Wow. It has been almost a month since I have blogged! I think that is the longest I have ever gone between posts. But with good reason- we have been BUSY. Summer is in full swing and with two {basically} new jobs I have not had much time to sit, let alone sit down at the computer.
I have been working for a home health company on a prn basis for a couple of months now. I LOVE it, as I always have loved home health, but it is too up and down with the amount of hours they can provide. I decided to sort-of look for something else. Once again God was so faithful in providing another job opportunity. A friend {that I actually hired to work at Choice Home Care when I was the Director there} had a wonderful job, but was moving and needed someone to take over. Long story short-- I took in my resume and was hired! I am officially the Wellness Director at an Assisted Living Facility and am loving it so much. We have 23 sweet little residents, each with their own little apartments. They eat in the dining room three times a day, and participate in all different activities throughout the day. They are so precious and are always up for visiting. There is music playing constantly, and we even have a dog and a cat that live there with their owners. I cannot say enough about this job. It is 22 hours/week {which has also worked out perfectly!}. I am responsible for overseeing the aides and medication aides, communicating with the doctors, and the general wellness of our residents.
It has also been a blessing to be able to refer a few of our patients to Compassionate Care Hospice. This week I have seen several of my old employees {many of whom I have not gotten to see since the day I left Compassionate Care after I got the phone call about Caroline's diagnosis from Dr. Bertsch}. It has been so refreshing to see these amazing people. They have been my safety net- just supporting me from close enough so that I know they are there, but far enough to allow us time to grieve and return to our new normal. I have been so happy to see each of them.
I have also really gotten to know one of the families of one of the patients I referred to hospice. The patient's daughter and her husband attend her church, and they are just great people. Today the dying man's wife told me that he told her not to be sad for him when he dies. He said "that will be his greatest promotion yet." What an amazing way to view this life and the next. Talk about perspective. I couldn't get those words out of my head this afternoon, and also kept thinking about my Caroline and the verse in the Bible that talks about the stillborn baby being better off than all of us.
I am again in awe of God's overwhelming presence in my life and the comfort that He provides daily.
In my Hope devotional book, it says this:
"On the day we are born, we enter a pain-saturated, sin-scarred, darkness-loving soul-depriving existence for a determined number of years. On the day of our death, if we are believers, we enter a pain-free, perfect place that is ablaze with the glory of Christ, where our deepest longings and joys are fulfilled, not for a number of years, but forever. Think about it. Don't dismiss it because of how much you miss someone who is there or because of your fears of the unknown. Allow this truth to ruminate in your heart and illumine your mind. For you, and for the one you love who knows Christ, won't your deathday be your true birthday?"
And the Bible says it like this:
"The day you die is better than the day you are born."
Ecclesiastes 7:1
This is something I have known, something that I have heard preached from the pulpit over and over again. Even though I knew it, it was a different thing entirely to see this man's faith being lived out through his wife today. I am so thankful for this gift and so thankful that I got to be there to witness it. God is so good.
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On another note of change, Erin will no longer be keeping Bryson. She is expecting a sweet baby boy in October and has had a few health complications that made her decide to take a break {at least I am telling myself that she will be doing this again by the time we have future children! haha!}. We completely understand and are just sad that our time with her has come to an end. Bryson was not even six months old when she first started keeping him. She let him stay late on several days when we had long trips to Texas Children's Hospital. He also spent the night with her the night before my surgery- she said that he would be most comfortable with them and that she would not take "no" for an answer. Erin has provided a loving Christian environment that was safe and so nurturing. We will be forever grateful for the amazing care she provided.
Bryson was so fortunate to also have Mimi and Mr. David there. I don't think Mimi has a bigger fan {other than maybe Mykah and Karsyn :) }.
Longmire Learning Center had an opening in Bryson's age group for June 1st. Perfect timing once again! I am nervous and excited for this change. I'm sure it will be much harder on me than it will be on Bryson. Isn't that how it usually works?
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Yesterday my sweet Caroline would have been five months old. I miss her so much and think about her every single day. A lot of times I ask God to tell her how much I love her and that I can't wait to be with her. I ask him to just squeeze her for me, and I can't wait for the day that I can do it myself. I am so thankful that she is healthy and whole, and not suffering in any way. His promises are seeing me through.
As a family we are healing a little bit more each day as we try to make our way through this dance of grief and joy. Please continue to pray for us as we have some big decisions to make regarding our family and future children. We know that God already knows what our family will look like in ten years. That is comforting but sometimes the planner in me wants to know now! I am definitely working on patience at this point...
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We have a few more weeks of craziness and then hopefully things will level out around here. I am actually loving the craziness, just wish I had a few more hours in my day. I will be trying to catch up on the blog... someday... maybe soon...
Good night!
