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Jan. 18, 2009
No, I haven't disappeared...
Hello again, I am still alive and mostly well. About the time I posted last...was that mid-November?!?...our family began caring for an older couple. They were our neighbors when we moved here 14 years ago. Mrs. Mackey taught all of our daughters how to knit, needle tat, huckweave, weave (on a loom) and many other arts which are not common knowledge. She was a wonderful teacher. Mr. Mackey is a World War II veteran as well as a pilot and has lived a VERY interesting and exciting life. Mrs. Mackey had begun to go blind about 10 years ago and has had alzheimers for the past 2+ years. She was a voracious reader and finally had to resort to books on tape from the Library of Congress. About 12 years ago they moved "in to town" (all of about seven miles ) to be closer to the store. We began going by to check on them and hear their interesting stories. Mrs. Mackey is a descendant of General Grant and they have furniture passed down from his estate...one table that was used for surgery during the war with saw marks where they were doing an amputation. Up until Mrs. Mackey just couldn't see and comprehend...she continued to create beautiful gifts with her hands. We would take a meal or the components for a meal by their home and chat for awhile each week. All of this time Mr. Mackey had been tenderly caring for Mrs. Mackey and handling all of their book keeping as well as meal preparation. About mid-November Mr. Mackey told us he needed help...that is a BIG thing for an 85 yr. old man to admit. So, we became their safety net. We did about 3-4 weeks of 24/7 care...all while keeping up our "regular" schedule of chaos!?! LOL It stretched us more than we have been stretched in quite a long time. During that time Mrs. Mackey had to be hospitalized which meant we were now covering two locations as well as doing our own work. The long and short is that they had few family members and many broken relationships within that small circle. Mr. Mackey was very adamant that my dear husband should be his (and Mrs. Mackey's) Power of Attorney. This is NOT something my husband desired...so he tracked down a nephew to be part of the package. We have sitters and they have been living in their own home. But, early Saturday morning Mrs. Mackey died in her sleep. This has been very hard. She was 83 yrs. and as far as we know, she never made a profession of faith. Only God knows if we will see her in eternity. Over the years we presented the gospel in various ways to both of them...all to no avail. These last two months we have prayed over and read and spoken God's word over them at different times...hoping and praying that God would open their ears and understanding one more time. Since the beginning of Dec. Mr. Mackey has also been experiencing dementia/alzheimer symptoms. Please pray for him...and all of us as we go through the funeral on Tues. There are so many other pieces to the puzzle. Having written all of that....my dear Uncle Bob went to be with the Lord on Jan. the 11th...he also went in his sleep. I have always thought that would be a sweet way to go. His funeral was on Jan. 16th, which was my father's 75th birthday. When I tell you the rest of the news you will understand when I say that this past week I have had to very deliberately choose to praise the LORD...minute by minute. I will back up to the first of this month when a WICKED virus came through our home without warning. I had never seen our Julia so sick. In the middle of that our miniature jersey bull died very suddenly on New Years Day...from of all things his spine breaking! Then this last Wed. one of our goats died as a result of being butted down by Sarah's ram in the cold and rain and being stuck...until we found her the next morning. We took her to the barn and nursed her, carefully turning her every few hours and trying to get her up...all to no avail. The good news is that just before all of this the LORD led me to begin reading Job again. So that as soon as the hard things came...I was already reminded to say with Job, shall we accept good and not evil? And even though I have been VERY exhausted trying to keep up with wifely duties, mothering, home keeping, home schooling, book keeping, nursing--supervising multiple medications, etc. I have a deep peace and joy knowing that I am exactly where Yahweh wants me. To my "Anonymous friend in Idaho"...who happens to be getting all of the snow that our children so desperately want  ...I hope this helps you understand why I haven't posted. I will try to do better. Thank you for your sweet comments and gentle reminders. I forgot to say that we have 2 graduating this year...and I am busy with grades, transcripts, and more paper work. May the Lord richly bless you as you walk daily with HIM!
Grace and Peace,
Ruth |
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Posted by 
Jan. 19, 2009 - You made my day!
I wish I could send your children some of the snow that is still piled up in my front yard.