Craft challenge

6:25 p.m. Today's project was to get Steve ready for his day at adult daycare. The day started off a little askew, because I had gotten up at 4 a.m., and done quite a bit of cooking ahead. I'd made up my Nicoise-style tuna salad for this week's lunches and my scrambled eggs with salsa, bacon, and cheese; emptied the dishwasher and made a chronoligical to-do list for today. Then Psalm 19:12 was my daily verse to post on Facebook:

Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.

Good prayer for all of us!!

Thankfully, the Lord allowed me to fall asleep once again from 5:15 to 6:00 when my cellphone alarm went off. As usual, I did my 30 minute routine, but heard the dog barking and peeked out to see Steve on the landing, and the doorbell buzzing because it had been pushed at an angle. (I'd had the exhaust fan going in the bathroom while I dressed to get rid of the steam). I hustled downstairs to let the caregiver in, and the dog out.

The caregiver came back downstairs with  Steve to take his meds and eat his banana. Mention was made that today he'd be catching the bus to Care Connexxus, and the newish caregiver asked, not knowing Steve's awkward beginning with the center,"What do they do over there?" I answered subtly, "all kinds of activities."

Steve's demeanor suddenly changed, he wouldn't even give me the usual kiss good morning, and on the way to go get his shower he stammered out, "I don't want to go to that that...place!" Now Steve has been eagerly awaiting his bus ride twice a week for months now, but something just triggered the unusual response. I was certainly praying, and the caregiver apologized silently for his innocent mistake. I told Steve that there wouldn't be anyone home today; and to the caregiver I said, "just go on smoothly with the routine."So he led Steve upstairs. There could have been a bigger ruckus if prayer hadn't gone up to the Lord at that instant!

Upon his return to the kitchen, cleaned up, dressed nicely and shaved, Steve was a different person. Smiling and laughing, and giving me a kiss as he sat for his online devotional "The Purpose-Driven Connection," and the gentleman got Steve's coffee and started his toast. If I didn't have the Lord, how would I cope with any vestige of calm in the face of such irrationality in my husband? Jesus' promises give me such comfort and confidence! Hear Psalm 32: 6-7:

For this cause everyone who is
  godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be
  found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.

You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from
  trouble;
You shall surround me with
   songs of deliverance.        Selah

Steve finished his breakfast, got ready very cheerfully, and paced by the front door awaiting the bus.I barely caught him and kissed him goodbye as he and his caregiver rushed down the driveway!  The bus came on time, happily, so I was then able to eat my breakfast, get my teeth brushed and makeup started, and pray with Cara. A busy and profitable day followed, including a heart-to-heart with one of my customers whom I've gotten to know very well. I love the business I'm in--such a ministry of personal caring!

I arrived back home around 1 p.m., and grabbed my tuna salad--delish, made with tarragon, peas, mayo, boiled egg and cilantro dressing, with a tad tablespoon of homemade pickle juice, and then headed upstairs to jot entries for my book on Steve's Alzheimer's.

When I greeted Steve and helped him off of the bus, he had an orange folded item in his hand, which he held out to me as we checked the mailbox. Pictured above, it was the craft project he'd done today at the center. When I told him I'd display the cut piece of craft foam with his initial and some sports and music decos, Steve said with a chuckle, "It was a challenge, but I did it!"

No matter what Steve's intellectual level or manual ability, I know as a wife to praise and build up my husband's efforts--that's a universal principle from scripture (Ephesians 5:33, I Peter 3:1-5). As far as what to say and do at any given time, especially when the enemy wants to hammer me over the head with Steve's confusion, I can look to Jesus' promise in Psalm 32:8:

I will instruct you and teach you
  in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.

I love You, all-wise and incomparably merciful Lord!



.