Whatever He Says

By Belinda I'm writing this at the time I would normally be talking to Rob and Mum on a Saturday morning, but this morning, Rob called earlier than usual. As he always does at times like this, he started by saying, "I don't want to worry you Belinda, but I wanted you to know..." I spoke to them both on Monday, but since then Mum has had gastr-enteritis, become dehydrated and is taking in only about half an inch in a glass of fluid a day. Three days of that and she is very weak and not really lucid. Rob said she has grabbed for his hand several times and kissed it, and has "that faraway look in her eyes." There is a nurse on Mum's fleet of Helping Hands ladies, named Julie. Julie said that she would call the paramedics normally at a time like this, so after a day of agonizing over that decision because Mum normally fiercely fights leaving home, Rob was about to call. She's on my mind and I'm praying that she will feel Jesus close by. 

The spring sun shone brightly, warming cheeks and hearts. Snow glistened like crystals under its rays, and shadows formed under bare branches and life-giving trunks of sugar maple trees. I smiled as I watched children clamber on snowbanks, sliding down and bearing up again. Dead, brown leaves settled among tractor tracks and puddles formed. Spring mud beckoned children with its ooze. Mesmerized by dancing eyes and gleeful squeals, I forgot to scold. Childhood remembered, I delighted in the splish, splash of boots. Along with them, I revelled in the delight of "now" - melting snow, warmer weather and the promise of spring. In my mind I formed entries for my "Gratitude Journal" begun in mid-February. I thought of what I read in another blog about all the lists we make - things to do, things to purchase, and things we want. Ann Voskamp @ Holy Experience began a different kind of list. She called it her "1000 Gifts List" where she recorded things she alre...