Out of Sight, Out of Mind - November 2018

     I know we have heard this saying, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind".  This saying means that a person stops thinking about something or someone if he or she does not see that thing or person for a period of time.  It is sad but so true.  We all get so busy in our daily routines.  Just like my blog it is out of sight and I forget I even have it.  I was changing something on our web page for our ministry and I saw the button for my blog.  Then I realized how long I have neglected it.  So with the Lord's help, I am going to at least try to update it when we do our newsletter.

     So many things come and go in our lives.  We meet so many different people especially as we travel.  It is hard to remember names, faces and where they are from.  As missionaries we carry prayer cards and hand them out because we want people to remember us and to pray for us.

     Have you ever had someone ask you to pray for them and you say you will but if you don't write it down or pray right then, "what happens?"  We forget, Out of sight, out of mind.  It is sad but we all have been there.

    So much has happened since my last post in March.  The beginning of this year was rough.  We were traveling back and forth from Texas to Quincy, IL.  We wanted to be with Kelly and her family as much as possible.  I thank the Lord for all the time He allowed us to spend with her in her last days and also with Bro. Jason and the kids.  We love them all so much.  Bro. Jason and Kelly were like "our kids" that we never had.  They were our first church that we helped when we started Ambassador Baptist Ministries.  We seemed to bond from the very beginning.  The kids call us "Pawpaw and Grandma Debbie" makes our hearts melt.

 

     As time went on the pain was less but I think about her almost every day.  When Mother's Day came around it was very hard.  I found myself crying on and off most of the day thinking about her.  Be assured I think and pray for Kelly's parents and have seen them and sent notes.  I am just an "adopted mom".  I must say it is neat that they adopted us.  

     Things I do to remember her, I go back to our text messages and read them.  We talked just about everyday, depending on how she was feeling.  I will go back and look at lots of pictures of us together and watching videos we took at the end up at the hospital.  Especially her birthday celebration in ICU.  We have LOTS of special memories.  We also see the family often.  Recently we were at a meeting and there was a pastor's wife who looked so much like Kelly.  I felt like I was stalking her, always looking her way and I just wanted to go give her a hug.  Brought tears to my eyes, but oh, how sweet when the Lord does things in our lives to help us "remember" those things or people that are "Out of sight, out of mind".

     Just a reminder that we need to find ways to keep those things or people before us.

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip."  Hebrews 2:1

    Let's not let the things which we have read and been taught from the Bible slip away or those special memories.

March 2018

The last few months have been very hectic and stressful.  Being on the road makes it difficult to keep my blog updated.

For the last couple of years I have not been able to go to MD Anderson for my cancer check ups because of Obamacare.  In November of 2017, I turned 65 and was able to go back to MD Anderson because I went on Medicare.  Praise the Lord!  I had my check up in December and I am still cancer free.  Since Kelly and I talked just about everyday, I didn't want to tell her about my good report.  So I just didn't bring it up, but of course, she did and I had to tell her.  She was happy for me.

In January things got worse for Kelly, on January 22nd we got word that she had had a seizure. Well, we knew we needed to make plans to get to Illinois.  We left Texas the next day headed for Quincy, IL.  Arrived Thursday morning and headed directly to the hospital.  Kelly was in ICU and on a ventilator.  She was awake, alert but could not talk.  She did have a white board and talked to all of us that way.  Sometimes you would think she was asleep and than she would ask for her white board.

The next day was Kelly's 40th birthday, the nurses decorated her room, bought cupcakes, made a pillowcase for her and throughout the day, they would bring in gifts for her.  The kids came up early that morning before they went to school.  It broke our hearts to see the kids in her arms crying.  We sang "Happy Birthday", all of us were crying and she was smiling and giving the thumbs up.  She was excited because she received several balloons for her birthday and that is what she really wanted.

That evening a lady from their church and I were sitting there talking low, I was telling her how I had forgot a skirt while packing so fast.  Immediately Kelly asked for the while board, she wrote on it "get money from hubby, I want to buy you a skirt" and pointed her finger at me.  I told her she was ease dropping and getting bossy now that she was 40.  She just smiled and thumbs up.

Scott and I asked her if there was anything we could do for her and she wrote on the board, "any time you can love on my kids they love you!"  With tears in our eyes, we said of course.  I took a picture of her board with those words.

On Saturday, January 27th they took the ventilator out and moved her to a hospice room in the hospital.  With the ventilator out she could now talk to us.  On Sunday, a nurse bought her some eyelashes and put them on her.  A couple of nurses got together and did a mini makeover.  Kelly was all smiles and felt better with some eyelashes and makeup.  Sunday night while I was sitting with her, she got into her pink bag and pulled out a cancer bracelet.  She gave it to me and said now we have a bracelet alike.  I had given her a necklace with two hearts, I have one just like it, I told her that was our hearts. We worn the necklaces all the time.  She would text me and say "I am wearing my necklace" and I would tell her "I was too".

What a blessing that all through her stay in ICU until she went home, she was alert and talking to us. She was not in pain so that she would have to be sedated.    On Tuesday, January 30th, Kelly went home to her house with Hospice care.  I knew in my heart when I told Kelly that we would be back in a couple of days that she probably would be in heaven.  

The next day we left to go back to Texas for a meeting we had, Sunday, February 4th in Coleman, TX.  We left Monday to go back to League City, TX.  Early Wednesday morning Bro. Jason called us to let us know Kelly had gone to heaven.  Our hearts broke, we packed and headed back to Quincy the next day.

Tuesday, February 13th was Kelly's home going celebration.  It truly was a celebration, the church was packed and with 1 saved.  We drove to Bourbonnais Wednesday to be at the memorial service for her at Faith Baptist Church.  Both services were amazing.

I wanted to share all of this so you could read about how her last few days were like.  Never a tear from her eyes, asking Preacher (Bro. Anglea) about heaven, asking Pawpaw (Scott) to sing, always smiling, writing constantly on the while board when she couldn't talk and encouraging everyone that enter her room. Nurses and doctors would come in and be amazed by her, many of them crying, hugging her and some noticing that there was something different in her room.  I am telling you GRACE was every where.  She had a wonderful testimony for her Saviour and was looking forward to seeing him and those who had gone on before her.

Scott and I are blessed to be able to be in Quincy at Grace Baptist Church filling in while Bro. Jason and the kids get away.  We are staying in their home and my sweet, Kelly is everywhere.  For those who don't know Grace Baptist Church in Quincy was the first church we helped as we started Ambassador Baptist Ministries.  Seth was 6 weeks old when we got there.  It seemed like we just meshed with the Moncofskys.  As time went on and Kelly was diagnosed with cancer we bonded.  She called me the day she found out and the next day we were in Quincy.

Because of having cancer I knew first hand what she would be facing.  It is not the same with everyone, I didn't go through a lot that she did.  We would talk almost everyday.  I must admit, I miss her so much.  I even caught myself going to text her.  I found a text message on my phone from her, "Happy adopted Mother's Day," oh my.  You see, she was like a daughter we never had.  The kids call us Pawpaw and Gamma Debbie.  I am so thankful to how Kelly's parents and Bro. Jason's parents welcomed  us in and to be a part of the family.  In fact, we were told Netterville means Moncofsky in Lithuanian.  

We have been blessed to have known Kelly and we miss her tremendously.  Please continue to pray for the Moncofskys.