Life in the 'Boro

My friend Mark at the V A hospital is going downhill quickly. When I went to his room to take him downstairs, he was sitting in his wheelchair facing the door with the phone against his ear and he was asleep. He didn't hear me come in, so I greeted him at which point he woke up and hung up the phone. After checking to make sure he had everything he needed and turning out the light, we went to the elevator and headed down four floors and through the emergency room waiting area to go outside. At that point Mark told me to stop, we needed to go back upstairs to get money for newspapers. We went back up to his room to retrieve his wallet, and headed back down the elevator and towards the ER waiting room. Mark then started asking people in the waiting room if they had change for a $20 bill, but no one did. We then went to the Starbucks down the hall to get his change and headed back to the ER waiting room exit. Once again Mark stopped me to go back to Starbucks and get quarters, the newspaper machines didn't accept dollar bills. By the time we finally got his two newspapers and got to the "smoking hut" outside, a nurse was looking for him to take him to have a CT scan and didn't let him light up. Bless his heart. I noticed in his room the staff had positioned his bed to prop the door open, so he no longer can close his door. There was also an oxygen tube plugged into the wall and lying on his bed. I pray that Mark can go peacefully and painlessly. I hope he finds peace in the Lord, but I'm not allowed to talk about such things to him. It is all in God's hands...

Last weekend we went to Memphis for the arrival of Mendy's first grandson, Miles Shilling Breeden. He weighed a whopping 10 lbs 4 oz and was 21.5 inches long. He's going to be tall like his mom and dad. It will be nice living close enough to watch him grow up. Hopefully he'll be able to see his second cousins a lot and they'll be great friends.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I help the director of the Child Development Center at MTSU with paperwork and bookkeeping. She's quite a character and I enjoy the time I spend there, but my Tuesday and Thursday mornings are my favorites. I volunteer at the Alvin C. York VA Hospital a mile from my house. I have two wheelchair bound friends that I take out on the grounds.

Mr H came to the VA after a stroke several years ago. At that time he was bedridden and extremely obese. He's now able to get around in a wheelchair and is of average size, but his speech and vision are still affected. We have learned how to communicate and enjoy just sitting and watching the world go by on our outings. His smile is worth more than any paycheck!

Mark moved to Murfreesboro from Fort Lauderdale to help his mom with his dad who was suffering from Alzheimer's. Not long after he moved here Mark starting having health problems. He is now in the hospice wing of the VA with an inoperable brain tumor. I take him outside to smoke and to tour the grounds in good weather. His balance and memory are affected by the tumor and he can no longer get around by himself. He went to his parents for a visit over the weekend and had not returned as of this morning, so I hope he's okay. He seems to have been noticeably declining over the past couple of weeks.

I am very blessed and very thankful for God's grace (and for antidepressants). The house is feeling more like home every day. I've been volunteering at the Alvin C York V A Medical Center two mornings a week, and at the MTSU Child Development Office two mornings a week helping the director with bookkeeping and office work. We are making friends and loving our worship services at church, we just need to get involved in a small group. We have had incredible weather and an abundance of rain without flooding. Life in the Boro is very good!

These are very troubling times we live in. The economy stinks, thanks in large part to excesses and greed. Political upheaval is taking place around the world. The media seems to feed on bad news and everything looks dark and grim. Darkness is nothing new, we just have cable and internet to remind us of it from every corner of the globe 24/7. But we are called to be light. May we reflect the light of the One who came to redeem us in this dark and troubled world.

As I was laboring in the initial assault on the weeds (four hours) it occurred to me that the church is very much like a garden. A little crabgrass, if left unattended, can take over a garden. It can choke out the good (plants) and create all kinds of problems. Hmmm, I've known people like that...But, lest I become to judgemental, my hands are stained...Hmmm, sins of commission and omission...

We were blessed with a visit from Charles and Judy Wilhelm Friday night, along with their son Barry and his family from Spring Hill, Tennessee. Charles and Judy had kept Barry's girls for a week in Decatur, and brought them back to Tennessee on Thursday. It was good to see them and to meet Barry's wife, Tara, and his two sweet daughters. Tara is a teacher in Franklin, and Barry works for a Health Insurance Group in Nashville. We initiated David's new grill and ate out on the patio. It was absolutely perfect weather and no mosquitoes. When the sun went down it got so cool we went in the house to finish visiting.

Matthew spent Wednesday through yesterday in Atlanta visiting Chris and applying for jobs down there. He's in Memphis tonight at an "Invitation Only" hiring event at the Apple store his cousin Michael works for. We should hear from him in a bit about how that went. If it went well, he'll be staying in Memphis for training and then will be moving to Memphis next weekend. He's feeling much better about things than he did a month ago!