Day 7 & 8 continued
On Monday I was thankful for organizations like Hospice, Shriner's, and Samaritan's Purse.
If you have ever been the recipient of services from Hospice I hope you agree that these folks are just awesome. My first Hospice experience was with my mother-in-law. Even though they were a new organization in the county at that time and were in their infancy we received wonderful support and help for the two weeks they were involved. My next experience was with my daddy and I will be forever grateful to these people who touched our lives. Daddy was in the hospice program for just a little over 6 months. During that time I met the chaplain, nurse, and social worker. I will never forget on the day that Daddy died I had called his hospice nurse a few minutes after 1 in the afternoon and told her I thought the end was very near. Daddy had stopped breathing several times, sometimes for as long as a minute and then would start back. She told me that she was finishing with a patient and would be out as soon as she was through. She arrived a little after two and I was able to draw such strength from just her being there. Daddy died between 6 and 7 that night and she was in the room with us when he died and stayed till probably 10 that night. I will never forget being outside on the porch late in the afternoon and her walking up behind me, putting her arm around me and very quietly saying, "it's a beautiful day to be going home isn't it". And it was. My hospice experience with Bobby was just as positive even though their involvement was much shorter with his care but I did receive bereavement care for 13 months. God bless these wonderful people!
Shriner's offers so much hope to children and their families with medical care that other wise families could not afford. I have a niece who received care from Shriner's until she was 18. I now have a friend whose daughter is going to benefit from care at a Shriner's hospital and for this family it is absolutely a God send.
Samaritan's Purse delivers so much hope to so many people all over the world that I cannot begin to describe it all but if you are not familiar with them check them out then pray for them.
On Tuesday I am thankful for those children in my life (some who are not children anymore) who call me Granny or Aunt Connie. My grandchildren are of course awesome. It is so amazing to watch them growing up. I have said that grandchildren are our rewards for not killing our kids. I have many children who call me Aunt Connie those who are related to me and some that are not. I think it is just awesome that there are those friends of nieces and nephews who also call me Aunt Connie. These children instead of making me mourn how old I am getting actually help keep me at least young at heart. God bless each and every one of you.
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