Caring For the Elderly

I knew it was coming.  Anyone with elderly parents knows that there will come a day when we will have to provide some sort of care to our parents.  My 84 year old Mom recently fell a couple of times in her home.  When she got to the hospital, the doctors decided to admit her.  They ran a bunch of tests and she was fine, but she was feeble and having a hard time walking.  They decided to put her in rehabilitation for about a week.  Dedo and I decided to make the drive to Fort Smith, Ark. to spend time with her and make sure everything was going well.

I thank God for doctor's and nurses that are trained to care for the sick. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the hospital and the sickest get the attention.  My Mom is not sick, so she is not a top priority in their daily activities.  It takes family members to make sure our family members are kept a top priority.  The hospital in Fort Smith (Sparks Regional Hospital) is doing a great job, but we have to ask questions, attend meetings, call doctors, etc.  My Mom is doing great and should be out of rehabilitation on Wednesday.

God's timing is perfect.  I've lived by that promise all my adult life.  Even when I don't understand the present day circumstances, I've always looked back in the past to see evidence that God has always been perfect in His plan for my life.  Because I am in transition between jobs, I have the time to care for my Mom.  I am so thankful for that opportunity. I've enjoyed being with her. I've learned more about her than I knew.  I've witnessed her kindness to others and I'm encouraged by her love for people. Ive also enjoyed spending more time with my wife as we've traveled back and forth from Ft. Worth to Ft. Smith.  She treats my Mom like her Mom and for that I am grateful.

I know the future will hold more of these incidents.  I pray that God will protect my Mom and I am ready to do whatever needs to be done to protect and care for her.

Happy Anniversary #33

Today marks my 33rd wedding anniversary. To the same wife!  June 21, 1980 was the second most important day of my life.  Next to becoming a follower of Jesus when I was 7, marrying Dedo was the most important decision of my life.  It set the trajectory for a majestic life, career, children and grandchildren.  If I knew how huge a decision it really was, I would have totally freaked out.  But we were young and naive and in love.  We had no clue what was about to happen.

I met Dedo primarily because of her name.  During my freshman year at Tech, we had a math class together.  The first day of class, the prof called out our names to check us in.  When he called out the name

"Dedo Wray," I perked up.  First of all, who is named Dedo? I looked around to see who would answer and I heard this twangy West Texas girl yell out "here." There she was sitting on the back row of the class next to the star quarterback Rodney Allison.  She was beautiful.  It was also the last time I saw her in class.  She somehow managed to pass the class without ever attending.  No worries.  I also saw her in the dorm cafeteria with all her friends from the 9th floor of Chitwood.  As a Coleman resident, we shared the same cafeteria.  I loved watching her because she was also having fun. As the semester grew longer, I got to know her a little through other friends.  We ran in the same large circle of people, but never really clicked until the end of our sophomore year.  During finals, I asked her to go out to eat during a study break.  We went across University Dr. to a hot dog place where you could get 10 hot doges for a dollar. We had so much fun that I walked out without paying.  She made me go back.

She made me a better person.  She's the one who got me back into church after rebelling against Christianity for a couple of years.  We fell madly in love during our junior year.  Our first date was to a movie called "Duchess And The Dirt Water Fox" with Goldie Hawn.  We went to every Tech home football and basketball game although she wasn't interested in sports.  By our senior year we had started talking about marriage.  We graduated in 1978 but because of my job, we decided to wait to marry. We were engaged in the Fall of '79 the weekend that Tech played USC.  We married in June of 1980 and the rest is history.  I don't know if there was any connection, but that summer was the hottest on record with 60+ days of 100 degrees or higher.  And we had no air conditioning in our first house in Waco.

We've lived through lean years, healthy years, sick years, prosperous years, children years and today we are still living.  I love her more than ever and would not change a thing about her over the past 33 years.  She still makes me a better person and that's what I love most about her. Without her, there is no telling what I would have become.

Honey, I love you and can't wait for the next 33 years.

Wednesday Weddings

Last Wednesday, Dedo and I drove to Young County, TX to attend a wedding.  One of Dedo's life long friend's son was getting married. Wednesday weddings are a little out of the ordinary, but the bride had prayed and fasted until God gave her the date and time of June 12, 2013 at 6 PM.  The wedding didn't start until 6:30, but God was okay with that. It was a beautiful wedding on a hot, windy Texas summer day.

The couple was married under the limbs of an oak tree that is estimated to be about 400 years old.  Everyone in their family  had been married under its branches.  I am going to paint the tree as soon as I have some time.  The house was built in 1875 on land that was settled in 1855 by a Texas Ranger and cattleman named A.B. Medlan. All the structures on the property are over 100 years old.  Texas history was oozing out of every nook and cranny of the old ranch house.  That's what made the trip great.  And my introduction to almond tea was a spiritual awakening.


There aren't many people that get to live in a house that has a Texas Historical Marker on the front door.  I love Texas history.  That's why I love to paint Texas landscapes (www.etsy.com/PaintingsByRPM).

There is not a more beautiful countryside than the rolling hills of Young
County. I love the dust in the air, the cattle
in the fields, the mesquites blowing in the wind and the heat.  I am a Texas guy and I would rather be hot than cold.  Out here, it's always hot.  The drought is still a serious threat to the farmers and ranchers and you have to be one tough hombre to live out here.

The Byerly family has lived on the land a long time. What a legacy they have as a Texas family.  I attended my first wedding under that tree in 1981.  As far as I know, future Byerly's will continue to be married under the old tree that stands in front of the old house that's surrounded by the old rock wall. And if they invite me, I'll keep coming back.


 

Happy 5th Anniversary Mallory and David

Today is another special day (see June 4th blog) in the Mitchell family.  Mallory and David celebrate  their 5th anniversary. Wow.  That's all I can say.

As a noted (at least by me) parenting expert, I predicted the day I met David this relationship would never work.  David was the starting high school QB, Mallory couldn't spell the word football.  David went to West Point to QB.  Mallory went to Lubbock to attend Texas Tech.  "A long distance relationship will never work" I muttered to my wife.  David graduated from West Point and Mallory graduated from North Texas.  They were talking about getting married. "No way" I said to myself because my wife stopped listening to me. I grew up in the Army and I knew Mallory could never survive the times of loneliness, war, terror, worry, politics, military red tape and moving from one command post to another. 

They still got married.  

After the honeymoon, he left for 9 months of Ranger school.  Shortly after that, He left for a fun-filled year in Iraq. They missed virtually every holiday, birthday and anniversary because of two years of separation.  Skype was their friend. They've moved from New Jersey to Colorado Springs (not bad) to Lawton, OK (bad as it gets).  But Mallory survived,  growing stronger in the process.  She stayed on base by herself instead of moving home.  She was determined to make the military her ministry, attend grad school to get her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and wait  for her husband to come home. 

She and David have the strongest military marriage possible, which is light years stronger than a civilian marriage.  Mallory loves God, her country and the men and women (especially) who sacrifice their marriages for you and I.  I've learned so much about marriage just by watching them from a distance.  I am so thankful they are physically closer (I know it's Lawton, Ok.) and we can see them more.  David is going to Captains school (even though he has been a Captain for two years), they have one more year of military commitment and who knows what's down the road for them.  Mallory is busy counseling families.  She reminds me of my parenting issues from time to time.  They chase around a crazy dog named Nala. They are committed to the local church and God's call on their lives. One day, they will be great parents.  

I am so thankful that Mallory and David continue to prove me wrong every day.  We love David and thank God for him.  What doesn't seem probable is when God does His best work.   

Happy Anniversary guys! 

Happy Birthday Whitney!

Today is a special day at our house (actually her house).  Our daughter Whitney turns 29 today and she is now the same age as her Mother!  Whitney has been such a blessing to our lives.  To have a 29 year old daughter is hard to fathom.  She was born a couple of days after Dedo and I went to see "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom" in 1984.  Labor started during the scene when Indiana Jones slices the cooked dinner snake's belly and hundreds of snakes pour out on the table.  One look at Dedo and I could tell she was toast.  We waited a couple of days to go to the hospital because it was still 2 weeks until her due date.  Sure enough, she had Whitney early.

Today, Whitney is a testimony to God's love.  Anyone who knows her sees that God has gifted her to work with children.  Her students, parents, school administrators, friends and family watch her skill and caring with every child she has come into contact with.  When she graduated from high school, she headed out to Texas Tech where she met some baseball player who grew up down the street, even though we didn't know it.  She married Brian in 2008 and it is amazing to think about the influence they both have on children.  Three months ago, Whitney gave birth to our first grandchild.  Weston is the luckiest kid in the world.

I can't wait to see what God has planned for Whitney in the future.  I know she is following after God and He has great things for her.

Happy Birthday Whit!