More of the neverending tragedy that is my foot

I saw my doctor again yesterday for a follow-up from my most recent surgery.  I've still got some drainage and bleeding that my nurse was concerned about (still, at three weeks and three days post-op) but I wasn't as worried about that as I was the pain I'm still having at the spot where my foot lifts across the top and the constant popping and snapping that I'm feeling.  

Well, I got worried when he started pressing on my wound and there was pain I didn't even know about hiding in there.  He pressed out a lot of drainage and immediately had three x-rays done right then and there.  The results showed no fractures or problems with the one remaining tendon anchor (but the rubber-band-like snapping I'm feeling MAY be from the one anchor that is not there anymore, the one he took out in January...makes perfect sense to me) or even arthritis, which is what my nurse suggested might be going on.  Nope.  None of that showed up.  What's going on is there's infection in there, either deep tissue or bone.  Since I had staph in the hospital in January, I'm more than a little worried about this.  He took out the one remaining stitch that was holding the graft on and I'm on antibiotics for a week.  We're watching the wound very closely, changing bandages every day.  If there's still drainage after a week, I'll have an MRI to see if the infection is in the bone.

The skin graft has healed over the hole and my thigh has healed as well, I just have a bright pink 2x2 square on the side of my leg, that's all.  But, hey, pink is my signature colah.  I've started working on that scar and it'll be lighter and smaller in no time.

If you've been following me throughout this nightmare of mine, please continue to pray for my foot to heal.  Once and for all, to HEAL.  Every time I think I'm getting better, something else crops up.  

Today is Holy Saturday, the day we remember Jesus' full day in the tomb.  The day all those years ago when all hope was lost because Jesus was dead.  They all saw Him die, right there on that cross.  If you're living what seems like an endless Saturday like that one was, where all hope is lost and you can't see daylight, and sometimes, I do feel like I am, then let me remind you that Sunday is coming!  It's not done yet.  God has a plan for your life and mine, too.  My foot will heal and there will be unbelievable joy for me on that day.  

Just like there will be for ALL of us tomorrow morning.  

Kevin update!

We got a new photo of Kevin, the little boy we are sponsoring in Mexico.  He'll be 5 in September and he is just so adorable!

We sent him a sticker book with stickers and a card game.  We're very limited as to what we can send.  It has to fit in a 6x9 envelope but I packed that envelope until it was near busting!  We can send pretty much whatever will fit in that envelope and we happened to find about a hundred of them super cheap at an estate sale recently.  No doubt that was a God thing!

I just think he's beautiful and he's got my heart already.  I wanna go get him.

Kevin

Look at this little face!!  Just look at it.  This is Kevin and he's our sponsor child.  When we saw Big Daddy Weave in concert last week (it was fabulous, by the way!), Mike Weaver (lead vocals) talked to us a little bit about the World Vision ministry and he showed us a video of their time in other countries, just sharing Jesus with the folks and having fun.  As soon as he started talking about sponsoring a child, I felt the Lord was telling me to get one.  They started passing out packages with children's names, pictures and a little bit about their lives and I asked Larry to grab one.

Larry took one and handed it to me and I immediately started squalling when I saw this little face and that he is in Mexico.  He's only four.  

I am really, really struggling with this ridiculous Mexico border wall talk.  I don't want a wall.  We don't need a wall.  Not stereotyping them AT ALL but all the Mexican people I've ever known are the hardest working people.  They work much harder than us lazy Americans, that's for sure.  Personally, though, in the shape our country is in now, I don't understand why anybody would WANT to come here.  I think Trump is a careless idiot, an embarrassment and just generally a really bad person.  Our country will suffer if he's allowed to continue his "reign".   

Anyway, as soon as I saw Kevin's little face, I just fell in love with him.  We signed up and now he's ours!  We got a little packet in the mail today that has all of his information about his family and how he's growing up.  I have this dream to follow him all of his life and meet him someday!  I'm going to send him gifts and letters along the way and make a difference in his little life.  

And if that stupid wall goes up, Kevin and I are going to tear it down!

Put your hand in the hand

I haven't spoken much about it but I've struggled with something for several months now, a family thing, and at times, I've just been at a complete loss.  I won't get into details here to protect their privacy but I'm having to really lean on God to help me make sense of things and to show me a way to help them, those that I LOVE dearly.

I use my commute to work (20 minutes or so) and home again as my quiet time with God.  That's when I have complete silence and I can pray, I can cry, I can listen to K-Love and sing and talk to Jesus, just whatever I need to do at the time.

January 1st, I started a 365 Day Bible Plan to read the Bible this year.  I've been a Christian since I was 14 but I have never read God's Word in its entirety.  Of course, I've had extensive study of certain books and verses and I know the stories thanks to a childhood of Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and a lifetime of church services.  But cover to cover?  No.  I got to thinking that it was about time.  How can I help these that I love unless I know what I'm talking about?  Right?  

I use the YouVersion Bible on my phone for reading, studying and following along with the service at church.  I discovered a couple of weeks ago that I can also LISTEN to it! 

So now I'm listening to the Bible on my way to work and this week, I'm "reading" the book of Joshua.  I have found a tremendous amount of peace since I've been listening to the Bible every day.  I get so much more out of it than when I just read it.  The narrator's voice is strong, deep and a tad bit British.  It's comforting.  I told Larry he sounds like how I imagine God to sound.

One of my favorite old hippie songs is "Put Your Hand In The Hand", recorded by the group Ocean in 1971.   

I believe in Him.  I love Him.  He's real.  He is NOT a fairy tale.  He answers my prayers every. single. day.  If you don't know Him, PLEASE come talk to me.

 

Put your hand in the hand of the man
Who stilled the water
Put your hand in the hand of the man
Who calmed the sea

Take a look at yourself
And you can look at others differently
By puttin' your hand in the hand of the man
From Galilee