Praise be to God for his faithfulness - Larry is home!

It's been a tough go the last few weeks, but Glory be to God Larry's surgery went well.  He had the valve replacement heart surgery on Tuesday May 13th.  It was funny because it took about 2 hours prep time and he finally went in at 9:00 and was out of surgery about 12:13.  I saw him a couple hours after that.  He asked me when the surgery was going to take place.....I was so glad he didn't remember anything.  He had tubes everywhere and was very groggy and tired.  I only stayed for a bit and just let him rest. 

I was fortunate to have my daughter who lives in Capital Hill in Seattle so I drove over to her place and stayed the night, as I did for the remainder of Larry's stay in the hospital.  I have to say Virginia Mason may be an older hospital but the nursing staff at CCU and his surgeon and everyone else who came into contact with Larry was amazing.  I believe God's hands were all over this one.  He sent the right doctors to do the surgery and take care of him while in the hospital.  God is so good.  It was such a blessing too to be able to spend time with my daughter Michelle, we had some good mom and daughter time.

So fast forward to today, Larry got out of the hospital on Saturday the 17th, he was progressing rapidly and doing his walking and breathing into a tube to open up his lungs.  I guess during this type of open heart surgery they pretty much put everything to sleep and had actually stopped his heart for the duration of the surgery, scary but necessary.  Anyway, he began to feel good within days and no hard pain, just his back because I guess they open up your chest and pull your shoulders back to be able to access your heart, that sounds painful to me. 

We stayed at a local apartment complex very close to the hospital so we could be there for his follow up appointment which would be in a few days.  We live on Whidbey Island so the drive would not have been good for Larry in his condition.  So on Tuesday we were at the hospital once again for his follow up appointment.  We met with the surgical nurse and she was awesome.  Larry of course first had blood drawn and xrays and an ekg to make sure everything was functioning properly and all his stats were good.  She was amazing and gave us some great tips on keeping the incision clean and such.  She gave him a clean bill of health to go home.  So home we went. 

The 2-1/2 hour drive was good and we didn't have much traffic that time of day.  Larry was so glad to be going home.  Today is Friday and we have been home for 4 days now, he is improving every day, getting stronger and resting a lot.  He is doing his walking and breathing and his blood sugar numbers are really good too.  His appetite has improved a bit, because when he got out of the hospital he wasn't hungry at all, the Doctor said it was to be expected. 

So my praise is to you dear God for your faithfulness and grace in all this that has transpired in our lives.  You have brought us closer to you and to each other.  I love Larry with all my heart and I love caring for him, sometimes it can be a challenge, but I know God will give me the grace for whatever comes our way.  Larry is also so very grateful for this second change in life to live out his days with a much healthier heart.  I know he will take better care of himself from here on in.  Besides I will be here to make sure of that.

Thank you Jesus for everything and all of your for your prayers and love!!!

God be with you all.

Stop and think....about your life!

Top of the morning to you all.  I am happy to report that after my last post my husband Larry is still doing well and we have an appointment with the cardio surgeon next week in Seattle.  This is a consult and he will be scheduling my husband for his open heart surgery, so all your prayers are certainly welcome.

Today I wanted to share a very cool video titled "Stop and Think" by Francis Chan.  As you recall Francis Chan also wrote an amazing book called "Crazy Love" which I did a review on hubpages.  The book is excellent and will certainly help you in your walk with God and on how to become closer to Him.  This video which I highly recommend sharing with family and friends, takes on an emotional flair regarding the gospel and why Jesus died on the cross for us.  He explains the love of God with passion. View it and pass it along to someone who possibly does not know the Lord, hopefully this will give them a chance to really stop and think about where they came from and why they are here. They may also understand more of just how much God truly loves them.  

I am also attaching a link to my newest project Re-cycled light bulb snowman ornament, that I am sharing with everyone on Squidoo.  It's the instructions on how to make a very cute snowman from a burnt out light bulb, the kids will love this one and so will you.  

Blessings to you and keep spreading God's word and love!!!!! ya hear!

 

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God shows up in the toughest of times.......

Good morning to you all.  I have not had a chance to write any posts in this blog due to my husband having developed heart issues in the last month or so.  It's been a roller coaster of a ride for him and me.  Starting with him getting very short of breath by just walking a few steps.  He is a strong man and never had any heart issues at all.  He has always been healthy for the most part.  He has type 2 diabetes which is at times hard to control but for the most part has been controlled by medication and a low carb diet.

Well, on Feb. 24th his shortness of breath and overly tired feeling just got the best of him.  I took him to the emergency room at Island Hospital in Anacortes and when we walked into the hospital his vitals were off the charts.  They started to do an EKG, took x-rays and discovered he had pneomonia, of course they admitted him right away and he was in ICU for about a day.  The next day he began to have chest pains and of course they gave him a nitro pill and it took the pain away so that meant more testing for the Drs.  At that time they discovered he also had (AFIB) artifibulation which is an irregular heart rate which was beating way too fast and was possibly the cause of the backed up fluids in the lungs.  So they wanted to do an angiogram which is where they place a tube through your groin area and can check for blockages.  Mind you my poor husband has never been hospitalized in his life, this was not good.  He hated being in the hospital and he hated the food, absolutely no appetite to speak of.

So they transferred him to Skagit Valley Hospital in Mt. Vernon by ambulance. The reason they transferred him was because at Island Hospital they did not do that particular procedure. He was checked into the hospital the evening of the 25th around 6:00 pm.  He had a much nicer and larger room there which was great.  I couldn't stay with him because I had not brought any change of clothes but promised I would the following night.  He didn't like staying there and gave the nurses a bit of a hard time that evening.

The next few days were rough, I stayed with him and didn't get any sleep whatsoever.  He would sleep at half hour intervals so the sleep was not good.  Besides they woke him up every few hours for blood work or vitals.  Whoever said people can get rest in a hospital has never had the pleasure of spending time there themselves.

So they did the procedure and thank goodness his sister and daughter came to be there and a close neighbor friend as well.  The procedure went well and they did not find any blockage but they did find that he as a bad aorta valve which is not pumping blood at the rate it should be.  This is a big problem, the AFIB they can control with medicine but the valve will need to be replaced.

So he was released on Feb. 28th and we rushed out of there because he wanted to get home, he was so sick of being in the hospital.  The nurses did not do a good job at explaining medications or gave me good instructions on how to treat him at home.  This was a big problem because after only 5 days when we went to see his cardiologist the mistake was caught.  They took him off 4 medications because the Dr. stated that Larry was taking double of the lower blood medications and that was the reason his blood pressure was so low.  Thank God he caught this.

On March 9th he was hospitalized once again with low blood pressure and congestive heart failure, so here we go again.  This hospital visit was much better because by now he was used to being in a hospital but that didn't mean he liked it.  His appetite still was not good and his spirits were a bit crushed.  The good thing about this visit was we had a great nurse a couple of days in a row, her name was Devyn.  She was a Christian lady and was a joy to be around.  One morning when Larry and I were having coffee at about 6:00, Larry was sitting on the edge of the bed and he began to sob quietly, he began to feel God's presence. He had never experienced this before and was so over joyed.  He began to say Jesus you are so clever.  He began thanking God and praising him for being with him during this aweful and trying time.  I hugged him and we prayed.  What a wonderful moment that was for Larry experiencing God's presence in his life.  Later on that morning Devyn came in again to take his vitals and then we started talking about Larry's experience.  She looked over to us and with wide eyes she said: "This morning about 6:00 I got in my car and I began to lift Larry up to the Lord in prayer for healing and for comfort".  We all looked at each other and in amazement we Praised God, she hugged us and we all smiled.  We know that God sends his Angels to protect and care for us and this was living proof of his faithfulness.

So fast forward Larry had a procedure to try and get his heart back into rythm called cardioversion.  This is where they shock the heart a couple of times in hopes that the heart will convert to regular rythm and that didn't work unfortunately.  But they had to do a procedure first to see if there were any blood clots and that came back negative on the clots.  So with new medicine the AFIB is controlled and possibly will help the heart revert back to normal rythm, that is what we are praying for.  Then the Drs. plans is to get him stronger to be able to have the heart valve replacement in the near future.  Today we find out the time line for this and go from there.

He was released back to my care on March 13th, this time the nurses went over every single item in great detail thank goodness and the effects of some medications and what to do if, etc.  This was so helpful and I appreciated that so much.  He is doing much better and eating a bit more than before. See one of the medications is a diet water pill which takes away his appetite, but he has to take it so he doesn't retain fluids.  So it's a catch 22, but with the Lord's help I know he can do it.  The other thing that happened after he was released the second time was his arm got infected where they had placed 2 IV's.  It was so red and soar poor guy, so we had to go back to the emergency for that as well. 

God is an amazing God and he has given us strength to get through some of the most difficult times ever.  I needed so much strength myself to do what needed to be done and God showed up for me as well.  Praise be to God and to him be all the Glory.  More to come and thank you for all your prayers for Larry!!!!!!

God is faithful!

Greetings to you and many apologies for not having posted on here sooner.  This year has started off in a most interesting way for me, what a blessing it has been.  I have been praying for the Lord to show me where He wanted me to work part-time - and boy is He faithful.  A few weeks ago I met Lynn at Whidbey Inspiration and went in for an interview with her and to make a long story short, I will be helping her with the embroidery in her shop - Praise God!  It was such a comfortable interview and we hit it off so well.  I will be helping her with the embroidery and alterations in her beautiful shop in downtown Oak Harbor.  I am so excited because this is a new craft adventure that I am entering into, I've done just about everything else in the craft profession  except embroidery.  I will be learning the awesome art of embroidery and so let the adventure begin.  I first of all want to thank her for being so gracious and God for this amazing faithfulness for this part-time opportunity that I can be a part of.  Besides alterations and embroidery,  Lynn and her daughter Karen make beautiful one of a kind jewelry, so I have placed a link to her online website below for you to check out when time permits.

Lynn guarantees her alterations and her prices are very reasonable. She has so many return customers because they love her work and her customer service.  This is going to be a fun adventure for me and I hope that my being there I can be a blessing to her as well.

Here is the link to her online website with her jewelry, be sure to check it out when you can. Whidbey Inspiration.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2014!!!!

Christmas comes and goes so quickly, at least it did for me.  There is so much preparation of food, and making hand crafts for loved ones, then it is over before you know it. But, the special memories that we keep in our hearts are of family being together and watching those grand children opening up their gifts, the smiles on their faces are priceless.  But foremost is celebrating Jesus birthday, he was sent to this world as a baby to die for us and bring salvation to the world, that is so amazing to me!  The love God has for us is beyond anything we could ever imagine or explain.  It's a lot to take in, but how grateful I am for Jesus and for His birth and Christmas.  It's what it's all about isn't it? 

I wanted to share a few pictures we took on Christmas, the first one is of my daughter and me holding the quilt I made for her.  She asked for one and I wasn't sure she would like the colors, but she loved it!!! That was so special.  This quilt wouldn't have been completed if it wasn't for my sweet daughter in law Mandy,.  See my sewing machine broke and she came to the rescue bringing her machine for me to use after my desperate phone call one evening, how grateful I am to her! The other photo is of our family, at least the ones that could be here this Christmas.  I love them all so very much and just wished that we all could have been together.  My oldest son Ken and family is in Virginia getting ready to move to Fallon Nevada later on this month, so he will be closer for us to visit.  It never is the same when all my kids and grandkids cannot be here.  But they were in our hearts!!!

This will be a short post today,  the new year also crept up on me pretty quickly, I still can't believe it's 2014!!! Wow, it's time to regroup, refocus on the new year and what God has in store for me.  I know it will include making things, creating patterns and loving those grandbabies of mine.  I want to wish every one of you the best year ever - just keep looking up and know you are loved by an awesome God, he is there for us no matter what we do.  His mercy is new each and every day, what hope that gives me!  Also the fact that I know that His plan for my life is better than anything I can plan for myself.  God Bless you and Happy New Year all!!!

I am thankful for so much this year - how about you?

Happy Thanksgiving, I know I am a day late and a dollar short!! We are having our Thanksgiving dinner tonight, so that my daughter Michelle could join us from Seattle.  We don't get to see her very often so it is going to be a treat.  I do hope that all of you had a wonderful dinner and gave thanks for the many blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon you and your family.

I know I have so much to be thankful for it's hard to begin.  But I will with the fact that no matter what comes my way I am so thankful that the Lord is with me to go through it.  No matter how disappointed I maybe about a situation, he is there with me.  That is so comforting to me.  Also thankful for my family that I love dearly, the grandkids all 9 of them, some I get to see often, others live far away.  But I lift them up to the Lord each and every day so I know they are in good hands - Praise God.  I have their photos in the front opening of my "Grandma Bible" that my dear friend Caroline gave me a few weeks ago, she is such a sweetie. There are prayers in the bible for each day to pray for your grandkids and their salvation, spiritual growth, talents, courage, etc.  It's very cool and I love it.

Thankful for my friends and sisters that love me and listen to me even when I am rattling off or go off key in one way or another, especially my friend Caroline. We have coffee every Tuesday and she is such a great listener and has so much wisdom it's hard to explain. She is truly an angel sent to me from God.  Thankful for my husband who loves me unconditionally, listens to me and just nods his head at times, and laughs when I do something really stupid.  He is my rock and I thank God for him each and every day.

Thankful for my daughter Michelle who is my friend and makes me laugh when I need a good one.  She is so witty and fun and is a blessing from God as well.  Thankful for my two sons, Sean and Jason and their wives, Krista and Mandy, respectively, who are such awesome caring and talented men.  The Lord has blessed them with such beautiful children who are all so talented, gifted and favored by God. 

The other thing I am grateful for is to have a part-time job this Christmas season for a little extra spending money.  I am working at "A Knot In Thyme" for the month of December in the gift shop.  It is such a fun and beautiful place to work, they sell beautiful Christmas Trees, Holly Wreaths and so many other items in the gift shop that include; candles, tea blends, dips, ornaments, ceramic birds, jewelry, handmade soaps, and so much more.  They are even carrying my handmade "Seashell Angels" this year. 

 

Noel Seashell Angel 

How to Listen to God the book by Dr. Charles Stanley

Greetings everyone, today I wanted to share some information from a book that I am reading called "How to Listen to God" by Dr. Charles Stanley.  He is one of my favorite authors and when I began this book I just could not put it down.  Ever have that happen to you?  When you are reading a book filled with so much "meat" if you will, you just cannot get enough, at least I can't.  Be sure to check out his book it is featured in the Amazon books section on the right hand side of my blog.

In this book Dr. Stanley gives us an insight as to the methods that God uses to communicate with us.  Some do not understand that just a feeling in your spirit sometimes, or a thought in your mind is and can be from God. Then the big question is what do we do when we hear those things, do we listen or do we just blow it off to - well, that can't be God.  I know because I have experienced that small voice numerous times in my life.  I now pray every day for the Holy Spirit to show me and help me to act upon what it is God is trying to do in my life in and through me. There have been many times when I acted and was so blessed by doing so, blessings came to the person God placed in my thoughts and to me in different ways later on.  I am connecting the dots now and can see how God works and it's so awesome!

There is a particular way that God gets our attention that we are not excited about and that is "tragedy". If you remember in Numbers 21:4 the Israelites were on their journey from Mt. Hor by the way of the Red Sea, they had to go around the land of Edom.  It was during this time they became very discouraged along the way.  They were so discouraged they began to speak against God and Moses, saying "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food or water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread." So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of them died.  Then the people came to Moses and said: "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed.

We can't always view tragedy as a sign of God's disapproval, but it helps to take a closer look at each tragedy and situation through a spiritual filter.  That can be very difficult at times.  As in the case of a young lady named Joni Eareckson Tada.  She is living evidence of God's sovereign design in calamity.  When she was a teenager, full of God's vibrancy, Joni's life was radically altered one summer afternoon when she dove into a pool of shallow water.  In the twinkling of an eye she was introduced to the numb world of quadriplegics.  She was hospitalized for months on end with little hope for her now-shaky future.  We then ask the question: "How can God allow this?" I am sure she thought this over and over in her mind day and night.  Then slowly her faith in God began to surmount her anxious and sometimes bitter queries.

Later in years, she developed the remarkable capacity to paint with a brush gripped in her teeth. Her heart for God grew by leaps and bounds and a ministry to millions began.  A ministry birthed and nourished by tragedy.  Her books, movies, lectures, and special outreach to the handicapped have made her overcoming life a familiar story to most Christians worldwide.

If you walk with God every day and obey his teachings and His word we are assured that He is with us, through the good times and the bad.  He turns the bad into good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  But when a tragedy comes your way, that's a good time to examine our actions and our obedience to the God of the Universe who knows all things and loves us so very much.  I encourage you today to read this book and get a better insight as to how important it truly is to "Listen to God".

Be blessed!

Today I want to also introduce to you my hub where I share some of my favorite Mexican dishes that I grew up eating and loving.  They are chicken tamales, pumpkin empanadas and penoche.  Yummy, here is the link to the hub.  Enjoy and God Bless!