wow

Leaving tomorrow to see my oldest graduate from college, Thursday...my second is giving her testimony in church on the same night...two awesome milestones... I am very proud of them both...Thank you, Lord, for Your Grace....such a big word, such significance in that one word... Grace...:) Be blessed this Memorial Weekend!!!!!

This was the reading in the NT for today!!!! God knows I need to sleep!!! :)

²⁵"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life^[a]?

²⁸"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Happy New Year!

I have not posted in awhile... but I love to read the other blogs out there... Time has not permitted and sleep deprivation has made me a bit slow to think clearly... Night time help is here again.. I am praying I can continue with my night time caregiver the four nights I have him, but may need to cut back to two or three nights a week instead...

My devotion this morning was especially relevant to me today...Here is the verse.

Romans 8:28-34 (New American Standard Bible)

28And we know that ^[a]God causes ^(A)all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are ^(B)called according to His purpose.

29For those whom He ^(C)foreknew, He also ^(D)predestined to become ^(E)conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the ^(F)firstborn among many brethren;

30and these whom He ^(G)predestined, He also ^(H)called; and these whom He called, He also ^(I)justified; and these whom He justified, He also ^(J)glorified.

31^(K)What then shall we say to these things? ^(L)If God is for us, who is against us?

32He who ^(M)did not spare His own Son, but ^(N)delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

33Who will bring a charge against ^(O)God's elect? ^(P)God is the one who justifies;

34who is the one who ^(Q)condemns? Christ Jesus is He who ^(R)died, yes, rather who was ^[b](S)raised, who is ^(T)at the right hand of God, who also ^(U)intercedes for us.

It also took me to a portion of Biblegateway that helps you to read the Bible in a year. I didn't really have a resolution, except for the usual, eat healthier, exercise regularly, etc. So I think that will be my resolution.

Do you have a resolution for the New Year?

Blessings!!!! TJ

tagged by my daughter who is far more creative than I am :)

I have been tagged by the lovely Sierra, who was tagged by the lovely Hannah, so here goes!

J- Joyful

O- Ordinary

A-Ample

N-Noisy

Jay Thompson's

My husband is a composer, a teacher, an inventor, an artist, a pianist, and an avid prankster. Before ALS attacked his body, laughter permeated from our household, and music could be heard at all hours of the night.

I remember initially, the nights he would awaken with horrible cramps in his legs, and rushing to buy calcium tablets thinking it was some kind of vitamin deficiency. I remember that a man who could type 150 wpm on the computer keyboard, and in the next instant sit down and play a mean Rachmonanoff, was suddenly unable to open a ketchup packet. I remember the fear that me gripped when the doctors starting throwing around the acronym "ALS". I had done my research, and I knew what it meant...3 to 5 years, and a horrible piece by piece deterioration of his physical body, ending in death, most likely by suffocation.

When we received the news, Jay sat quietly staring. It was Fall of 2005, and by Christmas, he was using a cane. He watched the girls unwrapping their gifts and a deep sadness gripped him. "How many more Christmas's?" he wondered... By April of 2006, he was in a wheelchair, and by the following Fall, he was unable to play his beloved piano. The year 2007 brought the full time use of a breathing device called a Bi-pap machine and a feeding tube and no more of his favorite beef ribs. It was also the end of family dinners...By Christmas 2007, he was experiencing respiratory failure. In January of 2008, Jay was ventilated, effectively taking all of his speech and leaving him completely dependant on a machine for his life.

We do not have the funds to hire full time nursing care, so my daughter's and myself have learned the ins and outs of vent care, tube feeding, changing dressings, transferring, and generally caring for a completely paralyzed ventilator dependant person. Some nights, no one sleeps. Often, we hold each other and cry at what these two years have wrought, but most of all, we are grateful. Grateful for each day that we are together and what it has taught us.

Jay has never lost his fighting spirit. He has composed an entire children's musical using a software program and one functioning finger. He is quickly learning an eyegaze system, so that when the use of his last remaining finger leaves him, he will still be able to communicate using his eyes and a computer keyboard. He is now composing a string quartet, and completing his 9th time reading through the Bible. He is his daughter's hero, and my beloved. We have been given two years to learn a lot about each other and the love and compassion of those around us.

I will not pretend that the suffering and losses are not huge, but I will say, that we have chosen to walk this road with a positive attitude and peace in our hearts. We are human, and we grieve, but we know that something far greater than us is at work here and that the human spirit is far stronger than we think it is.

The best outcome, would be a cure. My husband would be able to walk his girls down the aisle on their wedding days. He would see his younger daughter's graduate high school and his older daughter's graduate college. He would grow old with me in the small town we always dreamed of living in together. In my dreams, I see a cure for this disease, and a monster being destroyed. I see people with ravaged bodies whole again... I see my husband.. able to hug me and tell me in his precious voice, that he loves me.

TJ Thompson
CALS to Jay Thompson

Just saw "Becoming Jane"... tragically sad :( Great movie, though...very honest. Blessings!

yikes!

What a day it's been! This morning, I went to feed Jay, after basically spending a very wakeful night with him also, and to my suprise, his feeding tube had popped right out of his stomach! Well, being the kind of family we are, Jess took pictures from every angle, of the displaced tube, and the sad hole in her dad's stomach! Aubrey, who accompanied me to the emergency room, made sure she had a front row seat as the doctor created a new hole (the old one had closed up), and inserted a brand new feeding tube! Call us morbid, but Jay has taught the girls to be curious and inquisitive, and indeed they are, as witnessed today. Thankfully, it was an inpatient procedure and we were home in two hours... Talk about a nailbiter! Poor Jay, foodless for a day...As if he doesn't have enough going on! Hope everyone's doing well, and keeping their food in their tummies, haha! Love and hugs, TJ/Mama T.