Sitting up and LIT up!

This is Lois, filling in for Alice. I am so very thankful for all of the prayers and financial help that got Daniel and me up here to spend some time with Dad and Mom. God has been so good. We had an uneventful trip, other than my one piece of checked luggage not making it here until a day after I did. But since they delivered it to my door and I had all the immediate necessities in my carry-on luggage, it was not a problem.

When I first saw Dad Saturday morning, he was sitting up in a chair for the first time in days! The nurse reported that she had caught him trying to get out of bed all by himself, and when she asked him incredulously what he was trying to do, he replied emphatically, "I want to get OUT OF THIS BED!!!" Dad seemed pleased to see me (Daniel was taking a nap at the time so he wasn't with me), but one of the first things he said was, "Short visit." The second time I went in I took Daniel, and a big smile came over Dad's face. You've heard the expression, "His face lit up." That is a good description of what happens every time Dad sees his grandson--it is like a lightbulb is turned on within. He has described Daniel as a "beautiful baby" and a "little doll." He reaches out his hand, shaking with Parkinson's, to touch Daniel's little fist, and a loving smile just beams from his face. I am so glad that God chose to give him this bit of joy in the midst of his pain.

Dad hasn't sat up (that we are aware of, anyway) since Saturday. He seems to be finding it more difficult to get breath enough to talk, so Mom and I try to keep it a one-way conversation as much as possible. We wonder if the cancer has spread to his lungs. There is really no way to know.

While we find it difficult to see Dad suffer, we know that he is safe in the hands of One Who loves him much more than we do. And we continue to pray for God's perfect will. His grace is sufficient for each moment, and we rest in His unfailing love.