Saturday Thanksgiving

Yesterday was hard. Early in the morning, before a team meeting at our home, the phone rang and it was my brother's deep voice that I heard when I answered.

"I don't mean to worry you, Belinda," he said, "but Mum has fallen a few times lately and she fell last night."

He went on to tell me how Mum's legs have been failing her and on Friday morning, before the Helping Hands lady came to get Mum up, something prompted him to go down and check on her. He was shocked to find Mum on her back beside her bed. At first glance he thought that she was gone, but she was just badly shaken and hurt. We don't know how long she'd lain there, but her back was bruised and she was mentally disoriented because of the shock. She has an alarm to push in emergencies, to call for help, but the Helping Hands ladies said that many of their clients are too confused in an emergency, to remember to use them, or they are afraid that they'll have to go to hospital, so they don't.

I thank God that in the little English village of Alvechurch, the doctor still makes house calls. He came and checked on her, prescribed steroids and antibiotics for a rumble on her chest and said that he would check in again on Saturday.

I told Robert that I would call back that evening and see how she was. During the team meeting we had a prayer time but when I tried to pray for Mum I couldn't speak. Martha took over, placed her hand on my shoulder and covered Mum in prayer. The prayer support of this dear team of managers was a great comfort.

That evening we celebrated Tiffany-Amber's 11th birthday, which is on Sunday, and in the midst of the children playing with their Playmobil, I called Robert. He said that she was safely tucked up in bed. He had gone down at 11.00 p.m. to check on her. She had not been herself all day though, and not really aware of things. Helping Hands had doubled up their ladies to help support her from her bed when she needed to get up. He said that her colour wasn't good and he had a feeling that maybe there was something more going on. We actually talked about her wishes about funeral arrangements and I said that I was ready to leave for England if I needed to be there. He said it was so good to hear the girls voices in the background as they played.

This morning as I got ready for the day, she was on my mind, and I prayed that if she was sick, God would take her peacefully at home and that she wouldn't have to go into hospital or a nursing home.

After breakfast I called and Robert answered the phone. He said, "I'm right beside Mum's bed Belinda. I'll give her the phone and go into the other room for the extension."

Imagine how I felt when Mum's voice said, "Hello darling," with her familiar little laugh.

She is herself today. Still in bed, but she enjoyed listening in to my conversation with Robert and laughed at all the jokes Robert made. At the end she fell silent as we talked, and Robert said, "I think that Mum may have dozed off."

Quickly her voice came back, protesting firmly,"No. I heard everything you said."

I am so grateful--for Robert's faithful care of Mum and for God's gift of another day of her being with us.