
I don’t even know how to start this post. The Lord has blessed us so much this past month. It’s been difficult, but the Lord is faithful, and He has shown me that He truly is watching over us. I guess I’ll start at the beginning.
May started out with a trip to the hospital for my dad. For many weeks, he didn’t have energy, and then some things occurred that caused my mom to take him to the hospital. We were thinking it was related to Crohn’s, but the hospital didn’t think it was Crohn’s. He was released the next day, after an iron infusion. Dad felt better after that, but not for long.
After three iron infusions, Dad still wasn’t doing well. And we had no idea why. The doctors weren’t helpful, and we couldn’t get an appointment with the doctor dad uses. Dad could barely work his work shift, and that took pretty much all of him. I think Dad actually thought the Lord might take him home… and I’ll admit the thought crossed my mind. We were also wondering if Dad would lose his job; he kept working, but there was some days he didn’t think he’d make it.
Mid-May, we celebrated my birthday, I bought a camera (more on that sometime else), went to graduation parties, and… Lacey and Dad were in a minor car accident. A lady with a new-to-her SUV turned into the passenger door. The car isn’t in bad shape; it just has a nice souvenir dent and some white paint. No one was hurt, though it startled my sister, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
Even though the doctors didn’t think Dad’s problems were from Crohn’s, they wouldn’t do anything until he had a coloscopy. We thought the idea was ridiculous, since they had done several scans, said it wasn’t Crohn’s, and the fact he had just had one in August. They couldn’t get him in until October. Finally, someone (a nurse or someone) pressed the issue, and they got him in. He went in for a coloscopy on May 27. I was at work, so I didn’t know how things went.
Turns out, his heart was in a-fib, so they couldn’t do the coloscopy. (If they put him under, he wouldn’t wake back up.) Apparently, he had been in a-fib for quite a while. A-fib can cause strokes and other heart issues. It’s also what we think caused his extreme fatigue. I didn’t know this until recently, but often times, Crohn’s patients die of heart issues.
The doctors got his heart out of a-fib (the hospitalist was super helpful), so they did the coloscopy on Saturday, since he was already prepped. (Side note-I wasn’t allowed in the hospital since I’m under 18, so all of this is what my parents have told me.) His coloscopy came back good.
Sometime during his hospital stay, all seven of my dad’s siblings contacted him, including one he hadn’t heard from for several years (in my dad’s words, “I wasn’t dying!”). His eldest brother told him that a certain blood pressure medicine gave him fatigue, and when his doctor switched his medicine, he felt like a new man. Another brother of dad’s also said the same thing. That gave my mom an idea, so she brought it up to the hospitalist. He agreed that may have been the problem (he was on three different medicines), so he took him off of two and lowered the dosage of one. My dad felt much better after that.
On Sunday, he was supposed to be released, so Mom went to the hospital as she wanted to speak with the cardiologist. Lacey and I got a ride with a family from church to church. The cardiologist wanted to do a test on Dad before they released him, but the hospital had made a mistake and given him breakfast. So they had to do it the next day (Monday). One good thing about his hospital stay was that we got out of a family get-together. Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed.
Thankfully, since it was memorial day, we didn’t have piano lessons. We power-washed the house and listened for Dad to call. He was released, and he was feeling much better, praise the Lord. When he got home, he grilled and planted spaghetti squash seedlings. Talk about improvement! He had not had energy to help me with my garden for several weeks, so when he told Mom he’d plant her spaghetti squash, I was surprised.
As I’m typing this, my dad is still doing well. He’s not 100% recovered, but he’s has energy. (He’s been able to mow the grass, take walks, listen to us talk, etc.)
Anyway, last week, I was listening to a podcast and the lady was reminding listeners of how much God does care for us. He watches the sparrows–and how much more precious we are to Him than sparrows (Matthew 10:29-31). Later that week, I ran out to the mailbox and found something addressed to our family. Upon opening it, I found card with Philippians 4:19 & 20 as well as $100. I was instantly reminded of the podcast I had heard. (My family found it interesting, and in the words of my sister, “I’ve heard stories of this happening, but I never thought it’d happen to us!”) God truly does care about us, and I know He’s been watching over us. I don’t know who sent the money, but we’ve narrowed it down to a couple of pen pals of mine. I hadn’t told anyone (aside from a missionary friend and one pen pal) about Dad being in the hospital. (Thank you to whoever sent the money.)
The Lord continues to show me He’s watching over me. I had a drivers’ license test, and I was so nervous. I didn’t know if parallel parking was on the test, as we had only done it the day before since a friend told me it was removed for last year. In Indiana, parallel parking is is NOT on the drivers’ test. And I did pass the drivers’ test, praise the Lord! (If parallel parking had been on the test, I definitely would have failed.) My sister also passed her permit test.

And later that day, I checked my email, only to find out a devotional piece I wrote had got accepted. I have entered numerous contests and have submitted several devotional pieces, all without success. God has truly been faithful, and all glory be to Him. Over the past month, He has shown me that He is truly watching over us, and that He does care about us.

P.S. Bible Bee has started, so I will not be posting as frequently until (probably) August.