No time today

The weekend in Boyne Mountain went very well.  Such lovely and good people!  However, what with travel yesterday that didn’t get me in bed till 1 AM and two essays to write today, blogging is out till tomorrow.  However, I do have several prayer requests.  Our friend Dierdre (AKA Lorna) continues to do amazingly well, but she still has a hard struggle.  Her sister writes:

Lorna almost didn’t sleep at all last night, which, for those of us watching at home, means I really didn’t either. Yet another time I am utterly amazed by my sister. How she can possibly not sleep at a time like this was totally beyond me, as I stood by her bed falling asleep on my feet. Spent a good portion of the night sleeping in a chair holding her hand with either my face or hand.

Today is interesting. She has a lot of neck pain so they did that MRI. Turns out they’re going to have to operate on her neck today. They’re fusing two of the vertebrae so that her neck is protected. So.

In other news, her fever is back up and she is having a lot of trouble with her breathing. She is finally sleeping. She hates the restraints and spent a good deal of the night trying to convince me to take them off for her. She also is getting endlessly frustrated by the fact that she can’t talk. Mrs. Henry, you teaching us the ASL alphabet when we were little helped us last night when she was trying to communicate things. She spelled contacts and I figured out she thought ahe had them in still. Huge help having this method of communication.

Again, here is where you come in handy. Since people appear to like the specific prayer requests, here you go. Pray the surgery goes really well. Pray that she will calm down and stop being anxious and sleep after surgery. Pray that she can continue to be calm when she wakes up so that she will breathe the way she needs to get off the breathing tube. (her pnumo thorax is bigger than it was and it looks like there are still yucky things in her lungs because we’re pretty sure she aspirated after the injury.) pray that she will have the patience to let herself heal. Pray that she will know how loved she is and that that will give her the peace she needs for sleep and no more anxiousness. Pray that her tube can come out soon so we can let her talk with us.

Thanks again for all you guys do!

In addition, another reader writes:

Please pray for a heroic family who is dealing with challenges that are testing their faith.  I call them heroic because they have two sons who have serious special needs, both lovingly cared for at home.  Recently things have become especially difficult.  Sadly, over the summer the family’s husband faced the death of his father, his mother recently had a stroke, and just last week he lost his job.  I find encouragement in the saying that faith moves mountains, but prayer moves Heaven.  So, may Jesus be moved to comfort them in their despair, give them hope through his mercy, and provide for their needs by his love.

And another reader writes:

I have a prayer request for my brother who is about to start serving in Afghanistan. The fortunate thing is that he’s not a combat troop and is serving a support role on a base. But because of the region, there are no guarantees. I would ask that your readers pray for the safety of my brother and all others serving in Afghanistan, and a quick end to this horrible quagmire.

And another reader writes:

I just wanted to thank you and your readers for your prayers. Both of my job interviews last week went well; one chose to go in a “different direction,” but the other resulted in a second interview scheduled for later this week. This job is close by, the salary is just what I’m looking for, and the work the company does really interests me – so continued prayers that this works out would be sincerely appreciated. Thank you again, and God bless you and your readers!

And finally, a friend who has adopted a girl is trying to quit smoking and asks for prayers.

Father, hear our prayer for each of these people and their specific needs and grant them the grace, mercy, and help they need to face and overcome the challenges they struggle with through Christ our Lord.  Mother Mary and all the saints, pray for them!

One final thing: as a sop for my failure to be here for you, here’s a little blog entry explaining (yet again) why I am so hard on American Conservative Catholics.

Gotta jet.  Back tomorrow!