Rocky has been resting and letting his body take a break after the strong chemo last Wednesday. A very good method to do that is to drag out some movies and plug in the VCR. Since we are not the greatest with the DVD, computer or cell phone, it’s always a miracle when any of them works and we have the desired result. It isn’t because we haven’t been informed by capable family members…..it’s because so much time goes by before we use it again…..we’ve forgotten it.

Lame excuse. We could read the directions but with about six different languages in the manual and even our “mother tongue” sounding like an insurance policy, we don’t bother. Trained monkeys we are…..or the fact we live in Missouri, the Show Me State. If you show me it’s so much easier than having to digest a manual.

A friend of Rocky’s gave him two video’s of the Sackett’s to watch. Rocky is a big fan of Louis L’Amour so it was time to hook up the old VCR and see if we could get it to work. We unhooked it months ago for some reason so Rocky had to track down the cable to plug into the TV while I successfully plugged the cord into the power cable. Next were the two remotes that had to work back and forth……OK, it took a long time…..I finally gave up and did it manually from the VCR.

After what seemed forever, we got the thing going. Rocky watched the first video in the morning as I did routine chores……then lunch and the second movie. It should go twice as fast as it did in the morning…..right? Wrong!! We fought it for some time and got it going…….I decided to do some laundry and when I came back to the room, Rocky was asleep on the couch and the movie was half over.

It was at a traumatic part of the story, so I sat down to watch a few minutes…..a half hour…..then I finished the movie. Rocky woke up a little bit later and wanted to know why his movie wasn’t on……sooooooo……..I re-wound it and started it again. Nothing to it by now. My first pass by the couch I noticed he was asleep again but I left it on in case he woke up. Well, he did!! Just when the movie was over…….soooooo…..I re-wound it again and the third time is a charm……he saw it all.

Rocky has read every story he can get his hands on of Louis L’Amour. The family began buying the books for him at birthday and holiday time because he enjoys reading. One nice thing about old age is that we forget a lot so with the number he has, he can read constantly and by the time he gets back to the start line again…..the reading is new once more. Old age isn’t only fun….it’s practical!!

Little Brady is on his way home today with his mom and dad……..Becky is making dinner to take to them so they can eat and get some much needed rest. He has been amazing in his recovery time……even though his eyes were swollen shut he blew kisses to everyone who came into his room. The ones who assisted in the surgery kept coming back to check on him because he was such a neat little kid. A little kid with a big heart!!

So many wonder why bad things happen to good people and innocent little kids. I hear that a lot when they learn what’s going on with our family…..I read a devotional last week that explained it very well. We all go through threatening times and changes of every kind….but instead of asking, “Why me?” we should ask, “What do YOU want to do with this moment, Lord?”

One thing we forget is……the battle is never ours, it’s God’s. He is the one that fights our battles and in doing so others see our faith…..and His power acting on our faith. He was and is and ever shall be.

Faith ends where worry begins and worry ends where faith begins………..

Until next time,
Essentially Esther