Sending My Wife Off 4/2/2022

 Good Morning,

The hearth needs another log on the fire. A pot of potato corn chowder is simmering on the stove. The Door County Raspberry Almond Coffee is plenty hot and right after that log gets placed I  will start writing. 

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body, joined and held together, by every joint with every joint by which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 

It will be three weeks tomorrow since my mother in law took a tumble on her way to church. Her leg was twisted at the knee and she also put a nasty scrape on that leg. It's been a couple of trips to the hospital and a couple more to the clinic. She will be 95 years old this summer and age just seemed to catch up to her on this adventure. My wife Rene and her brother are taking turns a few days at a time taking care of their mother. It seems she needs some care at night when the pain gets to be too much for her. Clinicians are doing house visits to change bandages and perform therapy on her leg. Yesterday is was announced that Rene's sister was hospitalized with a stroke. My wife's family is taking a beat down right now. 

Rene will be gone for a few days and when she told me the plan she looked at me and asked, "will you be alright while I am gone?" I answered, "I am sure I will survive". I was already planning my meals laced with bacon while she was still speaking. 

In all seriousness now there isn't much I can do to to help the situation except to pray and do what I do best. I make meals for the caregivers and Mom and send them out with Rene. Last night when I returned home from work I asked Rene to leave the kitchen, stay out of the way and let me have at it. I started methodically making some meals for Rene to take with her this morning. The last one is just about done. 

I whisked through two meat loaves, sausage stuffing, a turkey pot pie, garlic buttered squash, lasagna, freshly baked rolls, and of course the soup. I am not tooting my own horn here, but giving thanks to God for keeping me on the track, nothing burned and everything turned out perfectly. 

Our pastor always says "God's work, done in God's way, never lacks His support." I truly believe that. It's time for me to help my wife and pay back the kindness she bestowed on my family over the years.

 Now I can cook. But if I had to bake anything to survive I would starve to death. My dad, while he was alive always had a sweet tooth for bakery. Rene would send loves of banana or pumpkin bread to him via the mail service. She would send it out "Priority Mail". For some reason Dad would get the biggest kick out of going to the post office and receiving his priority package. 

Now to end this blog for the day. As the rolls and pot pie were cooling I sat down last night to take a short break. The kitchen was a mess and my goal was to clean it up. I had been cooking for 5 hours straight and the day took it's toll. I fell asleep while sitting in a chair and woke up at midnight with a note next to me. It said, "Thank you so much for the grub. We truly appreciate  what you do for my family and me. See you in the morning." I went out to the kitchen and found it all cleaned and ready for use. Rene who has been so busy and probably tired herself, had one more thing to do before she leaves this morning. She took time to clean up my mess and let me rest. Now who sent who off into the future?

God bless,

Marty