Amy's 'momentary trouble'

We had a nice Eater although the weather was rainy and cold. Because of Amy’s queasiness, I prepared Easter dinner and we had: Brown sugar glazed ham, Herb roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes with ham gravy, corn and a fruit plate that included fresh sliced pineapple, sliced oranges, sliced strawberries and halved bananas. We had a little Easter mishap on Saturday afternoon that I just HAVE to share. On Friday, Amy and I ran to the store and bought some Easter candy and a few inexpensive gifts for the kids for Easter. We got home and snuck them down to the basement for safe keeping until late Saturday night. As I stated in an earlier post, we went to Janesville and spent Friday night at friends of ours. Well, when we got home Saturday we started to do some cleaning and I assigned the kids to pick up some items and put them away. A short time later, I sent Hope & Vinny downstairs to the basement to do some cleanup down there and it was about two minutes later that at almost the exact same time, Amy came rushing into the kitchen asking me; ‘Where are Hope & Vinny?’ to which I replied, ‘downstairs’, again she said, ‘No…where ARE Hope & Vinny?’ and at the same time I hear Hope say, ‘Vinny, Vinny! Come look! Look at what I seen!’…and it dawns on me, ‘Oh, no…’ Amy, thinking quick, tells the kids to come up quickly, that she needed to show them something in Hope’s room. Hope replied ‘But, Mom, but mom!’ and Amy said, ‘Come quickly!’ and so, they come running up the stairs and after they make it out of the kitchen, I hightail it downstairs and hide the bags in an unused dryer drum, close its door and crept back upstairs. After Amy finished with her diversion, Hope told Amy that she’s GOT to come downstairs and see something and when she came through the kitchen she told me that I too had to come downstairs to see something. We all went downstairs and she took us over to where the bags were…and they were gone. Obviously Hope did not like this, she KNEW she saw something and now it wasn’t there, she was not happy in the least. So, periodically throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, she had to go back downstairs to see if the bags had returned.

Amy had a rough day Saturday with keeping food down, she’d eat and it seemed that about 20 minutes later she’d throw it back up. Sunday wasn’t as bad, but bad enough. Each time she does, it takes whatever energy reserves she has and drains it. Sunday she kept commenting on how thirsty she was, but was afraid that too much water might also cause her to throw up. Fast forward to today, this morning she had a rather intense stomach pain episode before she left to go for treatment. I just got off the phone from her and she reports that after reporting her troubles keeping things down and her stomach pain, they tested her and discovered that she is dehydrated, so after her 20 minute radiation treatment, they will be keeping her for 1 ½ hours to give her fluids intravenously. After today, Amy has only 6 more treatments. A week from tomorrow (Tuesday, April 25th) is her last treatment & again, I would like everyone who is willing, to support Amy by wearing purple. Last time I estimated that about 400 people wore purple in support and I would like to see if we can double that! In order to see those numbers, we need to ask you to please spread the word, you know about Amy’s condition, so just share the story and ask your friends to wear something purple (it can be anything from a shirt to a ribbon, last time someone even wore purple underwear!) on April 25th. Thanks!

John 4:13-14 says, Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Now, this comes from the story of the woman at the well and Jesus confused the woman at first because while He had asked her for a drink from the well, Jesus was telling her about the ‘drink’ from the well of salvation. If we as Christians have been given this thirst-quenching gift of living water, then why do we go through periods of spiritual dryness? You know, those awful times when our walk with God seems to stagnate and we end up feeling lost or even abandoned by God? We long for the times when God feels close and we know his presence again, but it seems that everywhere we turn, He’s not there. We will have times of spiritual dryness. It is part of the Lord's way. But the fact we will have spiritual dry spells is not the issue. The important question is what we will do in a time of spiritual dryness? Some of us, during a dry season, will try to prove our love to the Lord. Some of us will try to prove to the Lord our faithfulness toward Him. Some of us will even get angry at God, throwing threats or worse at Him like an impetuous little child. Unconsciously we will be hoping by such self efforts to persuade or pressure Him into returning more quickly and to shine his face once again upon us. What we really need to do is continue to be about the Lord’s work. Pray, Intently study God’s word, Fellowship with other believers & Serve. By doing these things, we ‘wait’ upon the Lord, wait upon Him in a spirit of humility, in a spirit of abandonment, with contentment and resignation…Come before Him quietly and peacefully, recalling your mind to His presence even though His presence may evade you, And in His perfect time, your season of dryness will turn into showers of blessing.

This is Amy's story as seen and told by me - V