All news, all the time

Let me apologize for the newsiness of the blog these days. This is a sign of the times for the moment. As I mentioned previously, Paul was laid off from his job on Thursday. He decided to take the next few days between my workdays to come visit his parents. We spent the better part of the day yesterday on the road covering the 500 miles from our house to my in-laws. During the hours of our travel my mother-in-law, Dixie, who has a rare auto-immune disorder, and is on immuno-suppressant therapy, had a severe reaction to a medication meant to treat a minor infection. She went to the hospital and is now in intensive care. I cannot visit her, in case my allergies turn out not to be allergies. I can't risk exposing her to anything. So Paul and Terry went to visit her this morning. I spent the morning on Terry's computer trying to get the hang of Facebook and deal with the sudden glut of e-mail it's generated. Paul called a while ago to tell me she was still in the ICU, and her numbers are improving, but she's not going to be coming home anytime soon, whatever that means, and they're not encouraging visitors. Hopefully I'll get to see her before we have to head back home.

We welcome your continued prayers, as we trust God during this trying time. Let me also take a moment to mention how proud I am of Paul. He handled his lay-off like a man of faith - very graciously and with compassion for the fellow who had to do the dirty work. He's gotten much feedback already about how much he's missed. And we've been overwhelmed by the compassion and kindness of friends. We've even recieved long distance phone calls from friends we've not spoken to in a long time. Also, Paul had already found three job vacancies for which he qualifies which he intends to apply for as soon as we return home. (Thank you Ginger for springing to action as you did!) We don't know how all this will turn out, but our prayer is that God be glorified every step of the way, and that we not lose sight of our Goal.

On a lighter note, while we were traveling we got news from the kids that Mango, the magnifi-cat, had escaped and was under the house. Mango is royalty at our place and so everyone was distraught. The decision was made that the four hours Tony had spent crouched at the foundation with a can of tuna was sufficient effort. We told him to go to bed and worry about it in the morning. Gina, who is also house-sitting for us, took the dogs out to do their business when she woke up and heard the cat meowing. She called for him and he came right out. Apparently staying out all night was not the fun time he'd hoped for. Hopefully he's learned his lesson.

Pssst everyone....Monday is Paul's birthday. If you know him, please wish him well.