Fourteen Years of Blessing!!!

Today is the day to celebrate 14 years of a man honoring his commitment to the Lord!!

Who has received the ultimate blessing of that commitment?...Me!!!

Yes, this is M posting!!!!  For some reason, the Lord has chosen to keep me here and now I get to thank my Man for being so incredible!!!

My prince has stood by my side in the good & bad, for richer or poorer, in sickness & in health (though we've not had too much of the health part).  It amazes me how many people say that most husbands would be gone by now.  However, when we got married, there was a good part of me that believed he would disappear like every other man in my life...yet, a few weeks ago, (I'm crying now) he said, "I hope that I've proven you wrong, that all men do not leave.  I'm here 'til death do us part."  What an amazing man!  You have all experienced how amazing he is over the last two months.  Yet, I missed most of July and keep learning of all of the amazing things he did for me.  Many are things that are embarrassing to think that my hubby had to do those things, yet he acts like it was natural, expected, no big deal...it was a big deal because to do those things and be that husband means he saw parts of me that as ladies we try to keep hidden to feel attractive, it means he didn't get to work for almost two months, it means that he missed his annual mtg for work, it means that we missed T Bar M family camp, it means he sacrificed himself to give to me and take care of me and Critter!!!  It means that he's not even mentioned how awful my hair looks since I don't have too much left with all that had to be cut off and he tells me it's beautiful!!!  Even the sweet lady that does our hair was a bit thrown off with what to do at first.  Yet, he's not even posted a pic of what he has to look at each day so that you can all feel sorry for him!!!

Coming home to love on our girl and make it about Jesus, not himself!!!

Do I feel blessed?  Absolutely!!!  Thank you, Jesus, for this man that you and your Daddy chose for me!!!  I am beyond grateful!!!

Ephesians 5:1-3; 20-33 (NIV)

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Instructions for Christian Households

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her  to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

This is my man...every single thing that you read above.  He takes his commitment so seriously.  I am so blessed!!

The truth is that our pastor puts it best in today's devo that he sent out!!!  So, I'll let him finish this post for me!!

- LOVING LIKE JESUS -

By the nature of the cross, sacrifice includes suffering. You cannot make a sacrifice without suffering. In the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His death, Jesus prayed, “Let this cup pass from Me.” He would have preferred not to do it, but then He said, “Not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Out of love for us, Jesus went to the cross and stayed there even when He didn’t have to.

Suffering out of love for your wife will mean dying to yourself. And real love means you do it even when your wife’s virtues don’t motivate you to do it. We can’t say, “Get right first, and then I’ll love you.” God’s love doesn’t work that way, and neither should ours. God tells husbands to imitate Christ’s love, and this means dying to self just as Christ did.

Loving your wife like Christ loves the church also involves substitution. In baseball, a designated hitter gets in the game to hit for the pitcher so that the team can protect the pitcher, the more valuable player, from injury. In the same way, a husband should go to bat for his wife, protecting and valuing her.

For His kingdom,

Tony Evans

God is Good...

Friends, it has now been three weeks since we came home from our nearly month long stay and ordeal in the hospital.  While it is great to be home we certainly are not immune from challenges.  Trying to balance work life, home life, and Princess' physical limitations has been quite the chore to juggle.  While things have been manageable, it has truly been an adjustment to balance multiple weekly and sometime daily nurse visits.  Recurrent doctor appointments and transitioning into "life."  Princess is continuing to improve, and while it is slower than what we really would prefer, we are excited to see that she is progressing. 


Our biggest praise for the update is that since Princess' last recorded seizure in the ICU, she has only recorded 2 seizures total.  Yes!!!  Miraculously, things have been well in this regard and the two seizures she did record were both on this past Saturday.  Having been through what we have just experienced we did make a quick trip to the ER to check labs.  Thankfully, her labs, namely her sodium levels, were fine and she has not recorded any seizures since then.  Praise the Lord!


Therefore, in nearly 30 days, Princess has only recorded 2 seizures.  In our 11 year journey, this has actually never happened.  Praise the Lord for His mighty work. We also have stumbled upon another potential cause of her seizures that I will discuss later through another post.  More importantly, through this discovery that we have literally stumbled upon, we are looking forward to continuing to test our theory and continue to look towards a favorable outcome for Princess.


We did have a follow-up with the ENT today and Princess' voice is probably around 90% of full strength.  It is fun to hear more of her voice and see her improvement.  From the trauma that she sustained from the dual intubations, the ENT sees dramatic improvement with still some swelling and expects that in a few more weeks that Princess will not have any complications.  Her pneumonia also seems to be treated and not pose any issues. 


It does seem that Princess' shingles has improved and she is now just experiencing some residual nerve pain that should clear in the coming months.  Along with another autoimmune condition, Princess has experienced a little bit of alopecia.  This has truly been interesting as she has lost a significant amount of hair just prior to the ICU and then after removal of the EEG when we left the ICU. 


Lastly, it is truly amazing the toll that the ICU and the seizures took on Princess' body.  Her musculoskeletal system is pretty sore and it is very apparent that it will still take some time for her to fully heal.  Currently, we are dealing with sore muscles and knots in her back and neck and extremely sore leg muscles.   Her walking is continuing to improve and we are not needing the walker nearly as much around the home.  We are still dependent upon the wheel chair for most things outside of the home and are working with physical therapy to increase Princess' strength. 


Thank you for all those that are continuing to pray and check in.  Princess is getting better and we are cautiously optimistic with each day.  Sodium levels seems to be holding steady.  We are monitoring her potassium levels closely as this has also been a challenge to maintain.  Above all, it is encouraging to see Princess getting better!


I look forward to posting more soon! 

The Need....

A long overdue "Howdy!" from the Foxhole. Princess reminded me that it has been over eight days since our last post.  Thank you as well to all of our dear friends and followers who have checked in through your messages, texts, and posts.  We have now been home for two weeks and we are still adjusting and learning to be back home.  Balancing time between, work for myself, Physical Therapy at home for Princess, other nurse visits, continued doctors appointments, and of course the clamors of needs at home, it has been busy.  Friday night we were able to take a break resume with our Date Night.  Back at our spot, the Lord blessed us as we crossed paths with a childhood family friend of Princess that had been randomly following the Foxhole from Nicaragua on a recent trip.  This was an encouraging encounter and blessing!  Amazing to see how God works!

As the days pass, I have been able to share more with Princess of what the last month has involved.  Whether through messages, pictures or even stories, she sits back and listens to her life as if it was a story.  Truly unique what the brain can retain or not retain.  Names, faces, events have seemed to have unfortunately vanished, and yet, something much more important has remained...

Physically, Princess is still trying to work through getting her strength back.  Moving from bed to the bathroom is like sprinting a mile and leaves her exhausted.  Truly a reminder of just how difficult of a hill it will be to regain her strength.  Her voice is getting stronger and she isn't speaking with a whisper as much.  Her pneumonia has seemed to healed.  Her shingles is still a bother, and we have seen a couple times where it isn't as painful as before (this a huge relief).  A praise is that we have not recorded a seizure.  Rather, we have continued to record auras and fortunately, the last few days those have been decreasing in frequency, too.  So amid the backdrop of business, physical pain, and exhaustion, Princess is slowly getting better.  It is apparent that it will take some time and I pray that we can be still, and continue to keep our focus on the Lord and His work in and through this season.

As I left a thought hanging just a paragraph back, something of much greater importance for Princess has remained.  And while we adjust to the trials at home, we also recognize the trials that lay for all of us ahead.  This weekend a dramatic and unfortunate scene has played out in Virginia.  And for us what has remained, is what is absent from many in our Nation today.  Something, that because of its lack, has brought about hostility, anger, and aggression.  This lack...is a need for a Savior.

A question that has been asked of us a lot through our particular journey is if Princess remembered me.  Did she remember Critter?  Did she know who we were?  Yes, is the short answer.  And while this might be important, more importantly, she has rested well in our Father's grasp and has never lost sight, or better, never lost her mind of who Christ is as her Savior, Rock, and Redeemer.  Through the trial and through the pain, her focus has been and is continually on Him. Our focus remains on Him to be our strength and our Provider. Our Savior.

And this has kept our attention and our focus.  Our faith in Christ has given us balance, direction, and wisdom.  Today, I shared with Princess that in the heat of the early moments of our first hospitalization, and in a moment where I was finally able to sit and call my family to provide an update, the only words that I could muster out was what was and has been hidden in my heart.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your way, acknowledge Him

and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Matthew 12 says that out of the overflow of the heart the mouths speaks. As I shared with Princess the events and what was shared with our family, I am grateful that the overflow of my heart is with God's Word.  He is truly carrying us.  And in the same breath, I cry for our Nation, for our homes, for our families that we would all cling to the Savior, Jesus Christ.  

Chaos fills our lives and the tension of hostility and racism, among other things, spilled over and God has been left out of our culture once again.  Sadly, the decline that has been going on for decades is only getting worse and I, Princess, ALL of us need to pray, and seek the only One that can give us any peace or solution to our problems. Just like the Lord has provided in many ways for us, I am praying that all of us could stop and get back to a time when there was respect, moral values, and a belief in God.   

And while I don't feel qualified to speak on such an issue or even a matter, I turn to those who well before me have tried to address the Need.  

Here is a brief snippet from Dr. J Vernon McGee in a message he titled, "America Needs a Declaration of Dependence."

"I want you to notice a philosophy of history that we find in God’s Word. The three steps that precede the downfall of any nation are first of all, religious apostasy; second, there is moral awfulness; and third, political anarchy. These are the three steps downward that all the great nations of the past, lying this moment in rubble and ashes, have taken. Rome, for instance, is the classic example. The historian Gibbon gives five reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The first step down is the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. Second, higher and higher taxes, the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. Third, the mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral. Fourth, the building of great armaments when the great enemy is within — the decay of individual responsibility. And fifth, the decay of religion, fading into mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people. These were the downward steps that Rome took, Greece took, and which all the great nations of the past have taken."

He goes on to state...

"How Did It Happen? Pandora’s box of troubles was opened for America back at the turn of the century when professing Christians deserted the midweek service and then, after the first World War, deserted the Sunday night service. And before long there was no difference between the leading deacon’s language and that of the local bartender. Dr. Walter F. Tunks of the University of Akron said, “In the last six thousand years, there have been twenty-one civilizations, and every one of them has gone on the rocks precisely at the point where they let God go.” It was indeed interesting to find in the staid Wall Street Journal, when the Depression first began, a brief editorial that went something like this: “What America needs more than railway extension, western irrigation, a low tariff, a bigger cotton crop, and a larger wheat crop is a revival of religion. The kind that father and mother used to have. A religion that counted it good business to take time for family worship each morning right in the middle of wheat harvest. A religion that prompted them to quit work a half hour earlier on Wednesday so that the whole family could get ready to go to prayer meeting.”

"America’s problem is the same today; it is a spiritual problem."

So, as a long overdue update, we do appreciate you checking in.  We appreciate your involvement in our lives and we are so grateful for your prayers and support.  Lord willing, we will continue to post about Princess' improvements and most importantly, God's continued grace, and strength through  the adversity.  Please pray too for the communities affected by the weekend's events.  Pray for our Nation.  Pray most importantly for God to be made known, and for our homes, families, communities, states, our Nation to recognize that our problem is a spiritual problem and there is, just like there has only and always been, one solution.  The need for a Savior.

Home, Again...

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The Foxhole is now posting from home!  And while we have been home now for several days, we are still trying to acclimate ourselves.  As the verse above states, Rejoice Always.... Easy to do now at home...difficult to do while going through an unpleasant circumstance like we just went through.  Yet, we did and continue to celebrate the milestones and victories we received while in the ICU and Hospital, and now at home.  We also greatly rejoice because of great support and friends like you.  Like the early church, as spoken of in Acts, you came alongside of us, supported us and gave of yourselves.  As Barnabas' name meant comforter or encourager, you were, and still are, a Barnabas for us. 


And whatever form of comfort and encouragement it has been, it has helped to carry me, Princess, and even Critter through this last month and looking forward.  So in our prayers, we too, pray for you continually, and give thanks for God's provision.  Thank you!


Additionally, I look to this verse to let it be a reminder of how can I rejoice in affliction.  Sure it is easy to rejoice when things go our way, yet in a trial...how is it possible?  For me, it is what follows after the first part of this verse.  An attitude. 


Focused attitude and attention on God. This attitude and really, the heart, has to be centered and focused on Christ.  A sure way to do this is to communicate with God.  How do we do that?  Through prayer.  Simply, prayer is our time to just talk with God.  So therefore, having an attitude of prayer and praying without ceasing will dramatically change mine, our, attitudes.  Hence, our attitude needs to be guided by prayer.  And then, finding a way to give thanks.  While I may not have this focus all the time, I am grateful for God's grace and His mercy.  For as the Bible says in Lamentations 3:22-23, "The Lord's lovingkindesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." 


Is it easy to give thanks in ALL circumstances?  No, it isn't.  And really, it is truly hard. Sometimes it seems even impossible.  Many have walked an even tougher road and for me to sit here and encourage someone to be thankful for a horrific event, is really something that I cannot understand.  My finite mind cannot even begin to explain an infinite God who says that He knows the plans He has for you and me.  Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans for a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).  Therefore, as we have referenced in the Foxhole many times, Proverbs 3:5-6.  Trust in the Lord with ALL of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in ALL your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. 


So, do I, does the Foxhole have it all figured out?  Certainly, not!  Are there times when we get frustrated, beaten down, angry, and upset?  Absolutely.  But, it is because of God, because of you, because of our attitudes directed at and towards Christ, that brings us through and allows for us to rejoice always, and give thanks.  And hence, that is even now our focus as we are now home. 


Home, again...  Being timid this week at home has been a struggle.  Princess has truly gone through two nearly life-ending events in just less than four weeks.  Her body that is supposed to be able to work on its own, was literally being controlled by a single machine.  Therefore, she is fragile as her body's own systems begin to function all together again.  Like a restored antique auto, all the parts and pieces have to each come together to be fully restored.  And that process takes time.  Unfortunately, it doesn't happen overnight. 


How did we get to where we just came from?  Her sodium levels literally crashed.  And while we don't know if it was a gradual event or just sudden, her sodium levels are the only outlier in both hospitalizations.  This most likely caused by a consumption of too much water, trying to control another condition that she suffers from, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).  So now it is scary to even consume fluids, trying to find the right balance for what the body requires in a normal state, yet what the body requires for a condition like POTS. 


And while trying to maintain the right sodium level is a concern, we also find ourselves trying to adjust to a "new normal" at home.  Even discussing last night, we don't want to call it a normal.  While in the hospital someone mentioned to us that for every day in the hospital, it takes about two days to recover.  After this week, we are seeing this.  It truly will take some time (possibly two months) for Princess to recover.  Getting around the house is not easy.  Though guided by a walker, it is an exhausting task to just get from bed to the bathroom.  What should be just a short few steps, seems like a mile.  Physically, she is just continually exhausted and is having to relearn many things.  And while we have not recorded any seizures, she is still having auras.  Though less serious, it does cause for all of us to take a moment and stop.  And now our schedule at home is trying to coordinate follow up appointments, physical therapy, speech therapy, and fitting in final arrangements for the upcoming school year. 


Speaking of follow up appointments.  Many of you knew and have been asking about our recent ENT appointment.  Since Princess' second extubation, she has had no voice.  Whether there was some laryngeal trauma or even something else, we needed to follow up with the ENT to figure our what was going on.  Praise report, it appears that Princess' throat, and everything pertaining to the neck area (internally) is very inflamed.  It appears that there is still some present infection (pneumonia) and a few scratches or trauma in the palate.   Therefore, a steroid, antibiotic, and something to loosen the mucous should hopefully have Princess' voice returning.  We are pleased to say that midway through the steroid regimen, Princess is showing a small improvement in her voice in various snippets throughout the day.  While just above a whisper, it is encouraging for all of us to witness this!  Referencing to early....Easy to give thanks!  Praise the Lord! 


On another front, Princess has likewise has a continual pain that is focused squarely on her right shoulder and chest area.  While we have been trying to determine if this was muscle related due to the seizures, reaction to medical tape, or a reaction to the EEG, we think that as of late yesterday it actually might be shingles!  Lovely!  While there isn't an open sore, in really looking at the facts, visiting with others (including our physician), this seems to be what's taking place. 


And there it is, a much long overdue post.  First, again, thank you!  Second, please keep Princess in your prayers as she recovers.  It is going to take some time.  While I see improvements in her daily, it is going to take some time for her strength, cognitive ability, endurance physically and mentally, and really just daily life to get back together.  Please keep praying.  Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing.  Give thanks to the Lord! 


Please pray:

• Princess to be strengthened physically and mentally each day.
• Princess to not be overwhelmed by being at home and not being able to "be at home."
• Princess' voice and throat to heal.
• Princess' shingles to subside or go away.
• Our family time and some greatly needed Critter time.