A Helping Hand

Hayden helping PawPaw Rice walk with his cane

Psalm 119:173

Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

Ever so often all of us need a helping hand from someone.

There's a story about a mother who wanted to encourage her son at learning to play the piano. So she bought tickets to see a performance by the great Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski.

When they arrived at the concert hall they found their seats down front and while the mother was busy talking to a friend, the boy slipped away.

At 8:00 the lights dimmed and the spotlight came on and the mother looked up in shock and embarrassment to see her son sitting at the piano bench playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". Before she could get her son, the great Paderewski appeared on stage and sit down by the boy.

He whispered to him, "Don't quit. Keep playing." And Paderewski with  his left hand reached over and started filling in the bass part and then reached around the other side and improvised a delightful obbligato. Together the old master and the young novice kept the audience mesmerized with their blended and beautiful music.

We just wanted to say thank you to all the helping hands that support us and love us and help us along the way.

This has been a rough week for both of us. We had the worst stomach bug you could imagine. Jerry came down with it Tuesday morning and that afternoon Neal helped me get him to the doctor so they could give him IV fluids and anti-nausea medicine. And of course, being married we always share everything. On Wednesday afternoon I had it. I think we are on the mend now, just still tired and weak. Please pray that we'll continue to heal.

At this point, we are still going in one day a week for platelet and blood transfusions for Jerry. Every morning we wake up and listen to the birds singing and thank God for another day together.

We love you and thank you for your prayers.