The time is going fast. I don't even know where it's going. It won't be long before our hot temperatures will give way to something a little cooler. I hope. By October, we should be down in the 80's.

Gabe is leaving Xanga September 1. His new blog will be here. But he will be here in Houston, at our church, on October 3. I hope all of you in our area (and some who aren't) will put it on your calendar.

I got home from the hospital a little after 10:00 tonight. Mamma is doing so much better. She's eating now. Not a lot at one time, but little bits fairly often, and she is gaining strength. We've been taking her stuff. Tonight I took chicken salad, crackers, breakfast bars, and apple slices to dip in either caramel or peanut butter. Laurie has been taking her scrambled eggs and sausage in the mornings. She's an early bird, and works at NASA, so she runs by the hospital in the morning.

Heather got her a table to put by the window, and we have it loaded down with stuff. There's a vase of flowers and 2 potted plants. There's a teddy bear. This afternoon, I got a really pretty picture frame, and framed one of their wedding pictures, to put on the table. Tonight I took the scrapbook I've been working on, but brought it back home to finish it. It should be finished in a couple of days.

I told her tonight about all the things that happened at the other hospital. She does not remember any of it. But she did say she either dreamed or imagined that we had all gotten together and were trying to put her away. I told her I thought she might have been thinking something like that. That explains why she was so angry and combative. She thought she was fighting for her life.

See that salt-glazed stoneware crock on the right end, top of the cabinet? Well, somehow, in the early morning hours, it ended up on the floor....in pieces. I was awake, and heard it hit the floor. I had a sick feeling. Things hit the floor around here all the time with cats in the house, but this was a very expensive crash. I started not to get up, but then I thought, "What if that crock fell on one of the baby kittens?"

Most of the pieces are fairly large, so they are easy to glue together. It's those little shards of pottery that went somewhere on the crock, but I have no idea where. Those crocks are very heavy, so I did not think one of the cats could knock one off. I guess the cats have been lifting weights. They climb up there all the time, because the stair rail is right behind it. They have been up there nearly 2 years, but nothing has ever happened....till now ("they" being the crocks, not the cats).

But I have to go to Walmart to get more glue. And my car is in the shop.

My mom was moved yesterday, to a rehabilitation hospital much closer to home, to try to get her strong enough for heart surgery. Now my dad can come and go, without waiting for one of us to take him. He is also a heart patient, and he doesn't do freeways. They really make him nervous.

Two of my sisters were with Mamma when she was moved yesterday, so she had familiar faces with her. She is less than 10 minutes away from our church, so members can go and visit her, too. The hospital where she was, was 30 minutes away, you had to get there by freeway, and it cost us $15 each time, to park. So all of us together have spent around $500 in the past month, to park out there.

Daddy has been having chest pains again, so he went to his cardiologist yesterday. I decided I would not go up to the hospital with my sisters, in case Daddy needed me here. I could just see us all being at the hospital, and he'd have a heart attack. He is scheduled for an echocardiogram on the 27th, with the possibility of having another angioplasty and stent. He actually told the doctor he would prefer to do that, and get a few more years. I told him, "Or 10,000 miles, which ever comes first." He always protested having another heart cath before. Now he needs to stick around to take care of Mamma. He has several stents, but one blockage was only 70% at the time of the last heart cath, and they won't put in a stent until it's at least 80%. I'm sure it is at least 80% blocked by now. Daddy has had bypass surgery twice, with 5 bypasses done. One of them is already blocked. That was from the first bypass surgery, which will be 20 years ago, in October.

You might think, from what you hear in the news, that this heart disease was caused by over-eating and no exercise. That would be wrong. This is a genetic thing. My dad is thin. My grandfather had bad heart disease. My dad is one of his father's 5 children...and they all have (or did have) heart disease. On the day my dad had his 2nd bypass surgery, his cousin was being buried. He also died of the same heart disease.

My dad's cardiologist (and mine, too, for a time) said we have a genetic blood clotting problem. But we also have a problem with atrial fibrillation. That in itself, can cause blood clotting problems. It also increases the chance of stroke. I have it, and so do my kids. A couple of my sisters do, too. It's a mix-up in electrical signals to the chambers of the heart. We are just wired wrong.

Are We on a Slippery Slope to Fascism?

The goal of this hospital is to get her stronger, so that she can have the surgery. While I believe in miracles with all my heart, I am not sure she is going to get stronger. I think she is in the dying process. It may not be God's will for her to be healed here on this earth. But she will be healed when she gets to Heaven. No dialysis. No nausea. No pain from the bed sore she has developed. No more checking her sugar several times a day, and giving herself insulin. No more uncontrollable high blood pressure. No more pain from terrible arthritis that is crippling her. No more heart disease.

Many people believe that if we just pray hard enough, we will get what we want. We will get physical healing. I have a cousin who believes that "... by His stripes  we are healed," (Isa 53:5) means we will be physically healed if we just pray. And God might choose to do that. But that scripture means that by the wounding Jesus endured (death on the cross after being beaten within an inch of His physical life) we are eternally healed from the suffering of living in Hell, apart from Him, if we only accept His gift of salvation.

God's ways are not our ways.

Isa 55:8-9....8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"  declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. NIV

When our little baby daughter, Rachel Elizabeth, was so ill, we prayed that God would make her well. He did. That night, her little heart stopped beating after her brain hemorrhaged, and her soul instantly went to be with the God that sent her to us in the first place. And she was healed. Totally and completely. She'll never hurt again. That was not from a failure to pray hard enough. That was simply what God had planned for her.

Her short little life had a purpose, and that was to bring Steve closer to God. It's a long story, but he has given that testimony in church. And it gave me a husband who went from fighting God, to teaching and preaching....and using his God-given ability to teach others about Jesus. I know he never in his wildest dreams, thought that was what he would end up doing.

When and if she does die, I will sing It Is Well With My Soul. And she will see Rachel.

Listen to this man sing. He has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard.

We still don't know for sure what day her heart surgery will be. Just sometime next week. But I would not be surprised if it is Monday.

I'm not getting things done around the house, and I feel guilty about it. On the days I am home, I don't feel like doing much. And I have to rest my knee to keep it from swelling so bad. At least last night I did hang a new curtain (but I need to hem it a little shorter).

I'm jealous of my husband. He has now lost 23 lbs. Well, maybe not really jealous...I'm just not as far along on the weight loss as he is. But I am so glad he is losing. It will be much better for his health. He'll feel a whole lot better.

But here's a video to watch. Thank you Carolyn: