Thankful Thursday...What a Week!

Whew! What a week. I'm just really, really glad it's Thursday and this week is almost over.

We knew this week was going to be a strain. We had an extended family situation that had been promising for weeks to make Monday a *12 Excedrin Day*. Sure enough, the one thing that *no one* wanted to happen, ended up happening....a delay which means we will be *waiting* another few months for any resolution to the situation, which we all desperately need. But even before that, on Saturday, my 95 y/o grandfather fell and broke his hip. It looked really bad for a while. Surgery was imperative, but his health is so fragile they weren't sure he would survive it. And despite his age and fragile health, he is amazingly strong. He grew quite agitated Saturday and had to be restrained and sedated. (It took 3 female and 1 male nurse to restrain him!) Someone had to stay with him all the time the first couple of days...which *wasn't* in anyone's calendar for the weekend.

But...we have much to be thankful for. Papa is now back at the nursing home, doing Rehab. He has done better than anyone could possibly imagined. As my uncle said today, "It's going to take an asteroid to take him out!" I would like to think that I have inherited his *toughness* genes, but I'm afraid that is wishful thinking. :)

We've had wonderful nurses at the hospital. One in particular was a Godsend. Connie came in in the middle of Papa's worst outburst at the hospital Saturday, saying, "Mr. Marks! I've been your nurse before." I gave her a sympathetic look, and she said, "no, no...I nursed his wife when she was here." With a look of surprise, I said, "That was a *long* time ago." (13 years!) Papa had apparently gone back to visit the nurses even after Granny's stay was over, and Connie remembered him well. She was very understanding to Papa and was a *great* nurse. She was on every night he was in the hospital, and took excellent care of *all* of us. We also found out while we were there that she knew Granny's family in Oklahoma...she was even very familiar with the little store my great-grandfather, Claude Folsom, owned at Sunset Corner. It's amazing what a truly small world it is sometimes...and what a blessing *one* person can be in a difficult situation.

I am thankful for all the blessings we saw through Papa's hospitalization and surgery. Most of all, I am thankful for the peace that God gave through the delay we experienced on Monday. I would never have imagined that I could truly be at peace in the events that occurred, and yet God has given an amazing sense that He is in control and He is truly working *all* of this out for our good and His glory. I am not *happy* about the events of Monday, but I am thankful for God's peace and grace in the darkest of storms.