For a while now we have been keeping abreast of my Mother In Laws health issues. She lives down in Florida. She has had continuous health issues ever since I have been married to my husband. This year, the issues seem to be extremely bad and getting worse.
She has been in constant abdominal pain for several months now. She goes to sleep at night in pain and wakes up in pain and it is there all day. The doctors do not know what is wrong. She has this other condition of too much calcium in her blood. They cannot find where that is coming from and are just giving her medication to try and reverse the symptoms. She is on a lot of medication at this point.
When we talked on Face Time back in May for her birthday, she was laying on the couch and saying she couldn’t get up for anything and her husband was saying she was really drugged up so to speak, and she wouldn’t even take Tim’s phone calls at times…
Well up to last week, they have been making the situation sound very dire, to the point it seemed of life-threatening. So unbeknownst to us they made a trip down to southern Florida to where there other son lives with his wife and did some repairs on their house that they have had since last November. My husband happened to talk to them a week ago Sunday and his dad said that they were bringing his brother and his wife up to their house for a week.
This was really a surprise, for one, my BIL is an alcoholic, has been for most of his life and the tension between Father and that son is not ideal…because of the decisions his son has made over the course of his life related to the alcohol. So for him to go ahead and bring him up to his house for a visit was a huge thing on his part…and secondly, we were surprised because my MIL has been so ill.
My first instinct is compassion, and knowing how ill my MIL has been I mentioned that perhaps we should drive down to FL to see his brother while we were there. I knew this would be a blessing to his parents. We have never been together for more than two days in the 10 years that we have been married (us and my BIL and the In Laws) and that was only one time. My BIL has no drivers license due to the poor choices in his life and the chances of us seeing him at the same time at their parents house is basically a one time event…as much as his mom hopes it wouldn’t be, I see the reality of this happening again as very slim…
Anyhow, I mentioned that on Sunday evening and told my husband that if we were to go, to ask his Dad if I would be able to cook all the meals…his mom is not capable due to being ill and the Sister-in-law does not have very good cooking skills…at least that is what I surmise when my husband said he starved down there last November between his mom’s cooking and her cooking there wasn’t much to eat, taste wise or otherwise… Which is fine, I enjoy cooking and the Lord has blessed me with the ability to cook!
My husband didn’t say anything else after we talked it out and I left the issue in his court. Monday, I hopped out to the travel trailer and started getting it ready to go in case my husband said we were going. I was hoping it would not be too long of a visit. The relations with my in-laws and myself are quite strained, mainly with my MIL…so the tension is there, week long visits are too long, 3.5 days are just right. So this was huge just to even suggest going.
I had two appointments that week one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. My husband called Tuesday afternoon to say we would be going! I asked when and he was thinking the next day, I mentioned the appointment and I was blessed to not have to go until Thursday. So now I had to get everything really packed and get as much food prepped as I could so I wouldn’t have to do too much once there.
Wednesday was the marathon cooking day. I did two different batches of cookies 3 dozen each, baked a cinnamon roll coffee cake for breakfast, made the homemade pancake mix for potatoes,bacon and pancakes one morning. I browned the meat for Pizza rolls for lunch, meat for beef stroganoff, and meat for the cheesy hamburger and broccoli recipe I have on here, and meatballs made for spaghetti. I then baked two cake pans of a carrot cake to assemble the cake for Father’s Day on Sunday. I was slightly exhausted.
I sent an email out the night to our Pastor asking for safe travels, for prayers for my MIL’s health and shared how bad it was and that the outlook was not looking good for her, and asked for prayers for issues relating to their dog that has bitten our children 3 times, praying it would not go after Thomas.
Thursday morning we took off about 8:30 and we finally arrived down there about 5pm. Thankfully we were blessed with smooth travels. We drove up and unloaded from the truck and said hello’s. Tim and I had decided to set up the playpen so that Thomas would be safe and his dad mentioned that the dog was not there. Kind of with a look to me like “I had to get rid of the dog, because of your wife” but said to Tim, that he took the dog to the neighbors which ended up being next door so that there would be no issues. I gave his dad a big hug and said thank you so much for the consideration regarding their dog. I basically lost my peace and calm when I saw them last November and their dog bit my son right above his left eye and they said it was nothing and that basically I needed to get over it…when it leaves a scab, that is a bite…but then…their dog is his “3rd child”, treats it like a child and cannot stand the fact that his favorite “child” would ever do anything wrong and no one should ever mention anything bad about his “child”….that issue is a whole other post that I will spare you from!!
Ok, back on topic…we get our trailer set up, I start getting dinner ready. We were to have the spaghetti and meatballs…now here is one of those things that is so annoying….I have asked for about 8 years now the recipe for her spaghetti sauce….never once has she given it to me…it is always oh sure when I get home, or next time I make it I will write it down…or its up in my head there isn’t one, etc…. So I asked Tim to help me out..works like a charm every time…she’ll do anything for Tim. I whipped out my two jars of homemade sauce and said I could use mine but I would really like to make hers and Tim asked her where the recipe was at. Well of course it wasn’t written down, or she couldn’t get to the cook book. I said I was sending Tim to the store to get whatever we needed to make it…and low and behold she whips open her pantry and pulls out everything she needs….
So it’s a large can of tomato puree one of those giant ones like 32 oz. and then it was one small can of tomato paste and then a tsp. of oregano and another tsp. of basil. She said she usually adds a Tablespoon of brown sugar but didn’t have the normal kind and we used that organic type of brown sugar in the plastic container… and then she used about a quarter of a cup of Mogen and David Concord wine it is a red wine…. The sauce comes out with a slight sweet taste and is very delicious. See my tomato sauce always comes out with too much water and I wanted it the consistency of hers…well after doing some internet research on the way home, I figured out that I just need to let mine cook down more.
Well I could see that his mom was still in a bit of discomfort with her abdomen and she would sit down and rest….but the whole, “I am so ill I cannot move” that we have heard for the last two weeks…was just pure manipulation…this lady was up and about and moving around etc. I think Tim felt just as duped as I had…it is one thing to be ill and not have a quality of life but it is quite another to make family members think that you are dying and there is no hope left and that is what she did, basically both of them…
Well the rest of the trip was the same, with my Sister-In-Law there and being computer challenged I helped her get her email set up correctly and to get rid of all the emails she had that were junk…26 pages worth!!! I helped her get her browser fixed…she had about 7 toolbars installed etc.!!! Then once I had her set up, I organized all of my MIL’s pictures on her computer so that all their volunteer trips were together, all their missions trips were together, vacations were in another folder, etc.
It made it easier to stay busy and keep an eye on my children with my SIL there, the focus was not on me, I just needed to cook the food and make sure everything was tidied up afterwards. Praise the Lord this was easy and I was just so blessed to not be judged and criticized for every little thing I did while I was there.
Sunday came and of course it was time to go to church…I had asked the night before what time we needed to leave. I was told we needed to leave the house no later than 9:35 so that we were at church BY 10AM! Ok, understood, we wanted pictures before we left for church with everyone looking nice and I made sure my crew was ready by 9am.
We went outside and took pictures and everyone loaded up to head over to church. We get there and the service is still going on, I remarked to Tim that I thought it was strange that they wouldn’t have time in between services for people to leave before the next one started…and then she pipes up and says that service starts at 10:30!! WHAT!!! I can’t believe she did that not taking into consideration that we have 6 children 3 of which are in the toddler stage and you now want them to sit quietly and behave the whole time…a small compromise would have been nice to just show up say 10 minutes before service, it would have been plenty of time to see who she wanted us to etc…. but that is how she operates, it is about her and only her…
I tell you, when you have sat in a church under a good Preacher who truly preaches the word and whose sermon’s are not using “worldly” attributes and examples….you really miss it when you sit under someone who does do that and you are so disappointed…. You would think that a Pastor of a church would not be using as an example the occasion of kissing on the first date….Shouldn’t they be preaching about staying pure and not doing that…not this preacher…his whole sermon was full of things of the world that were so out of place and shouldn’t have been used. I am so blessed to have a wonderful Preacher that wants to keep us in the Word, preaches the Word, teaches us the Word….I am going to be so sad when the day comes that we have to leave this church.
My daughter said to me afterwards that she was so sad during her time in the youth class. It was for ages six and up. We took the three older ones to the room that was designated and when she was talking about it later, she said, “I was so sad and I just wanted to come out and find you in church.” I told her next time, she felt that anywhere we were visiting to get up and come find me. It turns out there were just babysitters in there, there was no Sunday school program, they just had them playing video games and watching movies! What in the world…..well I guess that is the point it was of the world and not of Christ….sigh….
Sunday after church we came home, I fixed up lunch and was going to get the dinner in the crockpot. Tim mentioned us going to the beach so I said talk to your dad about it…Well his dad had offered to take everyone out to eat which was a nice treat. I hadn’t started the dinner so that worked and we were going to take off for the beach. Well we ended up going a little later to dinner and it ended up that his mom would not go, it seems as if every time whether it be here or there, when it is time to go out to dinner, she comes up with some reason as to why she cannot go. So she didn’t go, then Tim didn’t eat, his stomach was not feeling well, his dad did not eat his stomach was not feeling well, so the children and I and my Brother and Sister in Law ate, which made us ask why did we even bother to go out to dinner!!
Our family left the restaurant as soon as we were done eating and headed out to Jacksonville Beach. It was about 8pm, the sun was just starting to go down, really breezy but it was a warm breeze. The water felt like lukewarm bath water, just delightful….. Here are a few pictures of the evening….
Thomas’ foot prints, 10 months old
I love this picture of my daughter and I.
This picture is a great one of my husband smiling, I have a slightly crazed look in my eyes because the water came in just as we were going to take the picture and surprised me!!
I am so thankful we are back home, I am thankful that my husband had a chance to see his brother and that it was a blessing to their parents. I am thankful the Lord blessed us with the time at the beach for a wonderful family time that was just us and so memorable.
There is a daily plan that starts out with Drills over important issues to memorize..for instance, we are memorizing the 4 sections of the New Testament and then all the books of the New Testament that fall into each section. 
There is also a Timeline as well as 3 additional maps to help you and the children see visually where everything is occurring.
We are using all of these and I am including pictures here so you can see the depth of how much this covers.
In addition to these teaching tools there are Visuals that show the lessons you have covered in character form without text. It is a great way to recount the bible stories and have a helping aid in case you forget the events in the order they happened. 
.There is one last aid and these are the Cards that teach about the books of the bible. They have picture aids on the front that make it interesting for children and on the reverse they have text related to the book of the bible and questions related to what you read. 
Yep, that would be me some of the time...most of the time.....mind you, I am using biblical references to back up my side whatever the conversation may be...
