AND THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED...

WHILE LITTLE MIRACLES FELL UPON OUR FAMILY LIKE RAINDROPS.

I have to choke back tears of gratitude as I write this post. Gratitude for the army of prayers that were sent up in our family's behalf and gratitude to God for granting so many little 'tender mercies' as we made this monumental change in our mother's life.

So...it started a week ago today, right after my brother flew in from a business trip. We three local siblings planned to all meet up over at Mom's place after his plane landed to have a heart to heart talk with her.

We talked to her about the changes that had to occur for her own well-being and safety...(SO many factors)! The three of us sat and talked for about an hour???and got her to come around (ever so slowly...one baby step at a time) with lots of time to let things settle in and digest. It was one of the hardest things we've done. But finally in the end, when we asked my mom if she understood and would agree to it, she quietly shook her head, yes. We wanted to leave on a happy note, so the three of us took her out to lunch, before my brother loaded her up to spend a long weekend at his house an hour and a half away.

With lots of work, (and help from some wonderful people)...and a few more little miracles, we were able to get her moved over into the new place Wednesday, and finish up Thursday.
The photo above is of her new bed at the new place. Below, is "Sam", the owner of the in-home-residential elderly care. She said she didn't mind at all if I spent the first two nights in the other twin bed in my mom's room. I love her already.

Steve saying goodnight to Mom on that first night. I was staying in the bed off to his left. He didn't kiss me goodnight cuz he knew I would have slugged him. Hee-hee!
Before I go, I just wanted to say a little something about "MIRACLES". I realize this is a very fragile word and I always try to be careful when using it. Several years ago all of our family, friends, and even wonderful people we hardly knew, joined us in prayer, hoping for a miracle. Despite all the prayers, and all the faith, this time the answer was, "no". So I had to take my faith to a whole new level. The next level. That being... having faith that God knows best, and that someday He will show us the big picture and we will understand completely, why things had to be the way they were.

Shortly after this extremely hard growing experience, my big brother, Andy, called me on the phone one day and said he wanted to share a quote he'd recently heard:

In the end, everything will be fine.

If it's not fine........

It's not the end yet! : )

That quote makes me smile every time. I take it to mean that after we're all worn out and finished with this old life, and we tried our hardest to be good and do good (not perfect by any stretch of the imagination) that we will be reunited with all of our loved ones, never to be separated again. And then..................everything will be fine!

Thank you again, my sweet blogging friends, family & friends.

Next post...a fun little tutorial I know you'll enjoy! : )