Sister's Visit

I'm really getting excited about seeing my sister next week. She's coming here for a week and it will be the first time we've been together since our parents died in 2010. I am all aflutter, making shopping lists, grocery lists, menu lists, to-do lists. "Why all the frantic preparation?" I asked myself this morning. And here's the reasons I came up with:

• My SISTER's coming to visit!!! I'm excited about it because she's my SISTER! (Would be doing the same for you, Brother, by the way.) When you feel a close attachment to someone, you want everything to be just right.
• But, it's more than just wanting everything right for how it will reflect on me. I want the visit to be pleasing to HER. I'll sleep on the floor, if I have to. I want her to be comfortable here, so we can visit, visit, visit. (We usually stay up all night at least once or twice--like kids at a slumber party.)
• I'm rather fond of preparing for her visit. It makes it almost seem like she's here already. One year my sister made the mistake of surprising my parents with a visit. But they were disappointed that they didn't know beforehand that she was coming, because half the pleasure was getting ready for her to come.
• And the last reason I'm planning is because of my caregiver status. Dean is one facet of my life that is hard to plan on. When it comes to Dean, we'll just have to wing it most of the time. But I can have some things in place to ensure a smooth visit. Such as making sure he gets plenty of time to visit with her privately too. Making sure larger family gatherings are kept to a minimum. And making sure we have the foods available that he loves, for distraction purposes. And most important--making sure he doesn't forget his medications!

 All of this preparation also reminded me of the preparations Jesus is making for us to visit, or rather make a permanent stay with Him, in heaven. He said in John 14, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself."

I hope Jesus is having as much fun as I'm having this week. Linda, it will be so nice to be with you again. Personal visits are so much nicer than phone conversations. And I'm sure Jesus feels the same about our relationship. Think how different it will be to see Him face-to-face, and not just converse through the "prayer-phone line". "Come, Lord Jesus, come!"

My brother and sister--I'll take a visit with them any time!!!

The Long and the Short of It

This evening Dean asked what we were doing tomorrow. Which is a frequent question of his all during the day, wanting to know what's next on our "busy" agenda. There's usually not much to report, outside doctor's appointments, weekly trips to the library, and home health visits a few times a week.

Tonight though I went beyond my typical answer of "nothing", and changed it to this: "Oh, I take that back, honey. I'm opening curtains, turning off lights, uncovering the bird cage, changing the 'day of the week' display, letting the dog out (multiple times), filling a pill box, taking a shower, doing dishes (possibly twice), washing and folding two loads of clothes, stirring Willy-Nilly (my starter for breadbaking), making some phone calls, paying some bills, giving the dog a bath, putting your shoes and socks on, taking you to the library, cooking supper, taking out some trash, working on a blog, and riding my recumbent bike. And what do you think you'll be doing, dear?"

"Well," he thought ponderously, "I'll be getting in my morning nap most of the morning. Eating. And then I'll be harassing you the rest of the day." He seemed content with his brief, but accurate, list.

And I'm sure God is content with our lists too. The long and the short ones. If we are doing all we can do, God doesn't complain. And neither should I.

Doing "his thing" in the morning

Kisses

This has been a super busy day for me. Rushing around getting ready for Dean's birthday party tomorrow afternoon. He was at his adult day program and that allowed me to get much more done. Keep in mind that with my shortness of breath, it takes me twice as long to do half as much. So I am just now winding down as the Sabbath hours begin.

One of the things I did today was bake some macaroon cookies, which have always been Dean's favorite. I saw a recipe in a magazine that had little Hershey's kisses in the center of them and it looked much easier than my own recipe, so thought I'd give them a try.

Dean was ravenously hungry when he came home, so I gave him a few of the coconut cookies that didn't look the best. Later, I was disappointed to find the little trash can by his recliner full of coconut that he had spit out. He said he couldn't chew them. Oh, great, I make coconut cookies and now discover that he can't chew coconut with his eight remaining teeth. I guess he can just enjoy the Hershey's kisses that were left over. At least they will melt in his mouth. But it just won't be the same.

God created a beautiful world for His children, including me. How disappointed He must have been when Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden because of sin. There is still a glorious creation of natural beauty to enjoy. But it just isn't the same. Sabbath is a great reminder of our Paradise lost and our Paradise regained. For now, we'll settle for a kiss from God, but later on we'll get the "whole cookie".

They really are tasty, if you like coconut!

Paper Trails

The most dreaded thing on my to-do list, besides cleaning the toilet and scrubbing floors, is to fill out applications. Every time I fill out one, whether print or online, I hope and pray it is my last one. But of course, it never is. Yesterday I got one that needs to be filled out by next month, and today I got one that needs to be filled out by tomorrow. They just never stop coming. I feel like one endless paper trail. Why couldn't my information just be on one granddaddy database, so everyone could see all about me in one fell swoop whenever they needed to?

But then what would happen to our privacy if that were the case? Would I really want everyone to know all about me any time they wanted? Of course not. At least in this evil, unpredictable world we live in now, it would be disastrously unsafe for a database like that to exist. It may get to that before this earth's history is over, but for now I guess I'll just suffer through the inconvenience and keep trying to write neatly, stay in all the lines, and sign in all the right places.

One great thing to look forward to in heaven...no applications. We'll have a character trail, instead of a paper trail.