Beans Don't Burn on the Grill

Greetings from our deluxe apartment in the sky!  It has been decided Jeff will be having surgery Monday morning.  Until that time, we will be living the high life on the 6th floor of the hospital.  It is important that Jeff is constantly and closely monitored.   The days have been filled with tests, tests and more tests.  In addition, we have been busy making decisions and working on tying up loose ends in preparation for Monday.

Life here isn't all too bad.  EVERY staff member we have came into contact is extremely FRIENDLY and consistently goes the extra mile.   Jeff has made some great friends with many of the staff.... the nurses, housekeeping, techs and even those that bring him his food.  And speaking of hospital food... we LOVE it!  No, seriously, we LOVE the food.  Dare I say Jeff is actually starting to enjoy it here?!  Don't get us wrong, if we had the choice, we'd be busting Jeff out of here, even if it involved parachutes.  But we don't have the choice to go home.  Therefore, we are focusing on what we can choose.  We CAN CHOOSE to make the best of our days here until surgery and decided to make this our home sweet (fun, happy, God honoring) home.

Jeff's spirits are great.  He has been having some discomfort and fatigue but otherwise, feels good.  A pressing concern when he was admitted to the hospital was, "Do they get Fox Sports Midwest?"  The answer is "Yes", which means he has not missed a single St. Louis Blues game.  Since being here, the Blues are undefeated.  Tomorrow night, he has a special night planned with Brayden watching the hockey game together.   I think Brayden has some surprise decorations planned for their Blues watching party.  :-)

I had "the moment" of breakdown yesterday.  Word to the wise.  If you are in emotional distress, DO NOT turn your iPod to SHUFFLE.   I think they should have warning labels like they do for movies but instead of rating the age appropriateness they should have "emotional state" appropriateness of songs:
           'H' = Happy, 'IL' = In Love, 'NE' = Need Energy, 'SB' = Spiritual Boost, 'YWC' = You Will Cry.
Since I hadn't been sleeping well, I cranked up the volume for what I was hoping was a good 'NE' song to jump start the day.   But God knew that it wasn't energy that I needed.  Instead, I needed to get out all the emotions I had been holding inside.    My friends know that I have a crying disorder (Jeff calls it "crying constipation").  The past few days had been one of those times.  I knew it would feel better to cry but I just couldn't.  That is.... until the music played.  A few months ago, I was having a bad day and as "New Day" by Robbie Seay Band was playing, Jeff yanked me out of the chair and in a lighthearted, silly-way, danced with me on the wooden floor.  The memory of that moment vividly flooded back to me as soon as the first note came out of the speakers.....with it came the flood of tears.  I can't begin to describe how much lighter I felt after that cry.  How much stronger I felt.  It was another example of how what I thought I needed was much different than what God KNEW I needed.

Click here if you want to listen to New Day by Robbie Seay Band  (Just a suggestion... it sounds best at high volume and if you are Deb Knoles, please go get some kleenex first)

We continue to feel your prayers.  We continue to read each and everyone of your words of encouragement.  Thank you for sharing uplifting scripture and songs.  We are both blessed to have such caring co-workers, friends and family.  We are feeling your prayers from across many states.  I know I have said this all before but it is worth repeating how much those words and prayers mean to us and how overwhelmed we are by your acts of kindness.

God is Good!!!!!   ALL the time!!!!!!!

-Stacy AND....special remarks by Jeff ;)