New Life, Quilting and Old Life Health Challenges

This year, 2016, has passed like a withering flower.  Here today, withered tomorrow, and gone the next.  And again, we continue to learn to live, adjusting to new aspects of Living A New Lifestyle.  A particular highlight has been the birth of our first great-grandchild, Kelsey Marie.  A new title:  Great-grandparents.  I wish it could affect me much more than it does--she lives a good distance away, and we see her only once or possibly twice a year.  But there you have it:  great-grandparents.  An honor, a privilege.  And Papa and I are seeing her for the first time, and loving on her.

And, now she is 5, almost 6 months old.  We get to see her over the Thanksgiving celebration holidays.  I am so thankful for the modern technology of Facebook, and keeping up and seeing her grow.

It is interesting, this
New Retirement Life. I shall continue to refer to this as our "New Life of Retirement" because it changes every day.  It's different every day.  Every day is new. I continue with my quilting, knitting, crocheting, crafts, and...can't leave out reading.  One of my best achievements this year is the finished quilt I made for my son's birthday gift.  The story behind this is that after I had given our granddaughter a quilt for college graduation, and later one to our daughter-in-law, he commented "So where's mine?!"  So...I made one for him as a birthday gift, with a coordinated throw pillow cover to go with it.    An unknown person once said and I quote  "We are creative because we are made in the image of our Creator." 

We've had some interesting and challenging aspects of health to deal with these last couple of weeks.  My husband had total right hip replacement.  The surgery was great, but there was a complication with a severe negative reaction to the anesthesia.  This was a setback in planning for physical therapy.  He was then admitted to a physical therapy rehabilitation facility for a week of in-facility PT, which then continued at home.  Just as he finished that aspect of PT, we went to the hospital by ambulance as he was having pain and severe vomiting.  Tests showed gallbladder stone in the bile duct.  Another MRI a few days later showed that the stone had evidently passed, so Richard was discharged.  Instructions included that if there was anything at all that reoccurred, he was to go directly to a hospital further away but with personnel who could deal with this.  Yes.  it happened again, and we went to the hospital.  I drove over 70 miles to get there while he retched, continuously during the drive.  He was admitted, and scheduled for an endoscopic procedure which would include the removal of stones.  Surgeons were ready to perform the gallbladder removal the following day.  Everyone was surprised by the outcome.  The gallbladder was fine and happy.  No stones in the bile duct (although in the gallbladder, but not causing any trouble).  The stones the surgeon removed were in the pancreatic duct.  Scar tissue had attached to the pancreas, and that's where the stones are.  Richard has chronic pancreatitis and will learn to live with it for the rest of his life.  We will be speaking to a pancreatic surgeon and specialist in a few weeks.

I am not sure what we are going to do about continuing with physical therapy.  Anyway, on the lighter side, I wrote a little fun story because very few people had ever even heard of a "pancreatic stone", and perhaps I will include it soon as a separate post.  

So, yes, we continue to learn living our new lifestyle.  The exceptional, extraordinary and the unexpected, the happy and the sad, the good and the bad.  It changes every day.  It is new every day.  And I am so thankful because God is in every new day. 

It is of great comfort, it is a source of incredible peace and confidence that we know our Heavenly Father.  We know He is in control of whatever touches our lives.  He is the Source of our comfort and peace and confidence.  Because of all that Jesus Christ did, and that we believe in Him and apply His death and resurrection to our lives, God has made us His children.  He is our Father.  He cares.  He loves.  He given us courage and He gives us His power to overcome whatever comes. "Without Him" we really can do nothing...can't even handle what life throws at us.  But with HIM, we can do this thing called "life".

Wow.  It has been a long time since I've been here on the Blog site.  My title, Creating A New Lifestyle, has not yet found a conclusion.  The roadway of this life has many turns and twists, and no matter what plans you have, what arrangements you have made for those plans, what dreams you may have, the road twists, and one finds that abrupt and severe changes must be adopted.  It is wonderful to know, that I am not the one in charge.  Therefore, I need not panic.  There have been questions, concerns, and "what if's".  It has, rather, been interesting, and see how the One in charge had already smoothed out the torn up roadway, and made the crooked way straight.  I am so happy to say that because I have trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have been adopted into God's family.  He is my Heavenly Father, and He is the One in charge. 

So the last time I wrote, we were considering a life change due to my husband's open heart surgery; and, as a consequence, a change of diet.  Since that first surgery, he had to have four more, all in a matter of six months.  Hence, he could no longer work and had a forced retirement.  In a short time, because he could not be left alone, he went to live with our youngest daughter and her family, a distance of about 3.5 hours from our present residence.  I traveled weekends to be with him, and maintained our home and my job.  That, too, took a sudden twist.  The law firm found it necessary to cut employee hours and wages; and because my dad and my husband had medical needs, it was decided that I, too, should retire earlier than planned.  I moved in with my husband and daughter's family.  That was, I believe, in 2012.  

And once again, we adjusted our lives to accommodate a new and completely lifestyle, living with children.  How blessed we were.  Our children wanted us.  They wanted to help and wanted us near them.  But I had no job.  I didn't know what to do with myself.  Yes, I had my crafts, sewing, creating, quilting, but not working left a tremendous void in my life.  I broke down.  My daughter sat on the steps with me and asked the question:  "Do you think your job defined who you are?"  I shook my head in the affirmative as tears rolled down my cheeks.  I discovered that I had to redefine myself.
God worked on my heart and my mind.  To me, it was undergoing spiritual surgery.  I had to left all that I was, had been, behind.  I was still Wife.  I was still Mother.  And best of all, I was Grandmother.  I focused on the grandchildren.  Bonds were developed that otherwise would not exist.  Being a part of their lives and seeing them grow and develop is greater than any amount of salary ever could have been.

We traveled to our oldest son's home in western New York State, and it seemed that each summer we stayed longer and longer.  Richard worked on some projects our son had for him to do around the house.  Then, out of nowhere, he and his wife asked us if we would come and live with them--get to know their children before they all grew up.  After a lot of discussion, and mostly prayer, once again our Heavenly Father, smoothed out what seemed an impossible mangled roadway, and we relocated from the South, back to the North.  Yup.  From the warm, sunny South, to the North where winters can be brutal.  

I have come home.  I am so content here.  Nothing dramatic has changed in my daytime hours.  I have my crafts, my sewing, my quilting.  I read and otherwise entertain myself.  But I am home.  Their oldest had already graduated college and moved south where she obtained employment as a high school honors math teacher.  Their oldest son was a high school senior.  We were so blessed to be a part of his life, his sports, his successes, and his graduation, and to see him go off to college.  Their younger son is in high school, and it is fun to be a part of his life, watching him develop academically, musically, and as an athlete in soccer and basketball.  Their youngest is eleven years, and is challenged with Downs Syndrome.  She is amazing and a tremendous blessing.  It is a privilege to interact with her and to be a part of her life.

Yes.  Our roadway has had many unexpected twists and turns.  Our Father has been involved in every bit of it, going ahead of us, and "where there seemed to be no way, He made a way." 

Quite recently, we experienced an episode where we had to take Richard to the ER.  He was diagnosed with a severe UTI and an infection in the E coli family.  He was there four days, and released.  A day or two later, we took him back to the ER after speaking with a doctor, because of some pretty serious debilitating back pain.  The doctor had mentioned that (1) the antibiotic may have stopped working, or (2) the infection may have spread.  On the way to the hospital, I began thinking of all that could be involved if the infection spread.  Immediately, I was reminded by my Father that I do not have to go there.  I do not have to have these thoughts or let them discourage me.  He is the One in control, and He gives peace and rest and comfort and courage when all are needed.  I rode the rest of the way in complete peace, and sat in the ER waiting, knowing He, my heavenly Father, is in control.  He was diagnosed with lumbar muscular sprain, given pain meds, and sent home.  I love my Father so much.