Riverbend Ramblings

It's December 31st. Tonight we'll be ringing in 2012 at our church's annual Watch Night service. There will be great singing, a message from our pastor, food, fellowship, and testimonies shared as we praise God for His goodness.

As I was thinking today about how fast this year has flown by, one of my favorite hymns came to mind. It sums up how I feel about 2011.
~~~~~~~~~~
Great is Thy Faithfulness
by Thomas Chisholm

Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain
~~~~~~~~~~
No matter what may happen in the coming year, I know I can continue to count on my Saviour's faithfulness! Happy New Year!

"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations." Psalm 89:1

Labels: Blessings, Hymns, My Thoughts, Special Days

~ laughter
~ a shiny sink
~ thunderstorms
~ snuggling with my baby
~ home cooked meals
~ finding bargains
~ sunshine
~ springtime decorations
~ day trips
~ silly kids
~ date nights
~ housecleaning
~ reflection
~ fun stuff
~ lots of reading

and above all else:

Labels: Blessings, Daily Life, Favorite Things, My Thoughts

Thanks so much to all of you who have been praying for me. I am so thankful for the power of prayer! I have received emails and cards from people all over the world letting me know they are praying. Last Friday I began having severe pain and made another trip to the hospital. Tests revealed an abscess in my abdomen. The surgeon had warned us that this was a possibility following surgery because of the severity of the peritonitis. The doctor wanted the radiologist to drain the abscess, but because of the holiday weekend, the radiologist wanted to put it off. So, I spent the next couple of days waiting. I couldn't have anything to eat or drink, so I was pretty miserable with just the I/V fluids. The hospital is no place to be on a holiday weekend! Sunday morning I had another CT scan done. It revealed that the abscess was a couple of centimeters smaller. They wanted to wait and do another scan the following day, but we asked my doctor if I could go home on antibiotics to wait it out because I was just miserable in the hospital. He agreed, and I came back home late Sunday. Yesterday I went to see the surgeon. He believes that the abscess will resolve on its own. I have a rather large incision on my stomach from the most recent surgery. The staples were removed last week, but the surgeon had to open part of it to release fluid that had built up. The opening in a bit larger now and looks awful, but the surgeon said it is healing. My amazing husband, who has taken such great care of me, continues to act as my "nurse". He's taken a break from his responsibilities at church for the last few weeks and hasn't left my side except to catch up on sleep. He is constantly looking for ways to make me more comfortable or fixing me a meal. We've had families from church bring food. Our moms have taken care of the kids for most of the past month. I feel blessed to have so much help! I have felt so out-of-touch lately, but I guess that's to be expected. I missed all of the year-end activities at school and Lil' Nut's kindergarten graduation, but I'm thankful to those who stepped in and took on many of my responsibilities to keep things running smoothly at school. I haven't worried about any of it, because I know that it's all out of my control. It has been encouraging to be able to watch our church services live via the internet. It's not the same as being there, but it's close. Right now I'm just taking things day by day. I go back to see the doctor tomorrow, and hopefully I'll get a good report. I am not taking any pain medication now; it really slows down the healing process. Thanks again for lifting me up in your prayers, and thank you in advance for continuing to do so. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. ~James 5:16b

Labels: Blessings, Daily Life, My Thoughts, Prayer Requests

Don't these muffins look delicious? I took Bookworm and a friend of hers on a little shopping trip, and we decided to eat lunch at a new-to-us restaurant. When we first sat down at our table, our server asked us if we needed a while to look at the menu. I told her that this was our first visit, and we would need a few minutes. We enjoyed our meal and were impressed with the good service. When our server brought the check to our table, she also brought a take-home box filled with four of the biggest muffins I'd ever seen. She said she wanted to give us something special on our first visit--on the house! Wasn't that nice?

Labels: Blessings, This N That

It feels so good to be home! We left for Georgia early Tuesday morning and made it to our hotel by late afternoon. That evening we went to the funeral home for the visitation. In spite of the sad circumstances, it was wonderful to get to visit with our good friends and reminisce about Bro. Cameron. Yesterday we were able to relax at the hotel for a little while before checking out and heading to the church building for the funeral service. There were over 50 pastors at the service, and what a sweet spirit filled the building! Bro. Cameron was greatly loved by many, and my heart was stirred by the wonderful memories that were shared. After the graveside service, we loaded up and hit the road. Traffic was pretty heavy on the interstate, but we still made good time. Just as we were about to leave I-75 to get on the Florida Turnpike, our truck suddenly lost power. Talk about a few scary moments! There we were with semi-trucks all around us, and we had no lights working on our vehicle. Steven carefully guided the truck over into the far right land and was able to coast to a stop on the shoulder of the road. However, we still didn't have any power or lights at 11:30 p.m., so we were in a dangerous spot. Hubby thinks the alternator went out because our battery is just a couple of months old. I immediately got my AAA auto club card out of my wallet and dialed their number. A very helpful operator noted our location and put out a dispatch call for a tow truck. At the same time, Steven was on his phone calling his dad to let him know what had happened. He set out to come pick us up. The AAA operator called back to let me know that the tow truck's ETA was about an hour. Lil' Nut was the only one who panicked. She started crying and said, "If we all die right now in the this car, we all have Jesus in our hearts." We tried hard not to laugh at her; it was a sweet moment. About 45 minutes later, the tow truck pulled up behind us. We were concerned about how my FIL would be able to locate our exact location, but the tow truck driver solved that problem for us. His HUGE truck cab was able to accommodate our entire family. The four kids road in the back seat while the grownups road up front. The driver loaded our truck on his flatbed and drove us to the service plaza about ten miles down the road. My FIL was waiting there for us, and I've never been happier to see him! We said goodbye to our super tow truck guy, and he headed on down the turnpike with our truck to drop it off at the garage here in our town. We made it home about 2:45 this morning, all safe and sound. I have been counting my blessings this morning, and here are just a few: * When we lost power in our truck, my hubby was able to safely guide it off of the road. * We have AAA. My mom renews it for us every year. (Thanks, Mom!) * Not only do we have AAA, we have the Plus account. Without the plus account, we would have paid $5 per mile for towing; however, we get FREE towing up to 100 miles. Getting the truck towed didn't cost us a penny, and it would have cost over $350 without the Plus account. * We weren't stranded by the tow truck. The driver was concerned for our safety and quickly got the kids in his truck and out of harm's way. He drove all of us to a safe location. * Before we left for our trip I changed wallets. I wanted to take a small one to fit in a small purse. Usually when I do a quick wallet change, I just take my driver's license and bank card with me; however, for some reason I also took my AAA card out of my big wallet and put it in the small one. It would have made things more difficult if I wouldn't have had the card with me. * We had cell phone service in our remote location. * My FIL was able to come pick us up. * A man in our church owns the garage where our truck was taken to, so we have someone trustworthy and honest to repair it. So, other than feeling worn out today, I'm going to have a wonderful last day of 2009. We'll ring in the new year tonight at our church's watch night service, and I'll still be counting my blessings. :)

Labels: Blessings, Daily Life