I love setting clocks back. I don’t like darkness settling in so early.
Jim’s mom’s house sold in Idaho this week. That is a relief on many fronts: we don’t have to worry about the upkeep or electric bills or keeping it heated during the winter while unattended. Plus this should help finance her expenses for years to come, hopefully until the Lord takes her home. Her other sources of income ran a few hundred dollars short of monthly expenses, so part of her savings was being used to supplement that. This, barring some unforeseen expense, should take care of things.
She has mixed emotions, of course. She loved seeing the check for the house! And she is relieved that it is sold. But there is sadness, too, at this last tie being severed with a place that holds such memories. Jim allowed time for her to talk through all of that and encouraged her that the place that had been a blessing to her for years can now bless others.
One frustration we have experienced is that a Power of Attorney doesn’t mean what we thought it meant. We thought that gave Jim consent to take care of her legalities. But some businesses and agencies will not deal with him. He’s had to go to her place and call some of these places, put them on speaker phone, explain to her what they’re asking and what information they want without telling her what to say (one guy from the VA yelled at him for that), all the while she can’t hear well and she gets very agitated at this kind of thing, which causes more confusion and agitation. I understand they want to protect the elderly from people who would bilk them out of their money and such. But the people who make these regulations would benefit from actual experience with elderly people who can’t hear, get easily confused, and suffer from some degree of dementia. He has to take her with him for a few things, and she not only really dislikes going places, but she can’t walk far even with her walker. We’re looking for a used wheelchair for her.
Mittu’s mom is here visiting, and we enjoyed spending time with her.
Finally saw Facing the Giants this weekend. It’s not bad. I had heard that the acting was not good, but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought. The message about right priorities and making sure one is right with God were good, but it is a little misleading that all your hopes and dreams are going to come true as a result of God’s blessing when your heart is right. I do share the concern Challies mentioned (I finally subscribed to him — a good many of the bloggers I read quote or link back to him, so I figured it was time to get it straight from the source 🙂 ) here that the producers of it and Fireproof were praying that their next film not be “a good movie [but] a God movie…” Those two should not be mutually exclusive: it should not be either/or. If it is a film for God, it should be made as well as possible. Christian films have a reputation for being a little hokey. Ironically, one of the messages of Facing the Giants was giving your best effort. Psalm 33:3 says, “Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.” Instrumentalists were to be skillful in their playing. Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men,” and Ecclesiastes 9:10a says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” We may be limited by experience, finances, etc. but within that framework our work needs to be the best it can possibly be.
(Stepping off soapbox now.)
Our church ladies’ newsletter/booklet was due out this past weekend. I just want to testify again of the grace God provides when doing anything for Him. I keep thinking I need to finish this newsletter a week or so ahead of time so it can “incubate” — that would relieve some pressure and enable me to catch mistakes and see better ways to phrase things. But it just doesn’t seem to come together until the last week, especially the last few days. This past week it seemed innumerable things came up those last few days (including an unexpected run to Jim’s Mom’s audiologist when her hearing aid wasn’t working right), yet on the busiest day, in the 30-45 minutes I had to work on it, several big pieces just fell together beautifully. I was able to get them printed off and distributed Friday, which I was hoping to do, because Mittu’s mom was coming in Saturday and I needed to get some things done at home. Thank you, Lord!
I wish you all a good week. I’ve been adding to my to-do list all morning — guess I’d better get to it!
Stray Thoughts 
First I forgot to tell you in you Microfiction how much I love your header. Very beautiful. Selling memories is hard but sometimes for the best, and I think this is one of those times. Letting go hard to do. I’m happy for you all. 🙂
Glad for you that the house got sold.
Know all about the problem of working with the elderly.
Thankful for your testimony to God’s goodness.
I understand your viewpoint, Barbara, but it’s a good thing that the Power of Attorney makes it so difficult to act without the elderly present. There have been so many elderly people swindled.
I know your husband is a good guy, but these laws are in place to protect the weak.
I know. But it seems they should determine if everything is above board before the Power of Attorney is even granted. If there is any question, that should not be granted. But once it is, and once the elderly or disabled person signs and has notarized something that says, “Yes, I want this person to act in my behalf,” then they should have the freedom to do that, especially when the action needed is something that is going to be beneficial and not detrimental to the person.
What happens if the time comes that your MIL can’t speak for herself? On the other hand, my grandmother gave my aunt power of attorney and my aunt took all of my grandmother’s savings and refurnished her home. When my grandmother found out she had a heart attack and died. With these new safe guards, that couldn’t have happened.
And I agree that Christian films need to be Godly and good. They need to leave little room for contemplating anything but the message.
Exactly, Quilly — when she gets to the point where she physically can’t go anywhere or hear or when she can’t understand enough to complete a phone call, how will we conduct her business then? I’m not saying there should not be safeguards — there should for cases like you mentioned. But I think that everyone with a PA should not be treated as if they’re out to get money (and some have treated my husband that way), and I think they need to figure out ways to realistically handle things when it is difficult or impossible for the elderly person to take part.
Ha! (on subscribing to Challies). Welcome to the club (or something).
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Facing the Giants but I remember not enjoying the acting very much. That said, again, it was the message that counted.
I’m glad that the house sold. That must a relief for you. But I’m really surprised about the power of atty. That’s a little scary too. What if he weren’t able to put her on speaker phone? Would he not be able to care for her and her finances properly? This is something to think about for our will/living will.
Enjoy your visit with Mittu’s mom:) And have a wonderful rest of the week!!
So glad to hear that your MIL’s home finally sold. It must be a relief to get that all taken care of. I’ve been through similar things when my mother was ill and then after her passing.
We are from a small town where we’ve lived all of our lives. Even though I never had power of attorney over Mom, all of the banks, hospital, nursing home, etc. allowed me to do business for her because they all knew me and our family.
Now, I’m not saying that that was necessarily good but I’m thankful that they did because it made it so much easier for Mom AND me.
I wasn’t crazy about ‘Facing the Giants’ for the reason you mention: “trust God, use the right formula, and he’ll give you everything you want.”
Not.
(That being said, I watched it all the way to the end and shed a few tears just the same. 🙂
I hope you have had a good week so far, Barbara. Enjoy the visit with the in-law! 🙂
Ohhhhhhh I have HAD these issues with Mom and power of attorney! Like with her credit card! We have had to leave it in limbo. They won’t let us authorize the new one — and they won’t let us CANCEL it either! Soooo… it is an open account that is useless to anyone! It will finally get closed whenever she does die. For now, we just put her needs onto our card. But it IS frustrating.
I saw Facing The Giants a year or so ago… maybe 2 – we have a movie night at church the 2nd Saturday of each month and that was one of the movies they showed. I thought it was okay – but certainly not great! Fireproof was better — but still, the acting was not riveting — and it was not a movie (in my opinion) that non-Christians would “buy” into. (she says speaking from experience….) Dennis and I saw it together. And I knew immediately when it turned him off! I never even ASKED him to watch Facing the Giants… I so enjoy the Karen Kingsbury novels about this — the Take One, Take Two, etc… the bring out that the movie itself has to be GOOD! AND give glory to God!