Art is in Gods' arms....

Ann got this email last night. Your prayers worked...the family has God's amazing peace!


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I want to receive Journal update notification e-mails.
Art is walking with Jesus now and is breathing much easier. He left this earth this evening @ 6:00PM. Our family was together today and all had an opportunity to visit with him. We are all missing him but know in our hearts that he is in a much better place and feeling no pain and well rested. We will be back in touch through CaringBridge to let you know of arrangements.

Again, please know that we all appreciate your prayer and emotional support that we have received. We have some wonderful, wonderful friends and family.

Connee, Kathy, Mike and families

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Thank all of you for your prayers--they couldn't believe they where getting prayers from AL from people they didn't know!

Reassuring to know where he will be when he leaves....

Here is the latest update on Art and Connee.


We just talked with Art's doctor and she told us that his systems are in the process or already have shut down. She told us he has probably a day or two before he goes on to be with our Lord. That is an assurance that is comforting but it is still hard to accept. I really don't know what else to say at this time but will be back on when there is more to report.

I'm sure I couldn't have gotten this far in this process without the prayer support of so many wonderful friends and w/o God making the walk with me. Kathy, our daughter,and several friends are here with me and our son, Mike will be on his way from VA. We love you all and appreciate all your support.

Love,

Connee
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Dear Lord,

I lift Art and Connee and their family up to you. I pray you will continue to comfort them and give them the awesome peace that only you can give. I pray that this will stregthen their faith. Because of your son, our Savior, it doesn't have to be goodbye, just 'see you later'!
Amen!

Twice in one day--the Lord is getting busy with me!

Why did I post this? To give praise to God--He did what I couldn't imagine--gave me a day of sobriety--21 years ago--and then another and another...up until today! As my daughter posted it on facebook last night....

The Lord is my strength! With him with me who can be against me!

Out of my babies mouth! Praise God!

16 April 1989...my first AA meeting! WOW! A life-changing day! God is in control--not my co-pilot--but my pilot!



This is the only way it happened. God listens to ALL prayers and answers ALL prayers--sometimes the answer is NO--or not yet! In Gods' way and is Gods' time is always the best!

What I do in the flesh--doesn't count--what I do in faith--in His shadow--is all that matters!

AA has alot of sayings, and as they say at the meetings, take what you need and leave the rest behind.

It has changed from 'one day at a time' (actually, sometimes it was minute at a time!) to......

'The further you get from your last drink....the closer you get to your next drink!'

There's a NEXT drink?

I pray to God, that I am in His presence when my next drink is due!

Prayer warriors....

I need your prayers for my brother-in-laws cousin.

Here is the email I got this morning from my baby sister!

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This is Greg's cousin that is going through cancer treatment. Please put him on your church prayer list. He is such a great guy. They would drop in at our new house when we were remodelling just to say hi and see how things were going. They are really great people.

This is the 2 recent entries from a journal that she is keeping online through a hospital service....

THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010 7:37 AM, CDT

Calling all prayer warriors. Art is a very sick man as his nurse told me this morning. They are doing dialysis but the machine keeps clotting and they have to change the tubing. His oxygen in his blood is in the 50-60 percent range even though the monitor says it is 90%. He has gained 15 lbs in fluid in the last 24 hours. So---we need the dialysis to work better and his lungs to work to take in more oxygen.

Please pray.

Connee



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010 8:37 PM, CDT

What a day we have had. Very, very busy. We started the day with a broncoscopy with lavage. I think this is the correct spelling. This means they put some saline solution in his right lung and then drew some of that out. They will then set up some cultures and see what grows. They will know the results of these cultures in the next couple of days.

They did find the bacteria in his blood and put on yet another antibiotic. His temperature right now is NORMAL!!!! They have taken him off of one of the meds that was helping to keep his heart rate regular and have cut back on the med that keeps his blood pressure up. His heart now is a bit irregular but is still at less than 100 bpm. As long as this remains true they will not take any action. If the heart rate goes above 100 they will have to add the med back.

Since he has the infection in his blood they decided to remove the trifusion catheter that has been used for chemo, blood draws, transfusions and medication since we started here in January. The thinking was that it was contaminated with the bacteria. They then put in a new line in his neck in the jugular vein. They did some checking that this new line was working and then removed the old line.

His kidneys are not functioning or perhaps minimally functioning so tonight they are going to start him on dialysis at a very slow rate. This does not mean that he will be on this permanently and this not unusual for this to happen with transplant patients. In order to do the dialysis they had to put a port in his groin since both sides of his chest have now been used.

An echocariogram was also done and an ultrasound of his liver. These results will probably be available tomorrow sometime.
Fortunately, I had several visitors since I could not be in the room much of the time.

I'm spending the night again tonight but if everything goes well I may go home for a while in the morning.

I found out several more churches are praying for us that I didn't know about before today.

Please keep prayers coming. Hopefully Art will be off all this stuff by next week and we can tell him some of the funny things he did and said before he went on the ventilator. Those of you who know him well will appreciate that right before they started this procedure I entered his room and one of the nurses said, "Here's your wife." To which he replied, "That's not my wife, that's just a woman I picked up!!" Good thing he grinned right after saying this-----ever the jokester.

Will update you tomorrow and let you know how things are going.

Love,

Connee

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I will try and keep everyone updated. And will keep in touch. Thanks!

Oh--has it been That long?

He is Risen!

Thank you Jesus, for the pain you endured for me!!! I am so unworthy!

And the road came to a fork, and I truly beleive God is pointing the difficult road, but I take it, because I have turned my life over to Him and MUST trust! It's called faith!

Luke 9:23-27 (New International Version)

23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

I will follow!

So now I start a new journey--or at least a new path. I am excited, yet very apprehensive. But I walk it not alone--which is so re-assuring. The footprints are there--sometimes two--sometimes four--but His are always there--I thank you Jesus--for being with me--even sometimes when I don't even give you notice.

Thank you for your love!

Amen