It's been a day of ups and downs. After the phone call earlier today I was ready to pack my bags and head back up to Macon. I prayed and prayed having received two differing views at how she was doing. It was maybe a short hour after that first call that the phone rang and it was my mom wanting to talk with me!! She sounded very tired, but she was coherent and ready to get back on track of getting well.

I called back later and talked with her a second time and she asked pertinent questions that let me know her mind was as sharp as ever. I teased her saying that if she's going to get this sick when I come up to see her that I didn't see that as an exactly welcoming sign! And, I told her I needed her to get well for me. She said, "Baby, I'm ready to get well for anybody right now!" I loved that! The next time I called, my sister-in-law inferred that she felt many times Mama would say whatever people wanted to hear. I am just not going there. I need to have faith that she means what she says, right now. I talked with her again after finishing my conversation with my sis-in-law and she told me all that the doctors had said, what the planned diet is to be, etc. She may be 82 years old and very sick, but she still has her wits about her.

There is a tiny bit of Scripture found in Romans 12 that I've been living with lately: "...Be patient in trouble and always be prayerful." The "always be prayerful" part is easy for me because I'm one of those people who yak on to the Lord all the time. I'm sure there are times that He rolls His eyes and wishes that I'd just hush. But, ask anyone and they'll tell you that patience is tough for me. I don't want things now, I want them yesterday. I want my mother healthy and my life settled. So, I'll continue to strive for patience while I keep on praying. And I do praise God for her turn for the better today.

I love all these old photos of my mother. She is just as beautiful now as she was in her younger days.