James 1:4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.” Amplified Bible version

One of the ways Webster’s defines the word impatient is eagerly desirous.  Today at breakfast Drew was impatient.  He has been doing very well eating a few bites a oatmeal the past few days for breakfast and we have been really praising him for it and talking about in the future when he is able to eat more food he will be able to have his feeding tube removed and how great that day will be.  This morning the nurse came into the room and said, “Are you ready for breakfast?” She came to get Drew’s roommate into his wheelchair and take him down the hall to the common area to eat.  Drew felt like he was ready to go to breakfast this morning too and took hold of his feeding tube and gave it a firm yank and out it came!  He smiled and winked at the nurse and held it up for her to see, quite proud that he would now need to eat a meal from a plate.  You can imagine the scurry on Unit 4 as the nurse called for the doctor who had just left Drew’s room moments earlier after making rounds.  When the doctor arrived, Drew was still smiling and gave the doctor a wink.  He asked if it hurt when he pulled it out, the balloon that was meant to hold the tube in was still inflated and Drew nodded, “Yes,” with a trademark grin.  They quickly inserted a temporary foley tube and made plans for Drew to go to x-ray to check placement.  Since I was working this morning, when his sister, Kaila arrived to cover the early morning only Drew was in the room.  Still smiling he greeted her with the usual morning vocalizations that we are so enjoying these days and they chatted.  Little did she know what all he was talking about at the time.  She prepared to start his morning tube feeding only to find a paper taped to his stomach that read, “DO NOT USE G-TUBE.”  After a quick phone call home to me led her to find a nurse and doctor and we got the story.  When she went back to the room and went over the story with Drew he began to laugh and laugh until his body shook.  He did get his oatmeal and I must say he ate better than ever this morning.  The speech therapist was so thrilled.  He met his goal and was able to ring the bell in the therapy room so everyone would know!  Everyone in the therapy room applauded and the smile could not be erased from his face.  He ate later in the day as well.  We pray that it continues more and more each meal, each day.  But, for now, tomorrow at 2:00 pm he will have a new G-tube replacement at Clarian West.  We have therapy worked around this out-patient procedure so he will not miss any of his work-outs.

Aren't we all alittle like Drew sometimes? We are so impatient we want to take things into our own hands.  If only we could get a hold of what holds us back and give it a yank!  For many of us our patience will only grow when it is put into the fires of a trial.  It would be nice if we could just water patience like we water the impatience in our gardens and they grow full and beautiful.  For most of us though we just don’t learn when everything is going so well.  I have also learned that sometimes the lessons are not just for us but they are given to us because we are strong enough to be the examples in the illustrations.  Even when we don’t think we can do it,“with God all things are possible.”  We are given the opportunity to learn, and so can others. It is good to be open to share the experience so God can use it for His glory in a greater way.  I know many of you are praying for Drew and you are also learning patience with us.  I wish we could have it all now; however, we are so glad for each step forward that we see (and we still do everyday).  Perhaps, we would not appreciate each step, if we did not pause at every progress and celebrate.  Our timing is not God’s.  He has His own and He will never be late.  It might feel like it while we sit waiting.....wondering......but God will never leave us or forsake us.  His timing is perfect.  I have some examples.  So for now, I just keep knocking, as the persistent widow did, asking for those words to flow from Drew’s mouth.  I just know he has a lot to say and I am going to have to sit still and be quite one day and listen.  I can’t wait :)