Sent: 6/25/2007 2:24 PM

Hi, everyone,

I had intended on getting this letter out a couple of weeks ago to let you know that Paul finally came home! The room isn't finished yet, but the lift is installed, and we are functional, at least.

As anticipated, it has been a tough time of adjustment, but we are hanging in there. I could certainly use your prayers for this aging body of mine. If "His strength is made perfect in weakness" Paul and I are two prime candidates for His strength to be made perfect.

Paul is enjoying home and seems a lot more happy and peaceful. I was talking with him the other night and he said that he would rather have fallen than to have remained whole and missed my love. I can't take credit for being so loving, however, because God has put it into me. There are times when I don't FEEL very loving; I feel tired and my body aches. But I do what needs to be done, and God makes something of it.

Besides, if Paul were Jesus, I would do this for Him. "If you have done it for one of the least of these, my brothers, you have done it for me."

Seventy five percent of the time taking care of Paul is very easy; twenty percent of the time it is a little difficult, because of the herniated disk in my back. (It would be a snap for a healthy person.) Five percent of the time (or less) it seems impossible--and once again, that's because I don't have the body I used to. I'm still learning. I can't bend much, even if in the moment I feel I can. I have to talk to myself and tell myself the wise way to do things, even if it takes much longer. Nine times out of ten there is a wiser way of handling his large frame.

The lift has been a great help. Getting him into the sling to lift him requires a little time but is not hard. Unfortunately, the state-of-the-art equipment is on the fritz right now, so I am having to depend on others to get Paul in and out of bed. The lift repair man was supposed to come today, but called to say he had a broken elevator in Ft. Worth that he had to take care of, so he would come by tomorrow to see why the battery isn't charging.

I have a nurses aid who comes by every morning to get Paul up, showered, and dressed, which is a great help. Including that regular morning visit, I get 20 hours of help per week from an aide. The other hours are for when I go shopping, etc.

Jamie helps me a lot when she's home. She'll be getting back from camp tonight, then will leave again on Thurs. to go to the Navajo reservation in Colorado to help with a Vacation Bible School our church does each summer. She'll get back in time for Tim & Amy's wedding on 7-7-07, and then will go on a hiking trip to Colorado with some youth and adults from church. After that she should be home most of the summer.

Thanks for all of your prayers, and please continue to remember us. I apologize for my laxness in communicating, as most of my focus has been Paul and his needs.

Love in Jesus,

Marcia