Home Sweet Home

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace. (Psalm 29:11)

This will be my last week writing on the blessings from my Dad’s accident.  I could continue as the blessings keep to pouring in, but I want to get started on another study with you.

The time had come for my dad to come home.  He came home July 14th.  What a sweet day it was.  My sister Abigail picked dad up from the nursing home in Crosby and helped him get settled in.  Paul, Zion, and I were on a flight to get there by the evening so we could spend dad’s first week at home with him.

There were many sweet blessings that came out of this…

1.  We had several people come to clean dad’s house, weed his garden, and mow his lawn so that it was all ready for him to come home.  Thank you family and friends for helping us make dad’s transition back to home a sweet one!

2.  It was a huge blessing to be able to spend this first week at home with my dad.  It was an honor to serve him and watch him enjoy the comforts of home again.

3.  Dad’s homecare nurse was a Christian.  That’s always a bonus!

4.  We had a nice family fire one night roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.  It was a sweet time to enjoy just being family.

5.  Seeing my dad on his riding lawn mower.  He was like a little boy in a candy shop.  So happy to be doing something independently and without the help of anyone else.  He tore around that yard like it was a racetrack.  It was fun to watch him come back to life a little bit.

6.  Asking my dad if there was anything else I could do for him.  I really didn’t feel like I was doing enough.  Dad’s communication was still fairly limited and he was pretty quiet most of the time. He looked at me and said, “You are doing just fine.  All my children have really blessed me.”

7.  It was fun to watch dad interact with my son Zion.  He pretended like he knew what Zion was saying and they had a sweet conversation back and forth.  It was fun to watch my dad be Papa Ray.

8.  Watching my dad water his garden.  Every simple thing was such a joy to me.  I took a picture of my dad watering the garden and he looked at me with a look that said, “Really?”  It was a big deal to me, but to him it was life as normal again.

9.  Playing cards with dad.  We had some sweet conversations over cards and just enjoyed fellowship time together.

10.  My husband was able to be with us the whole week.  This helped a ton.  We were a team and that made it a ton easier!

11.  My aunt Susan flew in to take care of my dad for two weeks.  She started where we left off.

12.  The loving touch from my aunts Paulette, Denise, and Susan.  All of my dad’s sisters have been deeply touched by watching their brother go through this and have been a huge encouragement to us.  There is an extra dose of love that they have really poured out on us through this.

13.  Watching my dad push Zion on his swing and make him laugh.  Oh, these are the moments I always want to remember!

Have you counted your blessings lately?  What has the Lord done for you?  How will you celebrate God’s amazing work?  Please don’t waste your time worrying, fretting, or being anxious.  Your time is valuable.  Redeem it by finding the greatest things to focus on.  Find the time to count your blessings and see that God is faithful.  He will never fail you!

Dear Father God, Thank you for bringing dad home!  And thank you so much for allowing me to be there for his first week at home.  I continue to be so grateful for your tremendous work in my dad’s life.  May you continue your healing in him and may all of this serve to advance your glory!

Counting My Blessings,