The last week

This past week has been another constant wave of emotional heaval. Mum has good days and bad days, and when she is good we are enjoying the time with her and hope for a lot more, but when she has a bad day it is quite distressing because we hate to see her unable to do anything, she is mostly unaware of us when she is like this and very weak, unable to move and it is at this time that we wish that God would be merciful and take her home to be with him.

Valentine's Day was a good day. We managed to get a hairdresser to come into the hospital and cut mum's hair in her room. It was a big effort on her part but the hairdresser that came was really lovely. She even blow waved Mum's hair so that she would look nice when Dad arrived.
Just having her hair done really brightened Mum up and she looked so nice when she went back to bed. It was a nice surprise for Dad too as he didn't know she was getting her hair done.
He arrived up with some beautiful flowers for Mum for Valentine's Day - of course I had to photograph them.
Weekends are usually the worst for us. It is the time that we desperately miss our families. My sister has been fortunate that she has got to see her husband for at least one day each weekend. They only live a couple of hours away from the coast. We live seven hours away, so I haven't managed to see my lovely man since I arrived down here. He is planning on coming down in a couple of weeks time.

I did however get a visit from my Sarah and she along with her cousins spent a few hours up at the hospital on Saturday which gave us a bit of a break to get a few other jobs done.
One of the funny things Mum does is tell us to hop into bed with her and have a little sleep with her. Sarah and my sister Lea both climbed onto the bed for us to take this photo.

Last weekend, we also took a couple of hours off on Sunday morning and went down to the beach at Caloundra for breakfast with my sister's family. It was a beautiful day. Perfect weather for being at the beach, and it was a lovely relaxing time for us away from hospitals and all that go with it. Just what we needed to recharge our batteries for the week ahead.

Managed to snap some photos of us all down there.

One of the things I most treasure in my time sitting with my Mum is witnessing her beautiful gracious spirit. It doesn't matter how sick she is, she never fails to thank those around her. She has the most beautiful nature, never wanting to put anyone out, or trouble the nurses. I could not have asked to be blessed with a more beautiful Mum inside and out. She has had a huge impact on me during my life, but none more so than at present, when even though she is so sick and suffering from dementure..... the beautiful heart of this woman shines through. I feel so incredibly blessed to have had this past month sitting with her ministering to her needs, holding her hand, praying with her, This has been such a huge gift to me. We love you Mum.

I found these couple of quotes this week
This has been so true of our lives this past month. We are so rich. Money cannot buy the love I have shared and witnessed in the past month especially. Although the reasons we are all home are not good, I have been so blessed also to spend some beautiful moments with my two sisters. I don't think we have spent this much time together since we were kids. It is so beautiful to have their total support in all the decisions we have had to make this past month, to be able to have some girly time together, to laugh and cry together. These are moments I will treasure also.
At times in this past month, we have all gone periods of feeling like it is all too much, but our strength comes from above. Our strength comes from a God who knows us intimately and who we can trust to walk this path with us. It has been a really difficult week this week, Mum caught another infection, and there were a couple of days when we really felt as if we might have spent time with her for the last time on this earth. She is back on the drip and today they were giving her blood again.... and yet she still manages the faintest of smiles when we walk in her room.

Jude and I are having a day off tomorrow. We will visit Mum first thing in the morning and then we are heading into Brissie overnight. Jude is off to spend time with her girls, and I am going to spend some time with my kids, and catch up with my friend Kathy. We will be back again on Sunday lunchtime. Back to start another week,

Must go will be back when I can.