Thursday, November 20, 2008

Can Dec 5 get here soon enough?

I know it has been a couple of days since I've updated the blog - the truth is, we are pretty boring people in every day life! The last few days we have been up to . . . not much! Steve did venture out to the Men's Bible Study last night, and we have visited the church office a couple of times just to say "hi". We went one morning back to the hospital to have some tests. It seems that Steve has some fluid gathering around his heart, and they are keeping an eye on that. We also thought that Steve had developed a hernia where the doctor put in the heart pump, but that turned out to be excessive bruising. So, there you have it! The exciting journey of Steve and Jayna.

The greatest thing in our life right now is trying to keep Steve from going back to work. He has very wisely agreed to not go back to work until he meets with his Heart Surgeon on December 5th - which is 5 weeks after the heart surgery. I think he believes that Dec 5 is the magic date that he will feel good again and be able to go back to work. He has big dreams for returning back to work. I have loved watching Steve work through this entire "going back to work" issue in his life. He seems to live for that day.

I knew the day I married Steve that he had an incredible work ethic and the highest integrity of any man I knew. As I have listened to him and worked to understand his great obsession to get back to work, I am reminded once again why I love this man so: He loves the work that God has given him to do; He loves his "people" and wants to be a part of their journey; He wants to teach and preach again more than anything on the face of this earth; He wants to see the "light" turn on in the lives/eyes of his flock; He wants to be back in the pulpit and share the new things that God has been teaching him over the last month. And certainly not least, he feels the church is "paying" him to do a job and sitting in his big Lazyboy chair at home is not getting that job done.

As I watch Steve get stronger and stronger, I know that I truly embrace his actions/passion, love for the church or love for the work that Christ has given him to do. He needs to be with people. I know that when he actually does go back to work it won't be with as much "gusto" as he thinks he will have (He still sleeps half the day away) - but what he can do, he will do with joy. For Steve, December 5 cannot get here fast enough. For me, I'm happy to have him home all to myself for awhile longer, but, I will rejoice with him the day he gets to be back in the pulpit again.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Not as Boring as I thought

Well, when I got up this morning, I thought this was going to be a very boring day - not much to look forward to, but God certainly took care of that for us. The telephone began ringing around 9:30 and the Lord brought all kinds of ministry my way this morning. Then, Stephen decided that he wanted to get a haircut, so we loaded him up in the car and off to the Barber shop. They didn't have any space until later in the afternoon, so we walked over to the church office to see everyone there. My, that office is a busy place! We decided to go out to lunch. Ah, this will be the big test to see if Steve can make good diet choices or bad ones??? Hummm....oh....not so good. Oh well, I have my work cut out for me!

We then came home, and Steve actually felt pretty strong, so he headed back to his office, then he began pacing the floor. For about 10-15 minutes he just paced with a very stern look on his face. I asked what he was thinking about and he said "a sermon" - I then said, woah, that must be a pretty sober sermon. Steve looked at me and very passionately started laying out the sermon he had on his heart, eyes full of tears and a strong glean in his eye he said "I guess God is not through with me yet - I'm still being inspired"! He has been moved all afternoon and not grown weary. . . or tired. I'm soaring on eagles' wings.

Graduated

Hey, Steve has graduated from sleeping in the Lazyboy chair to sleeping on the couch! When we bought the couch a couple of years ago, the biggest option the couch had to have was that we could both curl up on the sofa and take a Sunday afternoon nap. Crazy as it was, while shopping for the sofa, Steve would lay down on it with his head on one arm and I would lay with my head on the other arm. If the sofa could hold us comfortably, then it was considered. We found the perfect couch that I have affectionately called "my great sleeping couch". I have been sleeping on the couch alone since Steve's surgery, but last night . . . He got to stick his feet in my face and I certainly enjoyed every minute of smelling them all night long. We only got up once last night to get him some pain medication - and we didn't use the strong stuff, he took Extra-strength Tylenol. This morning, however, I took a couple of them myself - maybe my great "sleeping couch" wasn't quite perfect enough for two people to sleep all night long - in one position without being able to turn!

When I got home from church yesterday, Steve was in his home office working on sermons! Now, that is a big improvement. He has been saying for days now that he needs to work on sermons, but as soon as he begins, he either falls asleep, or he can't concentrate. It was nice to see him up, showered, dressed and in his office. It almost seemed like normal.

We had a pretty uneventful day yesterday. Steve did watch the Colts game while I cleaned the stove/oven. You know, I have dusted every day, mopped floors every day, vacumned every day, cleaned the downstairs bathroom every day - I am really looking for "active" things to do. I was even toying with the idea of putting up my Christmas decorations - just to give me something active to do. However, I know that in a few more days Steve might feel like helping and that would give him something to "do" while he is recuperating as well. So . . . I wait.

I don't have a clue what I can do today - I guess we'll start with fixing breakfast and see what the day brings. I certainly don't want to waste it - hummm... Okay, Lord, this day is yours - what are we going to do today?