After a horrible night's sleep, I am up early today anticipating the delivery of roofing materials. Not that I think I have to be here because goodness knows, that stuff isn't coming into the house, only on top of it. I'm excited that Roy has spoken to a contractor about our front porch. The economy has caught up here and most contractors have more business than they have had in a long time. Other projects down the road, the back deck conversion and the master bath remodel.
Buddy and I had a little tiff last night. She was restless and really wanted a treat. I had gone to bed and wasn't going back downstairs. Then compassion overruled my heart and mistakenly I thought maybe Buddy is having trouble making the big jump onto the bed. So idiot that I am and knowing better, I picked Buddy up to put her on the bed. Oh my, what a mistake. She was unhappy and she was ready to tear into me the moment I sat on the bed. So I am trying to think this out...an aside, her nails really need to be trimmed. I knew she was going to have to be banished because there wasn't any way I was going to be able to get in bed and go to sleep. I should have picked her up using a towel but silly me, thought I could pick her up quickly and get her into the hall. She scratched my arm and hand up pretty good on the way to the hall. Out she went, door shut...banished from my presence. I have read that separation is one of the only things discipline wise that will get a cat's attention. Of course, I could not sleep and within thirty minutes she was crying outside the door. After about an hour, I opened the door and went back to bed. She jumped up and laid down beside me....purring and she went to sleep. Glad one of us slept well. We don't have these times very often and I knew better than to pick her up and put her on the bed. Buddy has a temper...such a diva. For the most part it stays away. Guess Buddy isn't different than most of us, not wanting to be controlled and having decisions made for us without any consultation.
I love the conversations that Roy and I have in regards to life and such. He had been thinking about a conversation he had with a friend. They discussed how the church, especially when it comes to men's ministry, buys into too much of the transitionary culture of the day. He has never thought this warrior idea was a good thing and has said many times, those programs or studies are really making men into Esaus and not Jacobs. Now I will tell you Roy is as strong as they come, maybe not physically but spiritually and mentally...oh yes. There isn't anybody else that I want praying for me more than Roy. He goes about quietly doing his work, stepping in to help with little regard to ego...who gets credit or if his name is mentioned at all on any project. He truly does not grow weary in doing good.
Well, the roofing material didn't come today but Mark Batterson's latest did, Chase the Lion. I applied to be on the launch team and thankful I was chosen. I have a God sized dream and anything I can learn about that whole journey is welcomed. They put the first two chapters in PDF but I reread them today as I began the book. Chapter 3 is blowing me away. This evening I sat out on the front porch reading and watching the cows...as well as the birds. The third chapter talks so much of kindness and how one small act of kindness can change everything and leave an ongoing legacy. You cannot help but think of the kindness' extended to us. If you did a timeline of my life and where it should have all gone wrong and of course, you would see people that God placed in my life that extended such kindnesses that were truly life changing. I have no clue why I thought about this but I remember when it was becoming apparent I needed female surgery and when I left the appointment with the doctor, we all agreed that this would be done to improve the quality of life for me. Driving home in nearly 5:00 traffic on the loop, the call came in from the doctor office.The call surprised me cause I wasn't supposed to hear back from them until the next week. The ultra sound I had just had revealed I had a large tumor and the doctor told me he would not know until he got in there if it was malignant or benign and that he would be changing the surgery date that he had given me. Not sooner but later, July 5th. I tried to get ahold of Roy, but he was in meetings. so I had the long traffic filled drive home to think through what I had just been told. Not only did I have the long drive, but Roy emailed me from the meeting letting me know it was going to go much later than he had anticipated. Man, I felt so alone and yet I knew God's presence was with me. Roy knew moments after the surgery was completed, that the news was good. He was so happy and so was I when I came out of my morphine induced euphoria. Also, I would like to interject that another kindness was Cynthia Crain, who came and sat with Roy during surgery. While he attended to the paperwork of having a private room, she escorted me with all the nurses being wheeled into my room. The day after surgery the doctor came by to see me. The tumor was benign and he revealed that he had changed the surgery date because the oncologist he felt like would be best for my situation wasn't available until the 5th. He went on telling me he had really thought with the way the tumor looked and the size...he had everything prepped for the news, malignant. I told him about family and friends who had prayed and that God still had things for me to do. He then said the kindest words to me, encouraging me to be helpful with others who would face the same surgery. He sat there on the edge of the hospital bed talking to me like a friend for over twenty minutes and I think it is one of the kindest things a doctor has ever done. In fact, he called me several weeks after surgery and asked if I would talk to one of his patients facing the same circumstances as I had to encourage her and help her with fears. I have always called that time in life and the six weeks recovery, the time of new mercies. Each morning I truly saw the new mercies of God. How kind of the Lord to do that for me.
It would be so kind of me to draw this long post to a close...so I shal do just that.
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