A Coronation?

A little girl asked her mother, "Is today the day we go to Pastor Christopher's coronation?" "No sweetie, said the mother, "it's called an Ordination!"

My second born son was given the name Christopher Curtis Schrock. We chose Christopher for two reasons, but the most important reason was because his name means Christ Bearer. His middle name came from my father. It was the first name of my father and the last name of my father's great grandparents.

I used to call him my little Daniel Boone when he was little because he would hurry through his lessons so he could open up my sewing center to make bags for his treks up & down the creek or make his own bow & arrows out of tree branches. I guess I should have called him my little Bridger since he ended up in Billings, MT.
He always had a desire for reading and learning and going deeper. My husband & I used to say that Christopher was going to be either a pastor, a lawyer, or an insurance salesman someday, and I think we were right because in a way, he is all 3! He is a pastor for the way he cares for the people God has placed in his care, first his family and now the members of Christ Covenant Reformed Church. He is a lawyer because he studies God's law...and yes, he is an insurance salesman of a different kind because he isn't selling the insurance that comes with a price. Instead He shares God's Assurance of grace and love for His people, and it is freely given.

When Christopher was 14 years old, he lacerated his liver and was lifelined to Indianapolis. God gave me an unexplained peace almost immediately that day. As Christopher flew in the skies over Indiana, my conversation with God that day went something like this, "Lord, you are the giver of life, and you can take it at any moment. I accept that and just as the day he was born, I again commit my son into your care to do as you please." I somehow sensed that day that I would only have him for a little while until God called him to a greater task.

When we were in Billings last July, we had several people from the church thank us for allowing our son to leave and come to Billings, but really it should be us thanking them for being a part of God's perfect plan...for opening their hearts and home to Curt, Julie, Moses and Kati. We love them for it and owe them a debt of gratitude!

That brings us to the day of Ordination and I can truly say that I am blessed that God has allowed me to walk this journey with Christopher. I give the glory all to God for what he did those many years ago, what He is doing today, and what He plans to do in the life of my son. As a mother, I am truly blessed!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Billings, MT

Grand Rapids to Billings

We drove to Grand Rapids, Michigan for our next journey out West. It snowed all the way there thought you can't tell it from these pictures. I kinda laughed to myself as we passed the state line because in the past I always thought of Michigan as the snow country, but not this year. Indiana is their equal when it comes to snow and cold.





When I took this shot, it was actually snowing quite abundantly causing a blurred effect. Who needs Camera+, right? I can get the effect naturally.





We were able to get a more direct flight from Grand Rapids to Billings so we thought we would try it. The Gerald Ford International Airport is small but very nice and has great facilities for waiting. Our flight was delayed soon after we got there. It was one of those good news bad news events. First we were delayed, but when we took off, the prevailing wings actually got us to Minneapolis fairly on time. However, because we were early, they didn't have a gate for us to disembark. We were supposed to have an hour layover, but that didn't happen.





We finally walked off the plane at Gate G. However, our next flight was at Gate C so we literally had to run about a half mile to get to our gate. We were the last 2 people to board the plane and they closed the door behind us.






Praise God! we made it to Billings ahead of schedule, but my luggage did not. Kati & Moses were there to greet us in their jammies, but I think they were disappointed when they couldn't pull the luggage off the belt. No big deal. My luggage took a small detour to Salt Lake before arriving here at noon today.

Overcomer: Update on Kate

My mom has had a good life. That's not to say that she hasn't experienced trials during her 83 years of life because she has had more than her fair share. My mother was a faithful woman who always put her faith in God even though she was raised by a man that did not appear to do the same. Simply stated, though, Kate is an overcomer. She was the 9th born out of a family of 13 during the Great Depression, and survived the Dust Bowl Days. As a young first time mother, she should have been enjoying her new baby, but instead she began her battle for life when they discovered a brain tumor in her cerebellum. In 1954, brain surgery was not all that common, but as I said... My mother is an overcomer!

Fast forward to today, 60 years later, and my mother who was a walking miracle again lies in a hospital bed with my father faithfully at her side. He sat in this chair all night holding her hand as she slept.


She was admitted to the cardiac care unit yesterday because she was experiencing pain in her chest, arms and neck. I have a hard time thinking it is her heart. A couple years ago, she had a heart cath. The doctor told us afterwards that she could smoke 5 packs a day from this point on and her arteries would be still be fine. To that, my mother in all seriousness said, "Oh, I would never do that!" Sometimes , she has a hard time distinguishing when people are not being literal.

At 2AM this morning, my mother sat up in bed and yelled out. She suffered a seizure. At this point, we don't know what this means. We're still waiting on the EEG report to determine her brain wave activity because she is having difficulty speaking. They have now moved her to Neurology ICU where my dad refuses to leave her side, and this is how it should be....my mother, the overcomer, and the man who holds her hand.

Blizzard or Hercules?

A peak out my kitchen window...





The Milkhouse in snow...

Snow on the roof

Snow fell at a rate of an inch to an inch and a half per hour today. Marlin was worried that we had too much weight from the snow on the roof so he walked around the perimeter and cleaned the snow off the roof.

Snow Snow Snow

Scenes from our record breaking day!

Hercules

This is what we woke up to this morning. Church was canceled yesterday so we had plans to hunker down.


























Around noon, Marlin said, "Let's walk down and visit the folks before the weather gets bad," so off we went.

















Ellie was so happy to see her master, she squealed in delight!

















When we got to the folks, Vernon was cleaning off the porch so Marlin helped him finish the job.








This is a bad sign...lines covered with snow like this can lead to electricity outages. That is not what we want with 47 below zero temps on the way.

Scenes from Sky Harbor & the trip Home

What a difference 3 1/2 hours can make. It was 75 in Phoenix on Saturday, but when we arrived in Indy, it was 32 degrees. I expected it to feel a lot cooler after spending 10 days in the Arizona sun, but it felt good...it felt like home to me!





As you can see, the ground when we left was totally dry. We watched the weather reports all day, and wondered if our flight would be canceled due to the storm of the century stopping by Indiana, but the weather stalled so we were in luck. A man sitting next to us at the airport called this storm, "Hercules", which made us laugh. I'm not sure if he heard that on a weather report or made it up himself. Marlin said, "When did they start naming snowstorms like Hurricanes"?





We finally took off around 8 PM AZ time for the 3 1/2 flight home. It was a full flight, but excitement was in the air because the Colts had just won their game. We had about a half hour of turbulence which I expected since we were flying up and over the storm system. Once again, the thought went through my mind... I'm never doing this again. Why I scheduled 3 airplane trips within 2 months is beyond me.





When we started our descent, it was obvious we were back home again in Indiana when we passed over a very familiar site, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, covered in snow from the previous snowfall that week. The pilot circled the city and landed from the East so we could see the interstates and the cars traveling on dry roads so we were feeling pretty good about the drive home.





What a difference it looked like on the ground when we pulled up to the terminal.





Headed home on dry roads, but first we had to stop at the grocery store. Many shelves were bare, but I was able to get most everything I needed. We finally arrived at home at 4 AM and Hercules was just beginning to spit out the first few flakes of the day.

See-sters

I was six when this picture was taken and my sister was 9 1/2. I believe I was in first grade and she was in 4th grade at the time. We were living in Tucson.


This is a really funny observation...why am I always sitting on my sister's right hand side? The above picture was taken when we lived in Nebraska while my father was in Thailand serving a remote term for a year.


What goes around comes around as they say. This was taken the morning we left Tucson....a little wiser and a whole lot older!

Epic Fail

My recent visit to Arizona left me feeling like a failure. The whole purpose of this visit was to help my parents work through the new reality of dementia, but my father resisted my help every step of the way. Here we are at the Neurologist filling out the paperwork for a brain MRI. He allowed me to fill it out since his hands shake so bad, and it is hard to read his writing. However, he made my mom switch chairs so he could watch me fill it out. We won't know the results for a couple of weeks, but one thing we do know is that there is something wrong. My mother has difficulty with the simplest of activities. While helping her shower this week, I put shampoo in her hand and she used it like body wash even though I had just told her to shampoo her hair. She no longer cooks or cleans, but she does set the table. If I go into the kitchen to do anything, she starts setting the table. She moves things around and constantly asks if something belongs to me. Things come up missing and my dad says "The elves moved it".





Today, I turned around and she was struggling with the skillet that we had just washed. I asked her what she was doing, but when I stepped around her, I saw what she was doing.





She was putting the strainer on the handle. I'm not sure if she thought it was the cord or what. A lot of these kinds of activities are happening.





The funny thing about this is that it actually fit on there tight and I'm not sure how she actually got it on there.





The next day, Marlin & I spent the day looking for information for help for my folks. We found a community center where they can participate in congregate meals, but my dad wasn't interested. We found a lady that will cook meals by the week and he wasn't interested in that option either. I talked to him about getting someone in to clean, and help my mom with her shower & washing her hair, but he said he could do it himself, but it isn't getting done. They wear the same clothes six days in a row and think that is okay. Their clothes are stained and dirty, but they don't seem to notice. He washes the breakfast dishes by rinsing them with water, then he dries them with a hand towel that they have used to wipe off the counters, your hands, and who knows what germ laden surfaces. When I called him out on it, he didn't understand why his method of washing the dishes wasn't adequate. Managing my mother's medications has been a challenge. He did let me prepare a list that he can go by so he doesn't forget, but he stands over the list and the calendar for the longest time each day making sure that he is doing it right.





My father is a proud man. He was a Chief Master Sargent in the United States Air Force. He is used to telling other people what to do so it is understandable why he is resistant to others suggestions, but it doesn't lessen the pain for me. My parents have forgotten my birthday for the past two years... no card, no call, no recognition that the day of my birth even mattered. Although I saw this coming at least four years ago when my dad was still in denial, forgetting my birthday was painful for me. Birthdays were always a big deal for my mom so when they forgot my birthday the first time, I chalked it up to her fading memory. Just one more step toward the day when she no longer knows me.





My father, on the other hand, is dealing with a loss of his own. His wife and best friend is no longer the woman he married. He can't "fix it" like he did when she had a brain tumor in 1954. He's still looking for the magic pill and there isn't one that will fix this. He now carries all the responsibility that a couple should carry together, and he is overwhelmed. Accepting help would mean he would have to accept that fact, and he is not willing...





I probably shouldn't be writing about this in an open forum, but it helps to write about it, and I hope that my experiences help anyone else that might read the words that flow from my pain. It is hard living so far away and not being able to help so I sacrificed to fly to Arizona for Thanksgiving & Christmas because I truly thought I could help. I still struggle with being a failure where my father is concerned, but I know that I have to step back and allow him to chart his own path. In the end, the only way I can help is to pray. I pray that my father comes to the realization that there is no shame in accepting help from others, especially his daughter. I pray that someday he will understand that he is not the only one who is losing something. I am losing my mother. For now, she still knows me, and that is going to have to be enough.


2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 (The Message): So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.