I Spy a… Pie

So, this is week 10 in my rehab from back surgery and the pie in my oven is significant because it is part of my own therapy plan. I am allowed to do very little, and my back and legs are very weak which does not allow me to do much work in my kitchen. So, I have a test to see if strength is coming – trying to make my family a pie every now and then. The week 3 pie was a complete disaster. I think the week 10 pie may be the best yet.  Now the pie is sitting in the oven waiting on Ron to rescue it. Still can’t bend at all so Ron rescues everything around here. Lots of kid care, lots of spills that I do, lots of housework! He is an amazing energizer bunny and despite the pies (or perhaps because of my pies) he has just achieved 25 lbs weight loss! Way to go Ron!!!

I have 3 weeks to go till my x-ray, which hopefully WILL reveal that bone has now stabilized my spine. If so, I may be freed of some tough restrictions that have put me in this “sabbatical situation.”  I continue to have no pain, just incredible weakness in my back and legs when I am upright for too long. When muscles and nerves are cut and then not allowed to be used, weakness is definitely a thing! I reminded Ron last night that till I am finished with this – it will be a ¼ of a year of my life that has transpired! Putting it that way, he too thought it is a long time!

I am so humbled by many of you who stay tuned to my {Joan’s} ramblings. When I send a blog out, I sometimes even get hits internationally which always amazes me. Not sure who is tuning in, but I always want to make sure God gets glory for what He continuous to do around here. I spy him at work in many ways.

1. How he keeps giving us strength to carry on. Matthew is challenging us a bit these days with a nighttime routine of getting up a few times each night and being done with sleep altogether by 5 in morning. So, sleep in this rehab is a bit lacking. But we try to focus on the accomplishments and not the regression!
2. Our sweetest granddaughter keeps delighting us with her smiles and love and we just can’t stop praising God for this miracle child. She heads to CHOP tomorrow for another evaluation. Pray for her parents!
3. The only chair in the house that I can comfortably sit in, dubbed the “Queen’s chair” by Ron (no disrespect to an incredible true queen being buried today). I call it my prayer chair. During this sabbatical I have made prayer a high priority – almost to the point that I am afraid for how life will change for me once I need to get back to hands-on life again. But I cannot overstate enough the “I spy God at work things” I have witnessed in the last 10 weeks. My heart continues to leap for Joy with how the Holy Spirit led me in an encounter with a very needy young woman this weekend – a story I don’t feel free to share yet. I may never know why God allowed our lives to intersect but the whole thing was way beyond me. I just got to be the one who was Jesus’ hands.
4. Finally, my dad turns 90 very soon and I get to help organize a party for him. I spy God at work in my father, sustaining him in his single years after 66 with my mom. And I draw strength from that as I heal.
5. I spy all of you praying for our family, and I thank you!!!