Friday the 13th - Big Party at the Grange tonight!

So, it’s a gray, cold Friday the 13th, work is kicking my butt, Jo Anne’s benefit for us is tonight and I’m not sure anyone is coming, and I’ve been sick with the flu (or residual damage from Phish weekend combined with Daylight Savings multiplied by work pressures and the “end of quarter” hysteria).  However, I am taking a break from work right now to watch the Hokies, with God’s Grace, defeat the Tar Heels, who are probably the best team in the NCAA.  And even though I have a soft spot for the ‘heels (thank you Jeremy Shaw every day), I hope we kill them.

Just some random notes/thoughts about what has been going on with us:

1)      We have a new caregiver, young Dennis Murphy, who is now Nick’s helper while we wait for Jude’s work permit.  Please pray that this process starts to move faster.  Jude is going to continue to live with us and we will support him here and continue our sponsorship with hopes that he will be our long term provider.  However, we need to keep things legal, if for any reason that we can’t get any Medicaid payments if our caregiver does not meet their requirements.  Dennis is a great young man, Great Falls native and seems to have blended in fine with the disorder and anarchy that reigns  at this particular frathouse.
2)      Next week, Mike, Nick and I are going down to VT to talk to the Office of Students with Special Disabilities to arrange the logistics and whatnot for his move to Blacksburg in August [Sidebar:  DONOTFREAKOUTELISA].  I am very blessed because another neighbor, someone who specializes in special needs services, trusts, benefits, etc. is going to help me understand what the State will provide for us and how we can take advantage of some of the Federal and State Education and ADA programs for Nick’s benefit.
3)      I heard this week that Jay Nussbaum’s wife, sadly I don’t know her first name, passed away suddenly last week.  Truth be told, I was never a big Jay Nussbaum fan at Oracle.  However, Jay is President of Agilex,  where my brother-in-law works, and when Dom told Jay about Nick, right after his injury, Jay and his wife (whom I didn’t even know) immediately connected with Wendy, as they are involved with Mt. Vernon Rehabilitation Hospital.  They arranged for Wendy to tour the facilities, and they provided her with information and questions to ask and were just very generous with their time and support for a stranger (me) during our worst crisis.  While we didn’t end up at Mt. Vernon (we went with KKI for the pediatrics and the methodology), I will always be grateful to Jay and his wife for being ‘present” for us.  I pray that Jay experiences comfort and peace and is surrounded by loving friends and family.  Having met Jay - I know his wife must have been a strong, confident woman.  I’m sure she lived her life with grace and generosity and I pray that she is in Heaven with her Lord right now.  Please join me in praying for Jay and his family.
4)      This world is really hard.  Every day, I see around me friends who have lost jobs, or kids that are making poor choices or people who just don’t seem to be able to deal with life now.  Sometimes I am one of those people.  All I can say to that is, this, too, shall pass.  I never thought that at almost 45 years old, I would be back to working as a field sales rep.  I know that after 20 years at Fannie Mae, Mike never imagined things could get so dire.  And I see everyone out there, fighting their good fight - whether it be work or chemo or school or WHATEVER.  I want you to know that I am praying for all of us.  It’s all going to be OK - God told me.  (laugh if you like - God loves to mock proud mockers…)

5)  If you are a “prayer warrior” and you know who you are, please pray for my friend whom I barely know, named JoAnne.  She must be a very cool person b/c two of my favorite people, Mel and partyJo Anne, have been helping her through her horrible cancer treatments.  I pray that the recent bone stuff that they did works, she gets some healing and remission and that she can enjoy a great summer.  This I pray in the Name of Christ, Yeshua.

6)  Kids are coming home!  I just hope I get to see BFFLauren before she boogies down to BooVA to visit TeeShirtGirl.
7)      Around Christmastime, I had a chance to speak with a dear friend that I used to study the Bible with.  She and her family have experienced a lot of very high highs and very low lows like ours has, just in a different way.  She was just telling me about losing her brother (Donnie, RIP) and some pretty serious challenges her family was facing, and she was SO optimistic.  I was like, Lou, how do you stay so positive through all of this.  And this is what she told me, and I was CONVICTED and I will remember it:
“I just think about how God brought us through such a terrible time in the past.  And not only how He carried us through,
but all of the awesome blessings that resulted from that journey with Him.  I just cannot WAIT to see what He has
planned for us next!  I think this is an exciting, not a scary or sad time at all.”

May God give me this attitude every day.  I mean, really - if you have been following this blog, you know how blessed our family has been and continues to be.  I will not lose faith.  Not in God, His Son nor His Spirit and I will continue to see His work all around me.

OK - Virginia Tech is down by 1 at halftime and my “lunch hour” is through.  Thanks for listening.  I hope to see some of you tonight at the party at the Grange in Great Falls, 7 - 11:30.
elisa