"I am the Lord's servant"

Hi friends and family,

I haven't been listening to Christmas carols and have been telling myself that I am just not in the mood. However, Jesus keeps giving me gentle nudges and the other night I thought I would just tune in to our local Christian (or uplifting) radio station. A song had already started and the singer was singing like she was Mary just after Jesus' birth. She sang about wondering how he would show himself as the Savior. It was a simple, sweet, and lovely song. While she sang I thought about the Magnificat (I hope I spelled that right) and how when Mary glorified God she wasn't just saying that she, a Virgin, would be willing to bear the son of God. She was submitting herself to God will and saying that she would trust him with everything. At that moment I realized that I am trusting God to provide everything for me, to keep me faithful, to keep me sane, and to bring me moments of joy, jubilation, comfort, and love. Praise God that He loved us so much that he would come to us through this humble and faithful woman. Even this Christmas there are some good moments. I wanted all of you to know that it isn't all black and painful in my life. There are some smiles and I have even sung along to some of the Christmas songs that I have loved for so many years. Bill, of course, is hamming it up in the Heavenly choir and enjoying the beauty of all those perfectly in tune voices praising God.

So - this week has actually been hard too. Mom is not better and yesterday she was admitted to the hospital. Mom has a shunt in her brain to drain fluid and the doctors were afraid that the shunt had stopped working. I just got back from the hospital and it does now appear that it is NOT the shunt (Thank you Jesus - that would be really serious), but that she may have just gotten dehydrated and gotten her minerals and electrolytes and all of that other human junk all out of whack. They are replacing fluids, doing tests, and the doctor told me that her blood work is showing some improvement and hopefully she will get to come home soon. Her kidneys aren't working well, but they are getting a little better. Please keep mom in your prayers that God will bring her home soon. I love you all very much. Love, Sue