Saturday, January 05, 2008

Update on Carol...

Slight improvement...Please keep praying, and have others pray as well.

God bless!



SATURDAY, JANUARY 05, 2008 08:27 AM, CST

Hi all. Saturday morning and Carol is waiting for breakfast to show up. Breakfast is late today. Sorry for the very long post the other day. I felt that their was a lot to say. It was good therapy for me. We have been taking baby steps forward the last two days. It has been difficult. The hardest thing to deal with is the loss of physical strength since December 1st when Carol's hip broke. Along with the diminished physical strength is the lack of lung capacity and lack of appetite. Everything seems to be improving, ever so slightly. The bone pain and sensitive skin holds us back allot. We have not seen any BMT Doctors today, so there is not much to report. Ortho and Respiratory were in this morning. Ortho is very happy with Carol's hip replacement. Respiratory said that there is lung improvement, but it is slight. The whole family thinks that these slight improvements are just great. It sure gives us some renewed hope after the New Years Day prognosis. Amy, Lisa and I thank everyone for all the caring-bridge postings. They sure meant a lot to Carol.......and us! Telephone calls are welcome but please understand that Carol is sometimes very tired. She also has a very hard time concentrating and it is difficult for her to process and vocalize her thoughts. I also want to thank all of our neighbors back in Combined Locks for looking after the homestead. You are all truly good and caring friends! As we get more news, Lisa and Amy will be posting more updates. My GRANDdaughter, Anna and I going back to CL for a day to do paperwork, clean house, do laundry and maybe see the new movie, 'The Chipmunks'. . . if she is good. Her dad and brother are in Michigan this weekend for hockey. . . . JER NOTE: Anna is a very good GRANDdaughter.

Walid Shoebat to Honor Israel in Michigan and Florida

Anyone interested in attending, please contact the numbers provided.

God bless!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shoebat.com
Date: Jan 4, 2008 10:25 PM

Friends

Walid will be keynote Speaker at two Honor Israel events this coming week.

The first on Sunday Evening Jan 6th 2008 at Word of Faith International Christian Center 20000 W. Nine Mile Road Southfield, MI 48075 248-353-3476 hosted by Bishop Butler

The second near Orlando at Calvary Assembly, 1199 Clay St., Winter Park, 32789 tel 407.644.1199 on Thursday Evening Feb 10th 2008 hosted by Pastor George Cope.

Between the two events we expect over 11,000 people to attend.

Walid with his message hopes to inspire Christians to stand with Israel, educate about the threat of fundmentalist Islam and explain how the scriptures are in G-ds plan for Israel .

Anyone who lives near or is in the area where these events are happening and wish to attend please contact the churches directly for details.

We have more events and exciting developments to announce soon.

Shalom

Keith Davies
Director

Friday, January 04, 2008

Matt Talbot Photograph and request for Info

Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center: Matt Talbot Photograph

Not really clear, but wow.... a real picture of one man I admire immensely.

Ven Matt Talbot, Pray for us!

Thank you, JB, for your research, and for posting this! You have obviously done a lot of hard work and research!

If any have things that JB could use that he may NOT have, please send them!

One that BOTH of us are looking for (and I have been for a LONG time) is something that JPII wrote about him long before he became Pope. Reference to it is made on at least one website, but no one from there responds when emailed, and I cannot find it online.

If it is out there, and someone HAS access, please send it to me, and to John Blair via his blog.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Carol

Carol is my sister-in-law's cousin, a schoolmate of mine a yr ahead of me. Her husband, Jer, is two yrs ahead of me.

I used to live near them, and often went there for coffee when our children were little.  Life got in the way, I moved away, and I lost contact.

I don't think that I had put this on my blog before, as I am too 'close' to where this woman lives, and did not want to interfere in anyway with her family. She teaches at an area High School (won't say 'taught', though she has not been there this semester).

Instead, I opted to go with very good prayer warriors that I know for prayer, and for updates, etc. However, it has come to the point where a miracle is needed, and more prayer required for Carol.

Carol has been fighting Multiple Myeloma, diagnosed April 27, 2007, with rapid height loss, and chemo. She has now had two 'stem cell transplants' done with her own cells. 

A MAJOR setback came when she broke her hip, and required surgery. She also developed a blood clot in her lung (dangerous, life-threatening). She spent some time on a ventilator while it cleared, along with blood thinners, and then also developed some internal bleeding, but they were not able to pinpoint the source...


This is the news I have not wanted to hear, but knew was there. Daughter Lisa has been updating on a daily basis, but ... 'cheerful' sorts of updates.... nothing significant about her condition. 

Today, Jer has made a very definitive update that HAD to be difficult to write.

Their two daughters are a little older than my own two daughters, because we had to go the adoption route. Carol is near the age of my Dad when he passed away, so they are close to what I was back then in age, with young children of their own. I can imagine the difficulty for them in all of this!

Jer is, also, close to the age of my Mom when Dad became so ill... just retired, had many hopes, I am sure, for the future.

I continue to pray and believe in miracles until there is no hope, for as long as there IS life/breath, there IS hope.

My prayers always include being 'right' with God regardless of the type of miracle He grants.

Please continue to pray.


WI Catholic

Ven Solanus Casey, Pray for Carol. (WI native)


THURSDAY, JANUARY 03, 2008 06:01 PM, CST I know it has been a few days since we posted. Carol has not been doing very well since New Years. On New Years Day, Carol had a VERY difficult time breathing. Her heart rate and blood pressure were way up. She was very weak, tired, unable to do any therapy and had a lot of bone pain. She could not bear to be touched anywhere without having a lot of pain. It was very difficult to watch and I felt helpless. Carol received lots of pain medication and was allowed to sleep most of the day. In the afternoon, I had consulted with the doctor on the Bone Marrow Transplant Floor. He had determined that Carol was unable to fight the physical battle anymore. Her lung capacity was severely diminished from the 7-1/2 inch loss of height and all of her bone and spinal fractures. Everything has collapsed around her lungs, not allowing her lungs to expand with full breaths. Her left lung was partially collapsed and she was only using about the top ¼ of her lungs for breathing. She was being forced to take very short and fast breaths in order for her take in enough oxygen to survive. This was also very hard on the heart. Carol's brother Ray and I had to agree with his diagnosis. If things continued to deteriorate, the BMT doctor thought Carol would only survive for another two to seven days. This was very hard to accept but it was kind of expected because Carol has been failing more and more since her hip broke on December 1st.

The hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was to call our daughters and give them this sad news. They both came back to the hospital that evening and stayed with mom. When the grandchildren came down after school on Wednesday, Amy went back home with her family late Wednesday night. Amy is coming back on Friday night and staying till Sunday. Her husband and two children are going to Houghton-Hancock for a weekend of hockey. Lisa is staying here through Sunday or Monday depending on how things go.

On Wednesday, things vastly improved. Breathing was much easier for Carol and some of the bone and skin pain was gone. Boy, did I become optimistic again! All day long, Carol had lots of visitors…… retired teachers, former students, friends, brothers, nieces, nephews, in-laws, out-laws and telephone calls from close friends. It was great. We never expected all this company. Carol was very happy and pleased, but pretty worn out by the end of the day.

On Wednesday morning, Dr. Hari had a conference with me about Carol's condition. The prognosis is not good at all. As I stated earlier, Carol's body is very weak and worn out. It is very demanding physically to continue fighting a hard fought fight. The will to fight is still there and Carol has not given up! She just can't do it physically any more. Because of the slight improvement overnight, Dr. Hari has decided to push Carol to eat, and do breathing therapy and physical therapy. He said we will push her hard for the next three or four days to see if there is much improvement. Carol will be going to Peabody Manor (The Pea) in Appleton early next week. Depending on how Carol improves, Carol will go to the Pea for physical therapy and rehab or she will going there for hospice care. The latter will hard for the family to accept.

If things go very well, Dr Hari said that Carol could enjoy another year with friends and family. He said that if Carol were to catch a cold or flu virus, she would immediately develop pneumonia and not survive. If she were to get an infection, she would not be able to fight it off physically and not survive. Essentially, her chances of surviving a year were not very good. The whole family is hoping for the best.

On a final note to the teachers, staff and students at Appleton North High School, Wilson Cook and two of his friends have painted the "ROCK" at school. When they found out that Carol was unable to return to teaching, they painted the message: "YOU WILL BE MISSED, SANDIE". They took pictures and gave them to Carol yesterday. The four of them spent hours talking about all the fun they had in class and the effect Carol had on their lives. It was neat to see the sparkle in Carol's eyes, knowing that she had made a difference in their lives. Carol will truly miss doing what she loved most…… teaching and her students! See you at the Pea! …… JER



Catholic Web from Israel in - Hebrew - English - French - Russian

Got this email from a friend today, and thought that there may be some interest, esp for anyone planning a trip to Israel.

God bless!!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: a
Date: Jan 3, 2008 3:55 PM

Here is the web site for the Hebrew speaking Catholics in Israel. It has the Mass hours for Christmas, but you get the idea.

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 9:47 AM
Subject: Finally, a Catholic Web from Israel in - Hebrew - English - French - Russian


Hi,

Finally there is a Catholic (Israeli) Web in Hebrew + English + French + Russian. You can see it here:

http://www.catholic.co.il/


Please pass it on to those who you think they may be interested in it.


Yours + Happy New Year,
Shlomit

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Congratulations-- A New Family

My "baby" now has a baby of his own.

Two Become One... God's Plan for Marriage.


A new addition to the family was born yesterday at 5:30 PM.








It certainly looks like BOTH are smiling contentedly!





HAYLIE MACKENNA, Her first New Year's Day, almost 19 hours old.

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Monday, December 31, 2007

Welcome to the world, Haylie Mackenna!



Daddy and his little girl finally got to see each other,
and all she did was stare at him.

Born at 5:30 PM 12/31/07, she weighed 7 # 14 oz, 19 1/2 in long.

Mother, Father and daughter are all doing fine.

What a gift to end the year with.
Welcome to the world, Haylie Mackenna!


God bless!

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Prayers, please, for safe delivery, health of baby, mom and dad

If labor does not begin on its own sometime before six thirty AM Dec 31, my son and his wife will be at the hospital to begin the process of induction. Please keep them in prayer, and their infant daughter.

Pray for all the medical staff (MD, nurses, techs) to have Wisdom, as well.

And because I have to work all night, include ME in those prayers so that I can keep my mind on my job rather than a half hour away... grin.

God bless!

Leah Feldstein Letter Seventy Years Old (Thoenebooks)

For the readers of Brock and Bodie Thoene books, the names of Leah Feldstein (she played the cello) and Tikvah, (her infant daughter raised by Rachel and Moshe Sachar after Leah and her husband had died in Israel) are well known. Lori Kalner, also...

Her daughter has letters written by the real Leah Feldstein, and shares one written seventy years ago today, Dec 30, 2007. Follow the links below to read the full posts at their blog.

One statement in that letter ECHOES loudly today, if one knows of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from back then, and remembers the current and frequently uttered words of the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Her words:

There is rumor that the Nazis who vow to destroy us all
have made an unholy alliance with the Islamists.

Together they vow they will not rest until all Jews are destroyed.

  • A LETTER FROM LEAH FELDSTEIN, DECEMBER, 1938
  • 12/28/2007 - Leah Feldstein

    There is a second letter from another on the blog from Lori Kalner, also worth reading!

    From HER letter:

    The great spiritual battle faced by Christians during the time when the constitution of Germany was being destroyed by LAW,
    began as an economic persecution. The Jewish community was hit first.
    Then harassment of true Christians in Germany began as members
    of the religious establishment joined the leaders of the country
    in order to crush those who truly served Christ.
    It was clearly about gaining the property of
    Christians and Jews
    before the persecution became a battle of idealology.

    Ultimately, those who truly served Christ were faced with constant betrayal from those who served MONEY.

    Is this different today in 2007? I think not.


  • Rejoice and be Glad...
  • 12/29/2007 - Lori Kalner


    Remember that both of these women have lived this....

    I highly recommend the ZION series by Bodie and Brock! ALL of them in the ZION Covenant, ZION Chronicles, and ZION Legacy series, as well as the Shiloh books.... oh, just read them! LOL.

    God bless!!


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    Pro-lifer seriously injured

    This story was emailed to me. Please keep this man and his family/friends in prayer as he recovers!

    Also pray for the man who assaulted him, and the woman that went to the abortuary with him..

    God bless!





    From the report:

    His medical report outlines the extent of his injuries:
    “multiple trauma, right subarachnoid hemorrhage
    (bleeding in the area between the brain and the tissues that cover the brain), compression fractures of four vertebrae (T3, T4, T5 and T10),
    right scapula fracture and fracture of the fourth and fifth ribs.”
    Before doctors were able to stop the bleeding in his head,
    they even feared Mr. Snell would die.

    Full story here