The Faith of her Friends

Thankfully, I have not been sick this year so far! I attribute it to excellent caregiving, answers to prayer, and intentional healthy choices about sleep, exercise, breathing, and eating. I make sure to eat a balanced array of vegetables and fruits, proteins and grains each week, in addition to taking multivitamins, probiotics, elderberry supplements, colostrum, and water. My friendship caregivers do a great job of helping me maintain this healthy lifestyle.  But having 20-30 different helpers means that inevitably at least one person is usually sick! I'll get a call or text saying: "I have a cough/sniffles/sore throat today. Do you still want me to come?" It's taken me a while to come up with a good response to that... See, I am not a germaphobe or hypersensitive about stuff like that, so as long as a person isn't actively throwing up or running a fever, I am fine with them being here. Plus, I still will need help, so if one person can't come, I need some tim...

 I realized that I told you about my new caregiver and the agency, and some of my friends have been hired by the agency to help... but what about the other 25 ladies who have been on my team since last year?  Well, a lot of them are continuing to come over on a regular basis to help me during the day with bathroom breaks, meals, and shopping. In fact, it's pretty cool that I have two friends who are available to help on almost every day of the week. So for example, there are two ladies who can cover the midmorning time on Wednesdays, and they have each other's phone numbers, so they can communicate about their schedule and trade with each other if something comes up. The ladies who used to spend the night with me are now taking a Saturday or two each month to spend time with me, and it gives us a chance to go out and do some fun things together.  With all the shifts, I think it is taking a lot of pressure off my friends, so they can be here for me without getting bur...

 Last Thursday night was the first time I met my new caregiver from the home care agency, and it was her first shift to spend the night here. I was expecting her at 9:00, and all I knew was her name, so at 8:00 I was feeling the weight of anxiety and started to pray. It went a little something like this:  "Lord, what if she's crazy? What if we don't click, don't connect? What if I don't feel comfortable with her, can't trust her? There's no way I'll be able to sleep, and I really need to sleep!  Lord, what am I doing?  Is this even a good idea, is this wise?  It feels so risky, so scary, and could go really wrong.  There's no way I'll be able to sleep, and I really need to sleep!  Lord, what are you doing?  I have 25 sisters with me all week... It will be such a let-down if this new person isn't a believer... There's no way I'll be able to sleep, and I really need to sleep!"  She arrived right on time, an older woman, short in s...

 After working all summer on getting set up and approved for Medicaid services, it finally happened. And let me tell you, I've seen God working in all of it... About two weeks ago, I got a letter from Medicaid saying I was approved for the MED Works program, which basically gives me access to the services I need without limiting my income to the poverty level. If you aren't aware, many Medicaid services have an income cap, so basically if you work more than part-time for more than minimum wage, you make too much to qualify... but that is a subject for another soap box or blog post, and I do not want to digress here. The big takeaway here is that I don't have to minimize my work now or stash money under my mattress because this program looks at the physical/medical needs instead of economic status. What services did I need, you ask? Well if you've been following along this summer you might remember that I've been trying to figure out how to make my caregiving system ...