Some News!

So in the midst of this chaotic week, the phone rings yesterday, and Mom has news. She and Dad won't be going to Florida for two months to help my great aunt with her knee replacement surgery. Instead, it looks like Dad will be having some surgery of his own.

Remember when I asked you all to pray for him? His congestive heart failure was so bad that I was afraid we were losing him. But you prayed him back to health, and against all odds--even to his heart doctor's surprise, he is now a candidate for valve replacement.

An aside here...way back in 1978 or so, my grandfather, Dad's dad, had his own valve replacement. I think they used the best thing they had then, and it was only supposed to last 10 years or so before it had to be replaced. That was 28 years ago....and Pappaw's heart is still going on the same old valve replacement. His doctor down in Florida says that he has to be one of the oldest living recipients of that kind of valve. He's 86 and still very vital.

Now back then, they had to crack your chest and put you on the heart-lung machine and everything to replace a valve. Now, I hear they make a little laproscopic-type incision, all of two or three inches long, and no ribs get spread. In addition, they put you on some new-fangled machine that is way different from the old heart-lung machines of the past.

So, in the next week or so, Dad gets scheduled for an arteriogram, and if all is still go, he should have a new valve soon. Dad is 66 years old, and his valve has always leaked. If he can get this successfully done, he will be so much better, we believe. No more coumadin or other drugs that are now keeping him going.

So, once again, we solicit your prayers. Please pray him through this one, too! My sweet little kids in church class never failed to remember him in their public (and, I hear, their private) prayers. I know the Lord is touched by the sweet imploring from these little ones.

Well, I think it is official! Chris Bates, one of my favorite preachers, is coming to do our gospel meeting at the beginning of November. I am excited! We have wanted to get him at Brinkley Road for a long time, and it finally came together!

If we can avoid the incoming bad weather, we plan to visit the fair tomorrow. I will have enough pictures for a year to post when I get back, if my failing digital camera holds out. My little loverboy's visit with his "bubbly princess" is coming to an end, and I am sure they are sad about that but hopeful for a future together. I am hoping they can get in one last "magical" night at the fair before the week comes to a close.

One last thought....while you are sending those prayers up, say a little one for me as well. My recent mammogram did not come back as clear as I would have liked, and more pesky invasive procedures are probably in my future. I solicit your prayers that all will work out for the best.