Under His Wings

My heart is touched this week by a story that I found at this blog. It the the story of a young man and his family who are walking with their Savior through a difficult time of suffering. Almost 8 months ago a young man named Ian was in a car accident and suffered a brain injury. Though his family has brought him home, he has been in a coma since the accident. What many people don’t realize is that when a person is in a coma it doesn’t mean that they are on a ventilator and unconscious. They can seem very alert and you can expect that they are fully aware and seem like themselves even, but that is not always the case.

In the summer of 2001 I received a phone call from my brother saying that my other brother, Matt, had been in a car accident and had been helicoptered to a hospital. I immediately got in my car and went. They had my brother in a medically induced coma, on a ventilator, but I don’t remember the details of those first days.

He had a head injury and didn’t regain consciousness when they took him off the ventilator. As the days went by he eventually did wake up, but he really wasn’t there. He would just look around. Then came the feeding tube, which he was forever trying to remove. I would drive about an hour and a half to three times a week to see him. We would play music in his room and when we played a tape of bird songs he would turn his head toward the sound. I would hold his hand and and he would start jabbering at me almost like he was speaking in Martian or Russian. When I would try to speak gibberish back, he would laugh at me. I hated to leave when it was time to go.

Soon he was in a wheel chair and they took him to therapy. He had to learn how to talk, how to walk, and how to feed himself at 27 years of age. Matt was born when I was 14 and my mother went back to work so I was like a mother to him. After his accident he kept saying, “I want my Jen.”

Me and my brother, originally uploaded by jennifer.white.

About three weeks after the accident we thought he was out of the coma and his therapy began. But, three and a half weeks after that he changed and I realized that it was then that he really came out of the coma. We had done all of that therapy while he was still in the coma and comas are not what people think. He has about 5 months of his life prior to the accident that he cannot account for and his short term memory has been affected by the brain injury. We are just glad that the Father allowed him to stay here.

What did I learn through this? I learned that life has no guarantees. In the lonely hours of sitting and praying for my brother I just had to place him in the Father’s hands and trust that God knew what is best. I did not have a guarantee that God would heal him or take him home. But, I also learned that God is good and that whatever He does is good and that I can trust Him with whatever the outcome.

Now, Larissa, I am in awe of your love for Ian. You are showing the rest of the world how the church is to love Jesus by laying down your life for him. There is no greater love than that. One day, whether soon (and we pray for that) or after the resurrection, Ian and the Lord Jesus will look into your eyes and say, “Thank you, Larissa.” Because you have loved Ian in this way you have loved Jesus. Just keep seeing Jesus in Ian. He wants to walk through this with you. I am weeping for you. But, Jesus sees, He knows. He loves you and He loves Ian. This is not a mistake. Just trust Him.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” I Peter 4:12-13

For His Name’s Sake,

jenny

Well, you would think that after blogging for a year or so now that I would have all this technical stuff figured out, but alas, I do not. So I am sitting here juggling posts around to get several pictures that I took on Saturday into one decent post on what our day was like.

It was the state solo and ensemble competition at the university in our town and my son took his solo. So my mother joined us so that she could see him perform here are some pictures from that part of our day.

Hannah was Josh’s accompanist and in this picture we were all outside the room waiting Josh’s turn before the judge. I guess the children were trying to call my attention to Hannah’s knee in this picture for some reason, but I really don’t know why.

Here Josh introduces his Mozart piece.

I have no idea where this group was from. There were so many singing groups walking around with cool madrigal costumes on I just had to stop some and get a picture.

When Josh’s solo was finished we left the university and headed to the high school for the annual cultural festival.

I think that I heard yesterday that the cultural festival has been in existence for 15 years.
There are approximately 1,000 volunteers and 13 - 14, 000 people who attend. These are various things that you can expect to see at the festival: ethnic food, performers who dance in costume, crafts for sale and a children’s section where they have various performers just for the children and also crafts for the children to do.

It was especially nice for my mother and I to be able to attend together because there were several booths that were marked with Czech-Slovak/Bohemian. My great-grandfather came from Bohemia. My mother was able to purchase a Bohemian cookbook and pick up a couple of flyers of Czech events which take place in Wisconsin. My family has a couple of letters written by my her grandfather in Bohemian which she is hoping to get translated.

Dancers and more dancers

Crafts

Carding wool
Slovak lace making
Hand painted eggs
My Favorite–Polish Ceramics

Let’s see, what do I show you next?

Food? Sweet and sour chicken from Cambodian booth

At a Polish booth
At the Jewish booth

A little girl painting water colors

You can see more photos of the Cultural festival here and you can see all of my flickr photos my clicking on the flickr bar at the right of my blog or by going to this link.

The name of the camp we were at on Saturday is Riverside Bible Camp and this is a view of the back of the camp. I can’t wait to go back when all the trees are in bloom. I was actually baptized here when my daughter was small. (further down stream where there are less rocks and the water is calmer.)

We had a ladies day of encouragement at a local camp that is run by a couple who is in my Bible study fellowship. I was recruited to take pictures of the day since Hannah had a previous commitment. It was a nice day, the weather was beautiful. The camp is small. We had just over 80 ladies.

Well, since I have not written anything for a couple of weeks again I suppose I can just sit here an wax less than eloquently about some of the things that have been happening at this White house. Let’s see, what’s been happening here?

I’ve begun leading a Bible study on the Book of John for a group of elderly ladies. They are so sweet, I just love getting together with them each week. The Bible study only lasts for about 30 to 45 minutes, but they have to be sure to have their social time which can last almost as long with coffee and dessert. Gotta love it. I will also be leading a Bible study for the volunteers at the crises pregnancy center beginning in early June. This one will be on the Sermon on the Mount. This one will be more of a challenge as I deal with a much different end of the spectrum as far as age and thinking.  The interesting thing is that both studies may end up being on Mondays.   I am glad that I have the opportunity to present a Hebraic perspective to these women.

I found out recently that I have Adhesive Capsilitis (frozen shoulder) .  I have had it for several months and have been apprehensive about going to the doctor.  The doctor sent me to physical therapy and I now have exercises to try to improve the limited range of motion that I have in my shoulder.  But, it will take up to a year and a half for my shoulder to “unfreeze.”

Hannah is excitedly reaching a new phase in her life.  She will be moving into an apartment with another Christian girl in June.  This is a bittersweet time for her father and I, but we know this is right for her.   Everyone says, “Time goes so quickly.”  Well, it certainly does.   All too soon Buck and I will have this house to ourselves and what will we do then?   Hannah has also gotten a part in the community theater production of “The Crucible”.  She is so excited because she has wanted to be a part of the community theater for some time.  So in a couple of weeks she will be performing.  Hopefully, I can post some pictures.

Josh will be playing his baritone at the state solo and ensemble competition on Saturday.  Hannah will accompany him and my mother is coming to watch.   There is also a cultural festival at the high school that day so I am hoping that my mom will enjoy spending some time there.

I guess I won’t bore you with anymore rambling right now.  It’s finally spring here in Central Wisconsin; everything is beginning to turn such a beautiful shade of green.   I really need to write about something worthwhile.  It will come.

For His Name’s Sake