Between Here and Heaven

Hi Friends. Last month I had the JOY of watching my youngest child marry the love of her life and the countdown until our first Grandchild continues: only 80 days!

I am glad I have the happy memories and our first Grandbaby to look forward to because right now my family is going through a difficult season. Throughout the Summer, My Mama, who is almost 92 years "young," has been failing. Last week she started Hospice. If any of you have ever had that happen with a loved one, then you understand the waiting...

I was with her in Indiana last week. I hadn't been back since last January due to wedding planning, expensive plane fares, and my schedule. I was excited to visit and see her new skilled care room.
Two days before my trip she was taken to E.R. and put in ICU. Let's just say it wasn't looking good. At all.  With excellent medical care, she rallied from Sepsis and Kidney failure. (We often say she's a cat with nine lives.) She was moved out of ICU. My Mom was in a lot of pain and due to LOTS of medical issues, she and my two older sisters and I were all in agreement that Hospice was the next best decision. We experienced the most wonderful, loving nurse and doctor at Carmel St. Vincent Hospital and we'll be forever grateful.

As a follower of Jesus, I firmly believe that if she passes away before I return to Indiana, that I will see my Mom again in Heaven. I had the privilege of witnessing my Mom chatting with God. I think that when life here on Earth is coming to a close, and we're approaching a time when God will take us to our Eternal home in Heaven, our ability to communicate with God increases dramatically. Case in point; my Mom was openly imploring God that she was ready and then she told me He'd been talking to her too. In all my years (I turn 59 this weekend-yikes!) I have never heard my Mom speak so openly about her faith and talk about God like He was in the room with us. It was very reassuring and a comfort to my hurting heart. She is also very excited to be reunited with my Daddy and her parents.

Since we don't know how many days, weeks, or months my Mama has, I had to say goodbye last Thursday and fly back home to my family and job here in Washington State. Yes, that was one of the hardest goodbyes ever.  So...for now, she's being loved on by her two local daughters, local grandkids, loads of friends, her Pastor, the Barrington staff and Harbor Light Hospice.

Before I left I spoiled her with some yummy treats she loves since she was able to eat solid food again; a donut, milkshake, and an ice cream sundae. She continues to get some treats although her appetite is quite small. Rather than spending her days reading and watching sports, she now sleeps and has short (sometimes funny) conversations with visitors.

I'm so thankful for how my sisters, who both work full-time and don't live super close, still manage to visit almost every day. They also took care of packing up her former apartment. It is HARD to be far away. All I can do is pray and wait for text updates. If I get an Indiana call I try not to assume it's sad news.

As the days go by I am very blessed with a community of friends who are lifting me up in prayer during this in-between-waiting time and making me feel loved and cared for. I've been invited to dinner, brought hot homemade fruit crisp, and even given flowers by the sweet family I nanny for.

These loving gestures remind me of Exodus 17:12.
"When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up--one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady till sunset."

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matthew 6:25-34

The beautiful Lillies are a reminder that God IS in control and He knows exactly how many days my Mom has left...

My Mom is between here and Heaven... and she's happy and thankful and ready.
May I live the rest of my life that way.

In His Grip,
xo Jane

This song, Yes I Will, is one of my current favorites. A local family whose sweet baby girl is in the NICU (and whose name is Lilly Joy!) claim this song too. Please lift their sweet baby up in prayer that she can go home with her parents.