Tender mercies and gratitude

" ...I believe I have come to better understand that the Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ."--David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

 We've been getting by (with a little help from our friends, ha ha) well enough, and for that I'm grateful. Tender mercies surround us.

 Richard's brother Stephen, and his wife, Danielle, and their kids came over last night.  Not only did they cook a delicious dinner for us, they stood there and did our dishes. We are old school around here and have to do the dishes by hand. I am still under doctor's orders not to soak my hands. Can't even use the rubber gloves because of something about the moisture in them? I don't know. Richard can't do them one-handed. So it meant a great deal to us. After they left I was so touched I about cried.  So, if you read this, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My sister came up last week to sit with me and she bought me lunch.  She drove all the way from Springville with a broken toe just to be with me.  That speaks volumes about the kind of person she is.  I've been blessed with the best sister I could have ever hoped for.  Thanks, Poppet, for all your help. Tender mercy.

My mom came up the Saturday after my surgery and deep cleaned my kitchen. She forced me to take a nap and just let her clean. She wasn't supposed to do that. We were going to just eat lunch and watch an old Doris Day/Rock Hudson/Tony Randall movie. But you know how moms are. Tender mercy.

Richard took this past Wednesday off because I had an appointment in Provo. Usually he'll take a half-day and try to be back to work by the afternoon, but this time he didn't. This day could have been a lot harder had we felt crunched for time.  Because of some big accident earlier in the morning, the waiting time at the doctor's office was well over an hour. We came out afterwards to find we had a flat tire. While Richard was attempting to change the tire (in the rain, and with a very sore hand), we found the spare was flat as well.  We could have been stranded, but, as luck would have it, the doctor I went to was in the same parking lot as my mom's office.  We were able to borrow her car to take our tires to the tire shop.  Originally just meaning to get them patched, we were surprised to learn that due to some alignment issue or something, our tires were in bad shape. Like...it's amazing we didn't blowout on the freeway bad.  They filled up the spare, and we went back to Mom's work to get my car and go back to the tire store. After buying two new tires, we made it home safely.  There's a handful of tender mercies in there.

We finished Wednesday's adventures by going to the urgent care to have Richard's wrist X-rayed. We were told it was either "severly sprained or possibly broken."  They weren't sure and we had to wait to have a radiologist read them before we knew.  Well, that news came today. It's sprained. It's a bad sprain, but that's so much better than a break! The healing time is much shorter, he doesn't have to get it casted...it's just an answer to prayer, because even though we're getting by, this is hard.  Tender mercy.

I know that even with these current hardships, I have it so much easier than so many others. For that I am thankful. I get impatient with my hands and I want them to heal "right now!" and when I can't do things I get frustrated. But at least I know that they're healing right. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who is so willing to do what he can. That is the biggest tender mercy of all. He is so patient, and so kind, and I'm getting emotional because he just takes such good care of me.  It just means so much. When I'm with him I know everything will be okay, and he just has this calming effect on me. I love him to pieces and I hope he counts me as a tender mercy, too.