying alone. Will update later when I know more.

Today is Monday....first day after a very busy weekend. Like I've already said..Randal and his mom both had surgery in the past three days. Randal on Friday night and then his mom on Sunday night. She was supposed to have her surgery on Sunday morning, but the nurse didn't follow dr.'s orders and put blood thinners into her I.V. bag. Which caused her to have a long nosebleed and her blood was much too thin to be able to do surgery. She spent the afternoon/evening coughing up the blood. Then the other thing the nurse did was give her food on Sunday morning. She figured she should feed her because Florence is a diabetic and her blood sugar was really low. She should have put dextrose or something of that sort into her I.V. This made it impossible for them to do surgery for 12 hours. When her dr. came in he was furious! He went up one side of the nurse and down the other...right in front of Florence. She was quite amazed...she said she'd never seen a dr. do that before. Can't say that I'd blame him though. If the clot in Flo's leg had gone to her heart/brain and she had died before surgery because of these mistakes...it would have been very bad, obviously. So it has been quite the weekend! Hope you're all well.
So here's my devotional today... I thought it was an apt subject after the experience I just described.

Fellowship Without Forgiveness: Impossible
by Jon Walker

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

Fellowship without forgiveness is impossible.

As believers, we’re called “to settle our relationships with each other.” (2 Corinthians 5:18 MSG) We need to consistently forgive others and receive forgiveness from others, or we’ll “give up in despair.” (2 Corinthians 2:7 CEV)

Whenever we’re hurt by someone, we have a choice to make: Will we focus on retaliation or resolution?

The Bible speaks candidly about settling the score: “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15 NIV)

In God’s economy, it’s not enough to say we won’t seek revenge; we’re to press into the very heart of forgiveness, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave us. (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

The Bible is very clear that forgiveness is not optional for the Christ-follower. God sets this high standard because he knows how much is at stake in your life: Bitterness and unforgiveness are a cancer that eventually will destroy you from the inside out. Forgiveness is the scalpel that removes the tumor.

This doesn’t mean you’ll always be able to immediately forgive and be done with it. As you become more and more Christ-like, that will become possible, but for now you may have to work at forgiving someone who has hurt you in a particularly painful way. In other words, you may forgive this person but soon begin to feel a root of unforgiveness growing in your heart.

When this occurs, you can go to King Jesus and ask him to help you with this cycle. He will help you release the offender, and the Holy Spirit will guide you in your effort.

A major point here is that forgiveness is a choice you can make. The power of God, working within you, means you no longer have to remain a slave to unforgiveness or bitterness.

In Colossians, the Apostle Paul provides the basis and motivation for forgiveness: “You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13 NLT, italics added). When we remember the price Jesus paid to forgive us, how can we not forgive? (Romans 5:8)

What now?

· When you forgive, you’re not pretending it didn’t hurt – Forgiveness means you no longer hold the offense against the offender. It means you’ve pardoned the debt, and you’ve intentionally chosen to release the one who hurt you. We’re to love deeply, because “love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8 NIV)

· Stop right now and talk to God – Have an honest conversation with God about someone you need to forgive. Our heavenly Father knows that it’s not easy to let go of our hurts, but he will give you the grace to forgive.

· Be honest with God – Cry out to God; tell him exactly how you feel. He won’t be surprised or upset by your anger, hurt, insecurity, or bitterness.

© 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

UPDATE

Randal is doing quite well.. the surgeon is happy with the surgery. It looks pretty good. I don't think there will be any permanent nerve damage..he was up and walked with a walker to the door of his room once today and sat up twice. I've been away from home for 2 nights and the kids farmed out to some wonderful friends.
The kids were brought to the hospital tonight to see Dad and then I brought them home. So we're all at home tonight except for Randal.
I stopped in at Randal's mom's place on the way home and she was having strong symptoms of a blood clot in her leg. So I made some calls and had her other son "convince" her to go to the hospital. I don't think she was very pleased with me, but you don't mess with this! She has already had 14 leg surgeries with life and death implications, in the past couple or three years. So anyway..this is not good but our God is and He is very capable and willing to take care of her and to see her through this as He is with Randal...
So....please add Florence to your list of people to pray for.
thank you so much...and please pray that nothing else happens around here!
♥Heather

M.I.A.

I just wanted to let you all kn0w that I may not be around for a few days.
Randal hurt his back and the last several days have been bad for him. He has been having a LOT of trouble walking. He's needed support to walk. So he ended up falling quite a few times this week. We figured it probably happened on Tuesday as that was an extra bad day. When I say "it", I mean the ruptured disk. His disc between the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae has ruptured out and into the spinal canal. It is compressing the nerves that normally hang in that space and he has next to no control over his legs. Why didn't we go to the dr. sooner, you say? Mmmmm... well mostly because he's hurt his back before and going to the chiropractor and resting has fixed it up. So Wednesday and Thursday he saw the chiropractor and he told Randal that this looks very serious and to go see his dr. So yesterday morning we went to our dr. and he sent us straight to emergency to meet the neurologist. He had several tests done. Once the results were back the neurologist came back and explained to us that Randal has a ruptured disk and that they want to operate right away last night. The hospital here doesn't do that kind of surgery so they want to transfer him to the next city where the neurosurgeon is. There weren't any beds at the hospital where they do the surgery, so they ended up keeping him overnight where he is. So right now I'm waiting to hear from them as to when they will transfer him. The neurologist did say that they want to do this surgery pronto so that there isn't permanent paralysis in his legs. So sometime today. Please pray for him today.
Thanks alot.
♥Heather

Unprecedented Wind Storm

Today we had an incredible wind storm. It started last night and continued through the night and throughout the day. It was awesome to watch but had sad results for many inhabitants of our fine city. The winds were gusting up to 65 mph/105kmh! Very high winds..maybe not for those of you who live in hurricane country but this is unheard of in this area! We went for a walk down by the lake where the wind was gusting in off the lake.I was SO annoyed that I didn't have a camera, but I did find some pictures on the internet. So here you go......


One of the many broken pine trees in the park.



Uprooted trees by the dozens! I heard that about half of the pine trees in the park are down.




The waves were roaring up onto the beach..I don't think I've ever seen such large waves on a lake..although it's hard to tell how big they are in this picture. On the news they had footage of someone surfing and the guy disappeared under the curl of the wave!!



The water is normally about 20 feet to the left of that sign.
While we walked along the sea(lake)wall the wind was almost blowing us off our feet. It made us weave as we walked along. The sand was whipped up and we felt like we were being sand blasted at times. Why, you say, would you go out in this?? Well...for no good reason other than to feel the sheer force of the wind and be out in it experiencing natures amazing force!
They said on the news that this is the worst wind storm that our city has ever experienced.
photos courtesy of Goog*le.
(Peter...I can't comment on your new blog...can you contact me via my email on my profile? thx)

Remembrance Day.

Today we paused to remember those who gave their lives in honour of their families and their countries.
Since today was Remembrance Day our church service was rescheduled to start at 9 am so that we'd all have lots of time to get over to the cenotaph for the ceremony.
We got there and I was pleasantly surprised to see a huge crowd! We couldn't see anything that was going on until we walked around to the other side of the crowd and then we were able to at least peek around and through the crowd. I found it an emotional ceremony. All our lives we've heard about these men dying for their country.(now women too) Today it really hit home for me. I suddenly had a revelation of just what these people actually sacrificed for! They did NOT do this for themselves, really...They did it for the generations coming after them. Generations that they would not see, even if they did manage to survive the war! What an incredible sacrifice...it's mind boggling really..and I have to really think about it to grasp and hold onto that "aha!" moment that I had today. I was also contemplating and wondering how many generations after would we remember...would it really have any meaning for. How many....one, two, maybe three...It's really sad how forgetful we are. It's our responsibility to remember.

I found it a sober day today thinking about this all. Especially now that we have a current conflict going on that we're involved in.
I'm so thankful for those that have sacrificed and continue to...Many of them gave the ultimate sacrifice..and to all of them I say THANK YOU!