Life As I See It

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Phil 4:4

This verse is one of my favorites. It is easy to be happy and joyous through the good and easy times, but this verse is a great reminder to always rejoice. Always.

the Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.
Psalm 126:3

Through the good and the bad situations in our lives God's goodness can be seen – and I for one love to see God's goodness through the hard times. Not that I love the hard times, but I love seeing God's provision and care through the hard times. It truly is awesome. Nothing else comforts quite like God's calming reassurance that He holds us in His hands.

We are at the beginning of a 'hard time' right now.
Last night Paul was out on a dirt bike and crashed (with the road – no one else was involved!) I was at home with the sick babies, so his friend, who was with him at the time, took him in to the ER.

Paul broke his left wrist – one broken bone and all the ligaments torn off, sprained his right wrist, sprained his right ankle and has severe road rash on his palms, back and right knee.
From what I heard about the accident it is a miracle he is still alive. God is good.

They set and casted the broken wrist, and tomorrow morning they are going to do surgery. He'll have one screw placed and two pins. In six weeks the cast will come off and the two pins will come out. He'll get a 'soft cast' (is that the right name?!) The Doctor said it'll be 9 months before he's able to "do more than lift a pop can with that hand." He'll have to do rehab for his hand, mostly exercises he'll do himself at home. The doctor thinks Paul will regain most of the abilities back in his wrist. And if all goes well tomorrow for surgery Paul can come home on Monday.

This means a lot of hard things. A lot of frustrating things. But God's care and provision is so very evident to us right now. THOSE are the things we're choosing to focus on. Things like the fact that Paul is still alive. That the injuries will be only a memory – and perhaps scars – in a year. That we have friends who can watch Judah while Wes and I go to the hospital.
We'd also been praying for a way for Paul to have Sundays off – they do a mobile blood drive to Parris Island every Sunday so he almost never is off for church. With this injury he'll be given time off work, which means he can be there on Sundays.

I spent most of the afternoon with him at the hospital. He was a lot worse off than I'd imagined. It's so hard seeing him in so much pain. His gown and bedding were bloody, so I was able to help him shower and the nurse changed the bedding out for him. He got to brush his teeth and that made him feel a bit better.

I'm at home with both boys now. Judah is still getting over his sickness, so I didn't want to send him anywhere overnight just in case.
I hope to go back to the hospital tomorrow afternoon again. I can't wait for him to get home! I hate having my heart stretched to two different places.