HE'S EVERYTHING TO ME...GIVING PEACE THAT PASSES UNDERSTANDING...

Back when I started calling Fridays on this blog "Family Fellowship Friday", I shared my definition of the word "fellowship":

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• "a group of fellows in the same ship!"
• "a group of people in the same boat!"
• "a group of people experiencing similar circumstances!"

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To add the word family to fellowship means this on this blog:

• "...a family (physical or spiritual) experiencing similar circumstances"

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Since hearing their story and meeting their family, I have felt a deep "family fellowship" with Tim, Cristi, Addison, Brennan, and Lauren Schwamb. As a teacher and parent of children with special needs, my heart connects easily with others with special needs. Yesterday, my heart connected once again with the Schwamb family as I read something that Tim wrote on Facebook. I will share it with you, in part, here:
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"Today is Day 156

of Lauren and Cristi's unfortunate incarceration

as we've taken to calling it...

...Today marks being in the hospital for one day longer

than all of Lauren's previous 20 hospital stays combined.

Yes, you read that right:

Lauren accumulated 155 days in the hospital

in just short of 3 years and 20 stays,

and has now been in the hospital

waiting on a heart transplant for 156 days --

a combined total of 311 days in 3 years and 5 months.

Wow!

Thinking about that makes me wonder how long?

On days like this, though,

I'm reminded that our deployed troops

spend at least 6 months away from their families --

some over a year.

That kind of puts it in perspective.

Having been deployed twice, though,

I can tell you that,

no matter how many people you're around,

you miss your family.

Certainly that's true for my family

as every day begins to look like Groundhog Day.

As I feel myself slipping into sadness, though...

...I can fight those feelings of despair

by focusing on all the good things God has blessed me with...

...it's the Peace of God that passes all understanding,

knowing that it will all be okay,

because He promised it would."

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1. Please pray for this family daily!
2. Find ways to encourage them!
3. Connect to Cristi's blog on Lauren's picture on the right sidebar.
4. Connect to Tim's blog and gratitude list here:

http://simplefamilycomplexlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/count-your-blessings-reprise.html

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