Move to hospice

Dad has been moved to the hospice house in Ellenton to stabilize his breathing and choking.  Mom is staying in the room with him.   Although yesterday he actually was a little hungry, and was interested in watching the news, he is not doing so well today.  Due to a large amount of secretions that are making him choke, it looks like it may be better for him to rest on his left side in bed and not get up.  We will be discussing the option of giving him morphine by IV today to help with his breathing and comfort.  He stayed resting all night except for a few choking episodes and is very lethargic this morning.  Please pray for wisdom as decisions are made about his care, and for peace and strength for Mom and Dad.  Feel free to leave comments at this blog, as they have internet access and will be able to read what is posted.

At times like this, heaven seems so close, like Dad is standing at the gate, waiting for the call to come home.  We don't know exactly how long this waiting for the "not-yet" will last (the doctors yesterday said it could be a few weeks or even a month or so), but we are confident in the One who will carry him through this time.  

From Max Lucado's "Heaven:  God's Highest Hope":

"We aren’t home yet.

We are orphans at the gate of the orphanage, awaiting our new parents. They aren’t here yet, but we know they are coming. They wrote us a letter. We haven’t seen them yet, but we know what they look like. They sent us a picture. And we’re not acquainted with our new house yet, but we have a hunch about it. It’s grand. They sent a description.

And so what do we do? Here, at the gate where the now-already meets the path of the not-yet, what do we do?

We groan. We long for the call to come home. But until he calls, we wait. We stand on the porch of the orphanage and wait. And how do we wait? With patient eagerness.

“We are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently (Romams 8:25, emphasis mine).

“We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons” (Romans 8:23 NIV, emphasis mine). Patient eagerness. Not so eager as to lose our patience, and not so patient as to lose our eagerness.

“No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).  What a breathtaking verse! Do you see what it says? Heaven is beyond our imagination. We cannot envision it. At our most creative moment, at our deepest thought, at our highest level, we still cannot fathom eternity."