Neeni has gone to Heaven

Libby's mom had several good days once she got settled back at home.  A good number of family and friends were able to come by and see her, and kept the household well stocked with food.  One of the neighbors even brought an emergency generator by, so they would not have to worry about losing power again.  Neeni rallied to the point that the hospice nurse declared that she wasn't dying afterall, and they were making plans to pull out.  But this rally was short lived, and by Monday, her energy level was slipping.  On Tuesday evening, I wrote the following email to family and friends:

I wanted to let all of you know that Libby’s mama passed away this evening around 6:45 pm.  It was very good that we were able to get her home to her own bed for the last few days, and she got to see many friends who came by, including her sister from Nashville.  Mrs. Harper was unconscious all day today, but smiled from time to time and acted like she was talking to someone.  She died peacefully and comfortably in her own bed.  Libby and her sister, Laura, enjoyed the last few days with her, telling stories and singing songs and hymns, and reading scripture together.  I was there on Sunday and we had our own little church service, singing “To God be the Glory great things He has done” and “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”, and reading 2 Corinthians 2:14 - 5:4 “ . . . what is mortal [has been] swallowed up by life.”, and Psalm 103  “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! . . .” 

Thank you for your prayers over the last couple of months.  Please continue to pray for Mr. Harper, as he grieves for his wife, and still has to do chemo-therapy for his cancer.

Now back to the main purpose of this blog.  Julia's surgery has been reschedule for August 17th.  She has a pre-op visit on August 13th, which just so happens to be the first day of school.  This will be an interesting school year, to say the least.  Julia is strongly urging me to get her school books, in order that she can start working ahead, so this will be one of my top priorities this week.  One benefit to the chaos of this summer is Mary Beth and Sam now live in Birmingham, which provides us a bed to crash in as needed. I'm sure Libby will find herself "tired" a lot, since that will give her an excuse to go see her grandchildren.