Update on Monroe

What a bumpy, unpredictable time we have had lately! After Monroe was released from the hospital for his back surgery he was having extreme pain in his right knee and thigh. The doctors did many tests before releasing him and came to the conclusion that the pain was due to inflammation from the surgery that was pressing on a nerve. The only cure was time and pain medication. My husband can tolerate a great deal of pain but this pain was unbearable!

After being home 4 days he ended up back in the hospital with blood clots in both lungs! This was such a scary time for us!! But the Lord was with us and many prayers were being sent on his behalf. Three days later he as back home. He is slowly recovering and getting stronger every day.

He sits on the front porch a lot enjoying the gorgeous weather we have been having here in Florida. It has become a regular habit for the two of us to sit out front and have our morning coffee. I am really enjoying that because Monroe was never one to sit still very long. I believe the slow days and solitude has been good for him. He has time to reflect on life and the Lord.

We bought a couple of bird feeders to hang out in the front yard. He likes to sit and watch all of the different varieties of birds come and eat.
And this past weekend our church provided a huge barbeque for the children of Upward Soccer, which our church sponsors, and their families. This is a great opportunity for outreach in the community and it has been a great success. So, of course we were glad to help out and cook the chicken for the event. Now Monroe did NOT cook. The lids to this smoker/grill are so very heavy. He was given the position of supervisor and Brent and Brandon were the chefs this time! I did get his picture wearing his "Old Guys Rule" Grill Master shirt-a Christmas gift from Brooke & Ricky. It is perfect for him. I love the saying on it...."well done and rare"!

We had both smokers going and they were packed with chicken. We cooked 7 cases of chicken!!

Here they are loading the cooler to take the meat to the church for the meal.

Mmmm...it was so tender it just fell off the bone.

I know my hubby can't wait to get on his feet again. It is so hard for him to sit back and let others do the work. He is such a go-getter. This has been a very difficult season for him but I think he is learning a few things so in that way it has been good for him.

Please keep him in your prayers for no more complications and a full recovery.

God is Good!!

Prayer Needs and God's Faithfulness

Wow, my life has been anything but boring these past few months. I wanted to be more diligent about blogging but I never seem to get that far on my "to do" list for the day. Geez! I feel like I am more busy now than when I had sleepless, nursing babies to take care of and energetic toddlers to chase!! At any rate, the purpose of today's blog is just an update of the happenings around our home.



At the moment, I am sitting in yet another hospital room with Monroe. Sorry, no pictures for today and many thanks to my dear sister-in-law, Sandi, for the use of her laptop!! As many of you may know but some may not, Monroe opted for a second back surgery. The first surgery was in October and at that time the Dr. gave Monroe the choice of a one level fusion knowing that in the future he would eventually have to have two more fusions or the choice of having a three level fusion in the first surgery. Because he has many more years to work and be active we chose to fuse only one level. Everything was going great for the first three weeks but then he had some setbacks. The pain and tingling/burning in his back and legs returned. Through many tests the Dr. concluded that the two levels above the first fusion would need surgery to bring relief. He gave Monroe the option of when to have the second surgery and Monroe chose to go ahead with it. Poor guy. He is just tired of lying around with the recovery of the first surgery but he is not able to go back to work due to the pain he still has. So this past Friday he went ahead with the second surgery. He is doing okay today. Having bouts of nausea which he didn't have with the last surgery but he was under anesthesia much longer this time so that accounts for some of the nausea not to mention the pain medications. Please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery with no complications.

Please keep my family in prayer as well. We are dealing with a variety of issues that I am not at liberty to share. Our family is going through many trials right now but oh how we can see the Lord's hand and His provision every day. We are not alone and our faith is growing as we see Him carrying us through. God Is Good All The Time!

As for things on the home front, my spring garden is a little behind. I had planned to have my seeds trays started by now....oh well, I may be late getting them transplanted but it will all work out fine in the end. We left onions, carrots and cauliflower in the ground from the winter garden. Brandon tilled the rest of the garden last week and we added wettable sulphur to the soil because our soil test showed a high ph. After applying this amendment we can plant in two weeks. By then I should be able to get out there and get busy planting. I miss gardening.

We were also able to process one of our hogs before Monroe's surgery. When we get back home and back to some sense of normalcy, we plan to make sausage with the pork and venison from this year's butchering and hunting. Actually, there wasn't much hunting going on around our place this year but God once again showed His faithfulness and the past two weekends we got a call from a friend of ours that he had been hunting and got a deer but didn't want the meat! I'm telling you that is the kind of thing the Lord has been doing in our family lately. I could tell you of many, many more instances such as this! I am writing down all the blessings we have been receiving for my children to remind them of what they are seeing happen in our lives. I want them to never forget the love and goodness of Jesus.

I expect Monroe will be in the hospital a couple more days. This hospital is 1 1/2 hours away from home so I am staying with him. Thankfully I have older boys to hold down the fort till we can get back home!!

Thanks to all for your prayers!