Safe arrival, upgrades, prayer

Victoria arrived safely in Honduras. I am not sure of the time, but I do know that Cori, Nate and the kids waited for over an hour on her flight. By the time Victoria got there the kids were well past ready to be done with the mission to retrieve someone at the airport. They had not been told who they were there to pick up. If I heard correctly, Savana was the first to recognize her Aunt Tori. The others quickly followed. Mama told me there was a video, but I did not see it. I did see a photo of Victoria with the kids, but I do not have an electronic version of that image. I am sure the rest of the day and evening was a madhouse of activity as Victoria, exhausted from a short night and a long flight tried to participate in all the excitement as the kids tried to show her everything that came to their minds. The next four days will pass by too quickly for all of them.

As soon as I got home yesterday evening I went out to feed the animals and having accomplished that I sat in my recliner and took a nap. I had planned on sleeping for only fifteen or twenty minutes but that is not how it worked out. Though I am not entirely sure of what time l laid my head back, I woke up and realized I had only thirty minutes to get ready for church. We made it to church on time. Mainly because Mama, who also napped for the second time that day, had already showered that day and only had to get dressed. It was good to be at our home church. This week we will get a full set of services. I am looking forward to that.

Tonight, when I get through with the animals, I will assemble a toilet I bought for the master bath. It is a chair height toilet (also called a handicap toilet) to replace the little toilet we have in the bathroom now. I had to order the toilet because the outlet in the floor is not a standard distance from the wall. It was not cheap but with Mama’s recovery from this surgery and the pending surgery on her other knee, she needed the extra height. Long term, it will be a good upgrade to the bathroom. I am also going to take out the doors on our tub/shower and replace that with curtains. We will use a bowed rod to hold the shower curtain. I am not sure that is an upgrade, but without the doors it will be easier for Mama to use our shower as she continues to recover.

Last night the pastor preached on prayer; specifically, what hinders our prayers. The root of unanswered prayer is found in Ps 66:18. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Pastor asked, “Which sins put Christ on the cross? The big sins or the little sins? Does God differentiate?”  All of us have a list of prayers that need to be answered – whether written or mental. Some answers will come only in God’s time. Others may be on hold as God waits on us to respond to Him. Too often we know what we need to do but choose not to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our way seems better for now. More consistent with our understanding; our plans. Yet our prayers wait, unanswered. Either God knows best or He does not. Somewhere along the way we have to choose; His way or our way. If Romans 8:28 is still true (and it is) I believe His way would always be best. The difficulty comes in acting on that belief. Surrender is not natural for any of us.

Speaking of prayer, I am a little concerned about the next knee surgery. At this point Mama still cannot bend the knee that was operated on sufficiently to put on a sock or shoe by herself. She is not far from being successful at that activity, but if the doctor wants to do the next knee at the beginning of September she has lot of work to do to get the movement required to support her daily needs out of the leg in which she is now trying to regain the full range of motion.

September could be a very difficult month for us.