What a summer this has been! And it’s not over yet. Summer semester began on May 31 with me taking a full online schedule. Never again! Sixteen weeks of work crammed into eight weeks. What was I thinking? Had I known what my summer would consist of, I would have thought twice before making this kind of decision.

We went through an ordeal with almost losing Third (nickname for my husband). BC, TB, and KV came over and spent much time with him; encouraging him and praying with him and for him. TM brought over a drink that she especially made to help with the pain. God was good and answered prayer for us in supplying Third’s need. Within a couple of hours after that provision, he was back on his feet and out disk golfing the next morning with BC.

The Wednesday after Third’s recovery, he received a call at one in the morning concerning his dad. Dad had been admitted to the hospital with congestive heart failure and seizures. He had coded once and they intubated him since he was not able to breathe on his own. His brain activity had stopped. Third and Shortney (my oldest daughter) headed to Ohio. Shortney was on break that week from summer semester. Dad seemed to make improvement on Thursday so Third and Shortney headed to Tennessee to stay on the campgrounds. Third mows and trims there weekly. I was heading up to meet them on Friday morning. We would exchange vehicles and children. I would be bringing Shortney home and leaving Mountain Man with Third. We were an hour away from our destination when Third called and said his dad had taken a turn for the worse. He left Shortney there on the grounds and headed back to Ohio. Saturday, the decision was made by the family to remove the ventilator and within the hour, dad was gone. He was 78 years old.

On the heels of my father-in-law’s passing came another crisis; which brought another. Details are not necessary nor do I want to share. Let’s just say that there comes a time when you need to confront what you have always before pushed to the back burner in the hopes that it would work out on its own. That doesn’t work. At some point, you are going to snap (or feel like you are going to). That is where I am. While the first crisis after dad’s passing brought to the forefront the second crisis, which I am now in, it did not cause it. DW and family sang Sunday night. The song starts off “Lord, I’m so tired of the rain.” I am. It also mentions that “There’ll be a change in the weather.” There will. Finally, the ending tells me that “He knows my need and He’s still God.” He is.