Here in Kentucky it's in between snow storms. I decided I wanted a picture to make us think of spring and I found that in this photo. More than that, I saw this flamingo, standing firm in spite of a very gooey situation, reminding me, no matter what gooey Sandwich Generation situation I find myself in, I have to rely on God to enable me to STAND FIRM IN THE LORD!

…Now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 3:8

…Stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. Philippians 4:1

…Stand firm in the faith… 1 Corinthians 16:13

…Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught. 2 Thessalonians 2:15

More than one pastor has pointed out that if God repeats Himself in the Bible, there's a VERY good reason for that.  As a Sandwich Generation grandmother, one of my biggest desires has always been for my kids and grandkids to know and love God with all their hearts, souls, strengths, and minds. Next, once they have done that, I desire for each of us to STAND FIRM IN THE LORD! These are all some of my primary prayers every day! And I am blessed because I know that these are God's desires for us as well, which means I am praying according to His will in all of this. Very encouraging!

What are some of your favorite verses to pray for your children, grandchildren and yourself? 

For more inspirational Bible verses coupled with intriguing pictures, sure to encourage all of us in the Sandwich Generation, be sure to visit Forever His. And don't forget to sign up for the FREE SandwichINK email and get words of encouragement for Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents delivered to your inbox regularly.  

It's truly wonderful what kind of impact familiar music and lyrics can have on the beloved elderly of the Sandwich Generation. It's especially exciting when it can reach the mind, even if just for a second, of one who has dementia symptoms. One such song that has that kind of potential has to be Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby.

I was thinking about that a few weeks ago, as I stood in church singing this song with the congregation. I looked around the room and saw so many faces – from very young to very old – singing away, many sharing the broad smile I had on my own face. I love the music, and even more, I love the wonderful words – especially the refrain:

Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long;

this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. 

Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

            (Refrain)

Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest,

watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

          (Refrain)

I already knew Fanny Crosby was a blind songwriter from the 1800s who loved God with all her heart. I was touched to read in Wikipedia that her father died when she was young and she was raised by her mother and grandmother – talk about a great example of the Sandwich Generation, long before the term was ever coined. I especially appreciated the quote I found there,

"It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.

Most of us don't have to struggle with blindness in our day to day lives, but we all have various trials and tribulations. This is especially true for those of us in the Sandwich Generation who may be dealing with our own health issues as well as those of senor parents, and sometimes even our grandkids. But without those trials in our lives, perhaps we might not have come to know God in the same way. I'm with her. Those are opportunities for us to submit ourselves totally to Him and watch Him work in and through us.

Submit, therefore, to God. James 4:7

Here is a wonderful YouTube version of this lovely hymn. It would be perfect for sharing with a special senior or two. Wouldn't that be a delightful Random Act of Kindness for them, that will bless you as well. And if you do, we'd love for you to share it with us too.

Have a blessed Sunday. And don't forget to sign up for the FREE SandwichINK email for more great praise and worship songs through the year to encourage Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents and their families.

As Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents, we can have good days and we can have difficult days. A good chuckle can brighten almost any day, lifting our spirits, as well as those of our beloved elderly parents. I saw these two and they gave me such a sweet laugh, I wanted to share them with you.  

A merry heart does good, like medicine. Proverbs 17:22

The blessing about this type of "medicine" is that you can enjoy it as often as you like. When a senior parent is feeling a bit down because the weather won't allow him to take a walk. or a grandchild is not feeling well, a good riddle, a funny knock-knock joke, or a cute picture like this can put a smile on their face, and yours as well.

For more Word-filled Wednesday photos and inspirational Bible verses to encourage your hearts, be sure to pop on over to Critty Joy.

iPhone Apps can be very handy for everyone including the Sandwich Generation. As I wrote a few weeks ago, there are apps for a wide variety of needs, including first aid and CPR instructions. Yesterday I found a terrific video from CNN that illustrates this point wonderfully. In it, you will see Dan Wooley, of Compassion International, being interviewed by CNN correspondent, Josh Levs. Mr. Wooley explains how his iPhone first aid app helped to save his life after he was trapped in a building during the Haiti earthquake. 

It was a blessing to hear his story as he also shared the messages he wrote his family in case he did not make it. I especially appreciated hearing him tell about the journal he kept, “I was there for several days – I thought I might be rescued…and I thought I might not and I wanted to leave some notes to my family”  and what he wrote in it, including  "[God] always provides for His children even in hard times." I love those encouraging quotes! And what a wonderful legacy to leave for his children!  I bet that journal will be a family heirloom for generations to come!

There are, however, so many other stories that don't have such happy endings, including the fact that Mr Wooley's photographer, David Hames, is still missing. Updates on his status and the situation in Haiti can be found at the Compassion blog and the Loop Blog. Please keep him and his family in your prayers, along with all those who have been touched by this disaster. (2/28/10 UPDATE – on David Hames. He is now safe in heaven. As I read this article I was touched by the awesome testimony he leaves behind. My prayers continue to be with his family and friends, along with the peoples of Haiti and now the peoples of Chile!)  And if you have been looking for a way to help with the rescue work in Haiti, Compassion International is a wonderful organization. They stay busy year-round, helping little ones, many of whom are now orphans due to the earthquake. Can you imagine if that was our grandchildren in the midst of all that turmoil! 

Whatever charitable organization you may send help to, be sure to add your receipts to your 2009 tax files. As Compassion, International explained on their website, "Charitable contributions made before Mar. 1, 2010 in response to the Haiti earthquake can be claimed as itemized charitable deductions on your 2009 tax return instead of waiting to claim these on your 2010 tax return (see The House of Representatives bill H.R. 4462 passed 1/20/10)." Major kudos to our Representatives for that! 

We may never have to deal with something this catastrophic. But even for "smaller" events like an elderly parent's broken ankle due to a fall while walking or a grandchild's injury due to tumbling off their bike, having first aid information handy can be very practical. If you have a cell phone, I would definitely encourage you to add a first aid app to it. And it might be a good idea to look through it now, when there is no problem. Then, if a time comes up that you need the info, you'll be better prepared to use it.

Being prepared can be a blessing for all our family – something we in the Sandwich Generation really appreciate! I bet Mr. Wooley's family, including his parents, are very glad he was so well prepared!  

I love Psalm 37 for so many reasons. One is that it reminds me to keep my eyes on God and my feet on HIS path. Just like a train has to stay on its tracks or suffer major catastrophe, we need to stay on His way! It's easy, when senior home care giving or grandparenting problems crop up, to want to take things in our own hands and do it our way. It's vital for those of us in the Sandwich Generation to wait on the Lord, spend time in prayer, and keep on going in His way.

Wait on the Lord, and keep His way.

Psalm 37:34

These are wonderful words of encouragement for all of us senior home care givers and grandparents in the Sandwich Generation! For more delightful photos and inspirational Bible verses, please visit Forever His. 

As you've probably noticed, I love praise and worship music, I love finding great ways to save money while being blessed by praise and worship music, I love Amazon's free music offers AND I LOVE sharing all of these with YOU. SOOO, here's a special Sunday blessing for each of you in the Sandwich Generation – free praise and worship mp3 songs from Amazon.

I pray these will be a blessing to you if you aren't able to get out to church, or perhaps as you head for church and are preparing your hearts with praise and worship music.

I am enjoying them all, but I was especially blessed by the lyrics to the Big Daddy Weave praise and worship song, "In Christ." They are especially comforting to this busy Sandwich Generation senior home care giver and grandmother, reminding me of the spiritual blessings I have in Christ, and I pray they will encourage you as well! Here are just a few of the lines:

In Christ I can do all things
In Christ I mount up on eagle's wings
In Christ I wait for a great reward
That I have in store
In Christ I have His righteousness
In Christ I have what I confess
In Christ I don't worry about all the rest
Cause everything I need to be is in Christ

And here's the whole song wrapped up nice and neat in a fun Smilebox Card!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Have a blessed Sunday. And don't forget to sign up for the FREE SandwichINK email full of resources to inform and encourage Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents everywhere!

While my youngest grandson took a nap, I had my iPod plugged into my ear, listening to one of the Beth Moore Bible studies on the life and person of Jesus Christ. Something she said really caught my attention in a special way. She was talking about Jesus' directions, ""But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," Matthew 5:44. She then referred to Romans 12:9, "Let love be without hypocrisy." In other words, we are supposed to mean it,  not just "act” it.

As Sandwich Generation caregivers, we are sometimes caught in situations where we have to care for someone we don’t like very much. I’m so blessed to have good relationships with all my parents which has made my caregiving much easier. But I have talked to people or read articles by  those who are caring for parents or other elderly relatives they just don’t get along with. And even though I don’t have to deal with that specifically in my caregiving, I’ve certainly worked with people in the past who were challenges. As one of my pastors commented in a sermon, they are EGRP – extra grace required people.

God convicted me long ago to pray for the EGRP in my life. He has even led me to specifically pray for Him to bless them. It's definitely NOT always easy or even my first choice. But He has kept working on me, over the years, to choose to do this, even when I didn't feel like it.

I was excited and challenged by what Ms. Moore said in this Bible study (which I HIGHLY recommend, by the way). She offered a very practical suggestion how to do it and I love it!  She said, “I ask God to give me several verses so that I can begin to pray over them, praying for them, praying for how I feel about that situation, about that particular person and He will begin to give me the mind of Christ for that person and change the way I feel.”  Isn’t that a terrific idea?

Praying for and choosing a verse or two specifically for that person will keep us from the “I’m not sure what to pray so I’ll just pray, 'Please bless them and hold them close Lord,' over and over.” Don’t get me wrong. That’s an excellent prayer for them as well. BUT by having a couple (or more) of specific inspirational Bible verses to Scripture pray for them, we will be praying according to God’s will, we will be coating them in specific prayer, and we will be allowing God to work on our hearts and minds all at the same time. Sometimes we may be blessed to see these EGRP’s change as a result of our prayers. Many times we won’t. But I know, in my life, I’ve seen myself change for the better. Come to think of it, this would be a great gift for any of those we provide senior home care giving, not just EGRPs! What a gift to them and what a gift to ourselves.

My grandkids and I finished working on the Fruit of the Spirit Scripture memorization verses, activities and crafts, and have gone back to our Awana verses. We still do a lot of talking about love, though. God’s love for us and our love for each other. Yesterday, two of the grandboys and I were talking about loving God with all our heart, loving others, and even loving our enemies.

As I was praying about God’s love this morning, He reminded me of the passage in 1 Corinthians 13 that talks about love:

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;

Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;

It does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

Does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails…But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Isn’t that a wonderful prescription for caregiving. It doesn’t matter whether you are taking care of an aging parent, an adorable but precocious grandkid, or for that matter, dealing with a sweet but but occasionally recalcitrant spouse. Perhaps it’s a cute but capricious teen? How about a boss or coworker who sometimes makes you want to scream. Let’s face it, no one is perfect. And as members of the Sandwich Generation caring for elderly parents and grandchildren, we sometimes see our loved ones in worse moods than anyone else because they don’t feel well. Focusing on and following God’s prescription to love them, no matter what, really does make a difference.

It’s not enough, though, to read this once, think how nice it is and promptly forget it. I used to have it posted in my bathroom and would pray through a different verse from it each day. Over the last few years. I must have prayed through it more than one hundred times. You’d think I’d have it totally memorized, but my brain just doesn’t work that way anymore. The Holy Spirit does though. It astounds me how often I will be in the midst of a difficult situation, start feeling a little hot around the collar, and all of a sudden one of the verses from this passage pops into my brain. I wish I could tell you how perfect I am at following it all the time. I'm not. I’m learning, though. Step by step and prayer by prayer. And when I’m working on activities for grandparents and grandchildren to teach them, it’s awesome to see God using it there as well.

It's not currently hanging in my bathroom as the shower humidity crinkled my old one and when I moved, it got put into the "to do" box. If I were really on top of things, I’d grab a roll of clear plastic contact paper, encase a new printout of the verses in that, and hang it up. Then it would stay much nicer, much longer. I’d add some pretty pictures too. Simple works for me, though. So I guess I'd best take my own advice, reprint it, hang it in my new bathroom, and start praying through it again. It'll be a great way for this member of the Sandwich Generation to start this New Year! I'd love to have you join me in this and let us know in the comments below. Have a blessed day and a great week!

Do you get frustrated during cold and flu season because you and your grandkids have to miss church so much? Or are you the grandparent who watches them for an hour or two when they're sick so their mom and dad can go to church, then high tail it to second service yourself (that's us ).  That's fine for you and the parents, but what about the kiddies? How about doing a homeschool-Sunday School for them when you're babysitting for the parents?

If they're extremely sick, they may only be up to a Bible story or, perhaps, a Christian DVD. But if they're feeling OK other than being contagious, you can have a really great time together. My grandkids and I just did that this morning. I took over a couple of favorite childrens books of Bible stories that we all love, including the Pray & Play Bible. We read about Jonah and talked about the different lessons we can learn from his life, like:

• God is present everywhere so there's nowhere we can hide from Him. Psalm 139, including 8-12 – "If I go up to the heavens, You are there;  if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,  if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You."(NIV)
• God wants everyone to be saved and that should be one of our desires as well. – "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
• Jonah had to choose to obey or disobey God. We have the same choices daily, and we should always choose to obey God. Every time we disobey God we are following Jonah's bad example.
• Every time we cheerfully obey we are following Jonah's good example. In fact, every day when we wake up, we can tell God "Thank You for this day. Please use me today and help me to make the right choices."

After we finished the story, we sang a couple of songs from the book then had a great time making BIG FISH puppets from envelopes, following the book's suggestion to cut one strip off the skinny left side of the envelope and a triangle out of the middle of the skinny right side. They put their hands in the big opening and "swam" the fish around. They had so much fun decorating these and I had so much fun watching them.

They all did a great job and we had such a delightful time. As they worked on the fish, I praised God for yet another fun opportunity to do a bit of "soul-fishing and soul-training" of my own with my sweet grandchildren.

After I finished adding a new real estate article about grab bars to my Active Rain website, I spent some time reading various blog entries including one by Skip Frenzel. He is a specialist in long term care and senior real estate. I noticed he was in the process of putting together a list of caregiver websites as a resource and asking for suggestions. After putting together a list of some of my favorites, I realized this list would be of interest for you as well. So here tis:

• Carebuzz  – Carol at Carebuzz always has plenty of useful info on her site including this article on Medicare D.
• Caregiving – A site full of information and encouragement, they specialize in insights, information, and inspirations.
• A Psychiatrist with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) -  David writes from the unique perspective of a physician who has Lewy Body Dementia. He knows the technical details AND how it feels to deal with the disease.
• Transition Home Aging – Dale's goal is to provide insight and information to adult children of aging parents so they may “thrive and find joy” in every stage of life!
• Alzheimer's Reading Room – Bob DeMarco is a full-time caregiver for his mother who has Alzheimer's Disease and writes to share the information he has learned as he deals with this illness.
• EldercareABC blog -  An interesting site with an online community for caregivers of aging parents designed by
  caregivers of aging parents. They also have a regular blog carnival centered on eldercare.
• Taking Care of the Folks  – An RN and a caregiver with plenty of useful tips from the trenches.
• Seniors For Living -  This site has several writers, leading to a well-rounded resource site. One of my favorite series there is the Boomers and Seniors: News You Can Use blog carnival. Lots of great info for caregivers. And now that you've read about all these great sites, you can can find even more wonderful resources for caregivers in their article, Top Senior and Boomer Blogs and Sites on Twitter.

By the way, be sure to visit Skip Frenzel's website. He has a link to a very interesting article about the penalties for missing deadlines when siging up for Medicare. Very useful information!