Rest in Peace and Awake in Glory

I am sorry for the slacking; I have had every intention of posting more often, but the next post simply had to be this one, and to write it properly I needed a bit of time--which, as usual, has been hard to come by.

On September 10, my husband's grandmother, Betty Hood, died at the age of 89. You can see a picture of her here, on my brother-in-law's blog (while you're there, be sure to check out the pics of my beautiful niece).

Betty had been going downhill for a long time, and had been in pain, and she was ready. She'd actually been ready for longer than that, since 1993, when her husband Bill died. She got herself ready to be called home, convinced it wouldn't be that long until the Lord called her to follow Bill.

But Betty had work yet to do. I always knew that Betty was a prayer warrior; in fact, I used her frequently in my sermons as an example of utmost faithfulness in even the most limited and limiting of situations. I often pictured her sitting in the little scooter she used to zip around in, single-handedly waging war on the Devil--and winning.

However, there is a story that I didn't hear until after she died that made me realize what a warrior Betty truly was--at least in the eyes of some. Most of us thought, with a mixture of affection and exasperation, that Betty just loved to complain. That's pretty typical of elderly people--the smaller your world gets, the bigger the details become in your mind, so the fewer things you can just let go. But after she died, one of her friends from the nursing home came into her room to see her, to say goodbye, and she began to cry and said, "Who's going to stand up for us now?"

What some of saw as just old-person crankiness was heroism in the lives of those who had no one else to stand for them. Betty didn't just complain about things, she got them fixed. She didn't just tell you what was wrong, she told you how to do it right--and as often as not kept at you until you did it right. For her friends in the nursing home, Betty got done things they couldn't do for themselves. She stood up for them, she spoke for them, she made sure that their concerns were taken seriously. She was their hero, and they loved her.

Betty Hood may have been old, overweight, and confined to a wheelchair. But in every way that matters, she was a warrior and a hero. I am honored beyond telling to have belonged to her family for so long, and I am grateful to God for letting my children sit at the feet of such a hero and learn from her.

Go with God, Grandma, in that place where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting. Pray for us who remain, that our hearts will be comforted, until we see you again.

Happy Birthday to My Sweetie

Okay, well, as usual, I'm a bit late on this. But rest assured, we did celebrate Matt's birthday at home, with presents and ice cream cake.

I would like to give a shout-out to Mom and Dad Teel, who made this day possible. Thanks for doing all that, because I'm really glad he was born.

I read an article recently where the writer asserted, "Your husband is not your best friend. Your best friend is your best friend. If your husband is your best friend, you need more friends." I feel sorry for that writer. I have excellent, wonderful friends...my sisters being high on the list, as well as my gals in the Playhouse. But I can only imagine that the article writer has no experience of a marriage in which the two people laugh a lot and believe in each other and go the extra mile and share values but not necessarily opinions and find rest and comfort and sheer fun in each others' presence and rush back home at the end of the day because the other one is waiting there. How sad for her.

So, to my Sweetie, Happy Birthday. I love you, and you are my best friend. Also, you're a lot older than me, so that makes me happy, too.

Your adoring and much younger wife.

Breast Cancer Legislation

I got this from my mom, who is a breast cancer survivor. And I can tell you that what this nurse describes is true: my mom had a partial mastectomy a few years ago and they sent her home on the same day.

From a nurse:

I'll never forget the look in my patients' eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the Doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies. So there I sat with my patients, giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank You' they muttered. A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a Mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it! Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times.

If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same. There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through' mastectomy where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with draina ge tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their Web page with a petition drive to show support. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE!! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site. You need not give more than your name, state, and zip code.

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family, and on behalf of all women, THANKS

Guns and Gangsters in Kansas City

The article is titled, "Kansas City's Wholesome Image Belies Mob Past," which kind of puzzles me, because being from there, I had no idea KC had a wholesome image. But, the article is cool, and the actor/tour guide that you hear in it is my friend Tim Phillips! It talks about how KC was a mob town for a long time, well into the 70's. I remember when I was a little kid, my dad showing me the bullet holes in the walls from shootouts at Union Station.

You can read and listen to the article here!