Dad turned 81 on Saturday & Mom will do so in July. When I'm not in their presence, I picture them in their mid-life years. They say that they feel in their 30's inside, constantly being surprised at how limited their bodies are becoming. I praise God for the moderately good health that they have enjoyed to this point. They are slowing down, requiring some rest mid to late afternoon. Dad continues to be the hospice chaplain for Ravalli County & Marcus Daly Hospital chaplain. Such work has been so fulfilling. He & Mom, who also volunteers with hospice & goes on visits with him, are personally known by nearly everyone on the streets in Hamilton. They are universally loved. The Lord so blessed me by sovereignly placing me in their home 57 years ago!
Esther will be meeting her birth Dad, Jason, for the first time in a little over a week. She has been chatting with him by phone since early last summer. I plan to drive her to Spokane on February 7th to catch her flight to Virginia, where he is a policeman. He has a 12 year-old daughter, Sarah, who is Esther's half-sister. Esther is as eager to meet her as to see Jason. Her cell phone bill doubled this month with all the calls back & forth as this week-long visit was planned.
4 comments:
Cary, what a family-life you have! This is a real milestone for Esther -- and for you!
Very nice to read about your Dad and Mom! What they are doing sounds so familiar to me!
Carol-ann, my Dad was a pastor & manager of a Christian Supply Center while I was growing up. He "retired" when he was 66. All of his life prepared him for hospice & hospital chaplain work in his "retirement". His mother died when he was seven, he worked as a medical corpsman in WW II, he was chaplain at Fort Harrison, the VA Hospital in Helena, MT. while he pastored there, etc.
We adopted Esther as a baby while I was the Assistant Chief Nurse of the military hospital at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Her birth grandparents attended the military chapel where we did. Our Sunday School teacher was also a PhD counselor & told us about the possibility of a private adoption one Sunday after the class. He knew we had tried to have children for about 16 years without any results, despite several medicines & surgeries for my severe endometriosis which eventually led to a hysterectomy. That's a long story of God's grace. We let Esther get in touch with both birth parents after she was past High School this last Spring. We had promised the birth Mom that we would when we finalized the private partially-open adoption.
Hi Cary,
Very interesting -- both about your Dad and Esther. I've often wondered if some day I will "retire" back into hospital chaplaincy.
I can certainly relate to a lot of what you went through with the years of infertility and the endometriosis! Our daughters have been a gift -- yours by unexpected adoption opportunity, mine by conception against pretty high odds!
Thanks for sharing!
Carol-ann, it seems we have a lot in common. Louis & I go up the hill from our home to "Kathy's Place", a wonderful rest home for 10-12 elderly, to sing the old hymns with them. They love it. Only 3 or 4 can actually read & sing the words out of the hymnbook; a couple more know some of the hymns by heart & sing with us on those songs although their eyesight isn't good. The rest are just glad to have visitors & attention.
And, yes, the infertility has been a large part of my "life message". God used it to draw me closer to Him. Now, He often uses my daughter to do the same. Thanks for your encouragement.
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