Joy from Caring...

I was reading some devotionals this morning and one of them kinda stood out to me. It talked about the joy we receive from showing concern for others. I think it all comes down to that little reminder I learned at a very young age in Sunday School... God first, others second, and yourself last. I think if we would all keep this in mind as we go through the day, we would all be much happier people! It's what we were created for - to love God and in turn serve Him and others.


The devotional talked about a book called "How to be Miserable". Here is an excerpt from that book...


"Think about you. Talk about yourself. Use "I" as often as possible. Listen eagerly to what people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be suspicious. Be jealous and envious. Be senstitive to slights. Never forgive a criticism. Trust nobody but yourself. Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement with your own views on everything. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them. Never forget a service you have rendered. Shirk your duties if you can. Do as little as possible for others."


Then it goes on to compare it to Ernie Harwell, the former radio announcer for the Detroit Tigers. He was asked in an interview, "Is it difficult to broadcast a game? What's your approach?"


Harwell, being a joyful Christian, answered by saying, "The game is the main thing! Tell what's happening, and try to stay out of the way."


What a great way to look at life as well! God is the main thing and what He does in our lives is the main thing! The devotional goes on to ask the question, "What will be the "main thing" for you today? Yourself? Or Christ and others?"


PRAYER: "Lord of joy, help me get outside of myself and show concern for others today."


I challenge you (and myself) to constantly look for what God has for you to do today and do not look at what you can gain from it! What can you do for someone today? Put your concern for yourself aside and be concerned for someone else today and let someone else put their concern in you. God will take better care of you than you ever could! :)


Be a blessing to someone today ... and EVERY DAY!!!

GVSU Fall Classes Ready To Go!

As many of you know, my son Logan has been taking Dual Enrollment at Grand Valley State University this past year. He is currently a junior in high school and has just finished up his second semester at GVSU. He has taken 2 classes each semester. Fall '08 classes included German and Philosophy. Winter '09 classes included German and Logic.


He is now enrolled in Computer Science and Criminal Justice. The computer science he wants to pursue is in the programming area. He's changed his focus a little... from computers to medicine and now back to computers! It makes sense for him to go into computers since he is so good with them. He was also ready to be done with German! He'd like to take a break from languages for a bit and maybe take Japanese sometime down the road.


A few weeks ago we received his ACT test results... out of a possible 36, Logan received 35!! Because of this, the dean at the university ok'd him to skip some of the math requirements usually needed to take before the computer science class. This is very exciting and he will do well in these classes, I'm sure!


I can't believe he'll be a senior in the fall and that a year from now we'll be looking at having an open house for him and then shortly after that he'll be going off to college! Time goes by so fast! We need to remind ourselves that time goes by so fast and we need to enjoy every day that passes... even the bad days since that is what makes us stronger! :)


Be a blessing as you are blessed!

And now... as promised...

Here is an x-ray of my hip before surgery. My left hip (right side of picture) obviously had a lot of arthritis in it when you compare it to the right hip. I had bone on bone and relatively no cartilage left. My leg was also about 1/2 inch shorter on my left side.

Here is my new hip as of yesterday! I am now only about 1 millimeter off instead of 1/2 inch! However, because of this, I will need to learn to walk differently again and my back will need to realign a little.

I have been walking solely with a cane today and it seems to be going really well. I'm a little sore from being gone this morning - went to coffee with a couple friends and got my allergy shots. I'm ready to rest for a while again.

Thank you so much for all your prayers! Clearly they are being answered and God is truly the Great Physician!!! PTL!!!

Be a blessing as you are blessed!

Doctor's report...

I know I haven't been posting much lately but there's really not much different going on in my life at the moment other than recovery! Just waiting patiently for it to heal... and waiting... and waiting...

Anyway, I went to the doctor's today for my 6 week follow up appointment. The 50% weight restriction has been lifted and I can now GRADUALLY begin to put more weight on it. I'm ditching the walker and probably the crutches and just using the cane. We'll see how I do with it and if I need to use crutches again or not a little longer. I tried using just one crutch and that throws my back way out of alignment so I don't think I'll be doing that a whole lot. I will still need to use the crutches going up and down stairs so I'm still limited on that.

I was able to get a couple printouts of my x-rays - before and after shots. I'll probably be posting those tomorrow after I scan them and crop and whatever. It's really pretty cool so I thought I'd like to post those for you.

In 6 weeks I go back again to the surgeon. First they weren't even going to have me come back at the 3 month time but since I'll be going to Haiti this summer they wanted to check it again one more time. I'll be picking up a script for some antibiotics to take along to Haiti and also he wanted me to take the pain killers I have left here just in case I need any of this while there. He didn't think I'd need to do the Lovenox injections though before the plane ride so I'm extremely happy about that!!!! :)

I guess I can pretty much start doing things that I feel comfortable with as long as I don't push it too much too soon. I still have a long way to go with strengthening the muscles again but this will come in time. He also said I can do the recumbant bike and walk for excercise so this is very good news for me! YAY ME!!! ;)

Pictures coming tomorrow!
See you then!
Be blessed!!!
Diane

5 weeks with the new part!

Today marks the 5 week "anniversary" since my hip replacement surgery! I'm glad I'm this far with the recovery process and am very thankful for less pain! I would probably say it's at least 90% less than it was before surgery!!! I had such a hard time even imagining life without the pain I had been experiencing for over a decade... progressively of course but still a long time to be in pain. I am very thankful for all that God has done for me and for His Healing Hand! I have truly been blessed by all my friends who have continued to show their love for me and for my family! You know who you are! ;) Thank you for all that you've done!

During these last few weeks, I have found that life has all sorts of lessons to be learned. I had to let my family do the things that I normally would do... even though it's not done exactly the way I would do it, it's ok. I had to let my friends supply meals for my family. I had to sit and wait for my body to heal itself. I had to deal with emotions that were stretched... but God never brings you to anything that He won't bring you through. I've be working on my patience and praying for God's help on this. I've also been working on my pride and allowing people to help me. I've always been very independent so these things are not easy for me to change. Truth is, I can't change these things... only by God working through me can these things be changed and in turn can I be molded more into His likeness.

I read Kim's blog this morning which really touched me. She is in another spiritual struggle and felt open enough to share it on her blog. A point came to my mind while reading it - the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maybe should be "if I'm not broken, He can't fix me". God works in many ways to break us so that we can be further molded into His image. What a great thing to think about during Holy Week. If He cared enough for us to send His only Son to die for us then He certainly cares enough for us to take the time to make us more like Him! We are His sons and daughters and He loves us more than we could ever know!

Remember the wonderful gift Jesus has given for us... His Life!

Be blessed and be a blessing!
Love, Diane

Slightly aged dog for sale... CHEAP!

Just kidding... maybe!

It is currently a little after 3:30 AM and I am wide awake because of our 12 year old dog that couldn't hold it until morning! I thought she'd give it up after a while but kept barking constantly for 15 minutes to go out! I obviously can't sleep through that so I get up, use my crutches to go down the stairs, which by the way wasn't fast enough for her I learn from her continual barking, let the dogs out, wait for them to "be done", let them back inside, talk to Tori for a minute (who is now also awake because of the dog barking), hobble back up the stairs, tell Smokey to leave me alone for the next 48 hours, and crawl back into "bed"... aka: the couch!

While writing this post, I am also listening to both dogs snore which only amplifies my anger toward them both at this point!

Well, I am going to try and get a little more sleep before the night is over! I hope all of you have had a restful night's sleep and are enjoying a wonderful morning! :)

Good Night! Hopefully!!!
Diane

Another Update...

Just wanted to let all of you know how I'm doing with my recovery...

- Today is my last day I have to wear the stockings (these are used to help prevent blood clots after surgery).

- This past Sunday I took my last Vicodin so I am currently on no pain meds except that I started taking my anti-inflammatory medication again this week which I was told to do after my Lovenox injections were done.

- I have had somewhat bad sinus headaches on Monday and Tuesday but none today so I think I'm getting that figured out - I was trying to sleep back in bed but was still moving back to the couch after a few hours. Last night I stayed on the couch all night and got a full 7 hours of uninterupted sleep.

- I'm still doing physical therapy at home 3 times a day and that seems to be going well and I'm gaining muscle strength.

- I am not as tired this week since going off the Vicodin - this can lower blood pressure which was making me tired all the time.

- I have been struggling with my frustration and lack of patience. I continue to work on that and pray that God continues to help me with this.

I can't think of any more to update about right now except that Spring Break starts on Friday so I'll have the kids home with me during the day which will make it a little easier... maybe! ;)

Love you all and thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers!

Diane