MOM AND NATURE

These pictures John took after mom yelled for us to come back to her room. This Pileated Woodpecker was only 25 feet from her window. What you can't see is that there is a decayed piece of wood and he was getting a lot of good food from it. I think we watched him a good 5 minutes. Nature gives us such pleasure when we take time to just enjoy it.

Mom is eating like a horse.....here is a sample.

Last night I cooked a pork roast and has a casserole of sauerkraut that had sliced apples in it and brown sugar with broth from the roast. I made mashed potatoes too. Mom had 3 helpings.

If I cook what she likes she will eat and at this time eating anything is a plus.

Her joy comes from shuffling stuff from one drawer to another and back again. She is excited to have her stuff again. She does forget where some things are and also what she left in the home she sold in Florida. So we tell her again and again....

She does sleep quite a lot......her strength is just not there. She has been coming out for lunch and supper but I spoil her with breakfast in bed. She has a hospital table and so that makes it easy for her. She has not been able to read at all and cannot work her puzzles. This all frustrates her and we hear outbursts from her room.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store for her....she wanted Honey Buns, good hoop cheese, split pea soup, stuff to make tomato gravy on fried potatoes and ice cream sandwiches. Her new love is white cheese crackers and I get them for her....we hope the salt makes her drink because she will not drink and I worry about more bladder infections and with chronic kidney disease it is a concern.

We will be home for Easter. I have a small ham, sweet potatoes, green beans red beet eggs and a cake. I hope to make it as festive time. I sure will miss our kids and grand kids....

Aunt Gladys gave me a "Caregivers Journal" and this week I have been journaling on "It is a Privilege". Matthew 25:40 gave me a start,

"And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

In the eyes of the world mom's dependence on John and myself makes her "a least one". But she is my mother and she cared for me when I was a "least one". Now it is my privilege to care for her.

1 Timothy 5:8 says,

"But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. "

Mom is now a member of our household and this is a mandate for John and I to do our best. It is a strange thing to have mom rely on me.....a reversal of roles.....but one I do want to do for her and for the Lord. Pray for us because we are learning.....