July 26, 2017
9:55 p.m.

Good evening. As promised, a picture of the clan. Photo credit goes to my cousin Deborah Turcotte. Thanks for sharing!

Today was a good day. Mom is home. She's not ready for the marathon yet, but she's getting around pretty well. She's eating. Most importantly, she's smiling and laughing. What more could I ever ask?

July has been a mighty interesting month. There were a lot of good times. A LOT. Days spent with family are precious, and I feel very blessed to have been able to see people on both sides of the family in the past few weeks and spend some time visiting with everyone.

There were also some bad times. My aunt lost her brother; devastating news which came in the middle of the main reunion day in Idaho. I'm sure she and my uncle went through some awfully conflicting emotions, and my heart aches for them.

My mother was very ill and required surgery. We have come through a week of stress and worry, and I'm sorry, but I'm still not ready to share details. Suffice to say that she went through agonizing pain and scared us all witless. But the Lord saw fit to bring her through and she's doing so much better now. We are so very grateful for all the prayers and good vibrations and positive thoughts that were sent her way during the worst of the ordeal, and the continued prayers for her speedy and complete recovery.

On July 19th, I posted this on my Facebook page: "Prayer warriors, we could use your help. God knows our need, and I will comment further later. Thank you all."

This was all it took from me to kick friends and family into high gear, praying for they knew not what, except God's best plan.

Between then and July 21st I posted a few slightly detailed updates, and then I posted this: "A few days ago I asked for prayers without explaining the need. Now I'll tell you why. Many times we spend a great deal of time praying for the outcome WE want. God, in the meantime, is steering us toward the outcome that is really best. I just figured things might move a little faster if everyone was praying for an outcome only God knew about. Now, since I was in the know about the situation, I was a bit more inclined to pray for what I only HOPED would be best, but if that had been the resolution, there would certainly have been an encore performance. The road to recovery seemed to us to be the more drastic direction, but ultimately, it was the road that led to healing, rather than a pause before a relapse. So this morning I thank God for steering us to that better road, and I thank you, prayer warriors, for trusting that God knew the best way."

I will at some point be able to tell the story of this past week, but it's still a little too fresh. I know that all of you have had, at some point in your life, a stressful period that was hard to talk about until a little time had passed. I know you understand.

And I thank you so much for that, and for everything. 

I thank God for this sweet face. She's right down the hall, giggling at a Tyler Perry movie. That's right, she's up late. 

We are blessed. 

Good night!