CAREGIVING:

Caregivers’ tips to meet daily challenges from Alzheimer’s Disease International per @Carebuzz.

MindingOurElders’, Carol Bursack, has a great review of two excellent books for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Husband cares for wife with Alzheimer’s at home. Such a bittersweet, loving story from @ALZHEIMERSread . He also has an interesting article, Five Ways to Keep Alzheimer’s Away.

@TinaFightsFire reminds us, “DO NOT smoke when on oxygen!” “An elderly woman and her 66-year-old daughter died in a trailer park fire in northwest Tucson late Friday after a lighted cigarette and medical oxygen combined to spark the blaze.”

Sudden behavioral changes in dementia patients could signify medical issues, such as urinary tract infection. Be sure to call the doctor in this situation. Per @BethPo

Important for ALL AGES: Make sure you read your own medical records and those of your family members you care for!  Per@ mike_gamble.

GRANDPARENTS:

A big thank you to @toothfairycyber for the cute, personalized pillowcase I won! What a  lovely gift for for my granddaughters. Since my east coast granddaughter got the Hannah Montana book I won a couple of months ago, my west coast granddaughters get to have fun with this. We are going to use it as a “special day” and/or “sick day” special pillowcase.    She also has sweet, personalized tooth fairy pillows, complete with pockets for the latest tooth! Very cute!

If you’d like a chance to try to win one of these cute pillows, visit My Household Junk to enter her contest.

Got a brand new grandbaby on the way? Here’s a great solution for the Baby Shower Gift Dilemma – a handmade quilt.

Don’t forget about Twinstock! There are lots of great giveaways going on there!!

SANDWICH GENERATION:

The England newspaper, Daily Mail, has an article about concerns over the medicine for Swine Flu!

It’s good for caregivers to know that patients don’t have to be elderly to qualify for hospice. They just need to be terminally ill and in need of comfort. It’s a great service! Per @ruthannhogue.

Are you feeling crushed by your circumstances? Lynn Mosher has a wonderful article of encouragement, The Sweet Aroma of Crushing.

Speaking of Encouragement – Wait on the Lord, Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Ps 27.14

Last, but not least, here’s an adorable penguin video.

Wasn’t that a cute “caregiving” story?

Oh me, oh my. Reading the news headlines just isn’t any fun right now!

North Korea Warns Intercepting ‘Satellite’ Will Prompt Counterstrike; Israeli Major-General [states]: Iran past ‘nuclear threshold’…using nuclear talks to buy time for bomb; World Bank offers dire forecast for world economy…; Recession on track to be longest in postwar period…

Gas prices are headed back up while housing and stock values are going straight down.

Even our churches aren’t safe: Gunman Killed Pastor – That type of headline is becoming just as common as the rest!

Our elderly parents are terrified. They’re worried about their savings, wondering about social security, and confused about how this will impact them. Frankly, we’re often feeling the same way.

What do we do in the midst of all these potential, looming crises? I prefer to look at a different set of “headlines:”

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Isaiah 41:10

‘Do not fear,for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right  hand.’ Joshua 1:9

I’m especially partial to the words “wherever you go” in Isaiah and the word “Surely” in Joshua. No matter what happens, no matter WHERE we go, God will SURELY uphold His children with His righteous right hand. Crises will come and go, leaders will come and go, God is always right there with us. He made this world, He is sovereign over us, and He has assured us we do NOT have to look anxiously around for He is there to strengthen and help us! Those are the kind of headlines we can use to encourage our elderly parents, our children, and our grandchildren. Those are the kind of headlines I like to read!

Our God is a faithful God! We know that from His Word. We know that from our answered prayers. We can also discover it from our spiritual diaries, if we keep them. I keep my main one in shorthand, which I learned over 30 years ago. There’s just one problem. I can write it fine, I just can’t read it back that great. But that works great for this purpose. I write my prayers, my thoughts, my everything to God. Then I toss it. It helps me to focus on Him, on sharing with Him, and on praising Him. It accomplishes its purpose. That’s what I need for a time. And a neater area is also what I need so tossing them takes care of that need.

Another way I keep a spiritual journal, that I DON’T throw away, is to underline, date, and occasionally write notes in my Bibles. When I go back and spend time re-reading the underlined verses and look at the dates, I often remember why I wrote those notes and how God blessed me during those times. It’s another great way to be reminded that God is faithful.

Some young women discovered this method of doing that in a purpose-full way and wrote about it at their site, Set Apart. It was an excellent article and very encouraging to me as I read it. A large part of the encouragement came from the article itself. But as a mom of young adults, and a grandma of nine, including a tween, I was also encouraged by the fact that this particular article was written on a blog by Christian teens! I know I’m going to share this site with my grandkids and thought you might like to do the same with your kids and/or grandkids. In a world full of role models who are too often focused on the wrong priorities, it’s great when we find role models for our grandkids who are focused on God and His faithfulness! You can find this delightful site at: http://teens-set-apart.blogspot.com/2009/02/faithful-is-our-god.html

Driving to church this morning, extremely tired from senior home care as well as moving all week and running ten minutes late, I was really tempted to skip it. It would have been so much easier to just head for the old house to pick up more items while listening to a sermon on my iPod.

Resisting temptation, I walked into church as they were singing the second song. It was a gift from God, handpicked just for me. One of my favorite songs, I started singing joyfully as I walked to a seat up front. It was followed by another song I love. This one was such an encouragement to me I wanted to share it with you as well. Written by Elvina Hall in 1865, it is:

Jesus Paid it All!

I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all

CHORUS:Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone

For nothing good have I
Where-by Thy grace to claim
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary’s Lamb

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat

The two most encouraging parts of this for me were:

When before the throne, I stand in Him complete.

Some of the sermons I’ve been listening to on my iPod were Calvary Chapel’s John Miller speaking on the book of Revelation. Listening to him this past week as he taught about Christ returning in power and great glory has been exhilarating and singing about it put a huge smile on my face! I can’t wait to see my precious Savior!

Thy strength indeed is small…Find in Me thine all in all!

I can’t tell you how many times this week alone, I have told God how weak I am, both physically (because of the move my joints are all screaming at me) and emotionally (in large part again because of being so exhausted from the move).

That was a big part of the reason I didn’t want to go to church. I chose to obey in spite of how I felt and God poured out His blessings of encouragement on me. I left church feeling so much stronger.

I hope and pray that, as you deal with senior home care, grandparenting, and more, you are encouraged this week through the power of God’s love and the encouragement of these words. If you’d like to join me in learning more about Revelation, click on the words “the book of Revelation.” Scroll down about 2/3 of the way to find the links to each podcast.

I’ve got some excellent links for you that first appeared on my Twitter page. In fact, there are so many, I’m going to do half today and half tomorrow. Don’t forget, if you want them hot off the press, come join the conversation at http://twitter.com/SandwichINK .  Without further adieu…

Disaster/Emergency Links:

Here is a great site for disaster/emergency information – CBS News’ Disaster links – http://tinyurl.com/gdj4u

Encouragement – Jesus said…Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Salmonella Outbreak and Peanut Butter Recall:

A full list of peanut butter recalls: http://tinyurl.com/8vaywm Thanks to @FamilyDoctorMag  for finding it.

Here’s a definitive statement about the peanut butter and salmonella situation, issued by the FDA – http://budurl.com/CDCPeanut

Encouragement – Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day!

Small Business Information:

If you run a small business, or perhaps have an adult child or elderly parent who does, this is an excellent list of small businesses who use twitter: http://tinyurl.com/8kmvdq Written by Anita Campbell and found by @Donna606.

Speaking of small businesses, Daiv Rawks pointed out that if you use signs on your car to advertise your business, you’re more likely to get calls if the letters are easy to read in a quick second or two at freeway speeds, which many of the fancy curly fonts are not.

Encouragement – God is the strength of my heart & my portion forever.

Blogging/Tech Info:

If you are blogging or thinking of blogging and haven’t yet tried Microsoft’s Live Writer, here is the latest version  complete with the newest auto-complete tagging feature. I haven’t tried using that aspect but will try to give it a whirl in the next couple of weeks, after my life starts settling down from all the various colds, bugs, etc. we’ve had going on around here. http://tinyurl.com/wlwtags A big thank you, again, to Brandon Turner who does such a great job for Microsoft as part of the Live Write team!

Another quick note for all you bloggers. Did you know that WordPress 7 lets you drag and reorder your plugins, etc.? I didn’t until I read a note from Chris Brogan! I can’t wait to test drive that feature.

If any of you use Google gmail and other products such as Blogger, Feedburner, etc., please be extremely careful if you have to delete one of those accounts. Apparently it can be very easy to delete all the accounts when you only wanted to delete one account! And once they’re gone, it’s almost impossible to retrieve them even if you discover your error within a minute! A friend discovered this, and in researching options for her, I found several other sad recountings of similar happenings. Might even be best to make them private and not use them, but don’t delete them!

I loved this quote that buildthemup found: If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG. Bill Gates Isn’t that the truth!!!

If you use Photoshop, here’s an interesting article: 12 Common Photoshop Mistakes, Misuses & Abuses- http://is.gd/fodk – Thank you to Dawud Miracle for that good info

Hey hey hey, Baby Boomers. We’re the hot topic at computer tech shows! According to Marc Middleton at Growing Bolder, “This weekend, the [Consumer Electronic Show] CES hosted its first annual “Silvers Summit” to discuss how older Americans shop for and use consumer electronics. I’ve been using and loving computers since a year after they came out. I’m very pleased that they’ll continue to age well with me!

Have u ever heard of a warm mouse? I hadn’t but I learned. It sounds wonderful for those with arthritis or carpal tunnel. I haven’t tried it but thought I’d pass the info on for others who might be interested. [The site no longer has the information listed but you can go to http://www.warmmouse.com/ instead ] Two ideas for those conditions that I have tried successfully are to use an oversized mouse and to use a wrist brace. I personally love the glove that goes on with a built in pad made of tiny balls. The one I use most often is called a Smart Glove by IMAK

Encouragement – the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here are some terrific Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes:

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” Caregiving found that one.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Found by Copyblogger.

"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?" Found by Mr. ElderCare.

Encouragement – God’s Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

Real Estate Information:

Is your city (or your elderly parent’s city) on the list of the top 10 worst foreclosure cities in 2008? http://budurl.com/10WorstForeclsCities

Several of my elderly relatives enjoy reading about Dubai. Some of yours might as well. Did you know that the world’s tallest home is in Dubai-2559 ft and 160 floors! You can fit a lot of grandkids in there http://budurl.com/TallestHomeIn Dubai

Encouragement – Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

That’s it for tonight. Check out Part 2 tomorrow, with links specific to health, elderly parents, grandkids, and more…

Grandparents, it’s good to be reminded of the importance of our heritage that we are passing on to our grandchildren!  The Most High God…how mighty His Wonders. His Kingdom is an eternal Kingdom.His dominion endures from generation to generation.

Feel like a nap? Here’s the perfect article for you. A new five-year study has found that more sleep might help reduce calcium deposits in people’s arteries. http://bit.ly/6CPY . Thank you to fellow Twitterer @health for that info.

BreakingNewz on Twitter tells us that if today seemed a bit longer than normal, you are right. They have added an extra second to 2008 http://is.gd/dPaK

Encouragement – Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I heard an interesting news report on the radio station, the FISH. Did you know that homes without children eat healthier? When there are kids around, there are too much junk food snacks, fatty pizza, chicken nuggets, etc. So we should all try to limit the unhealthy, yet easy pizzas. Plan ahead to add healthy salads to the table. We also need to hide the sodas. I have to admit, that’s my real weakness. I guess I’d best start cutting back a bit. How about you? Are you going to make any positive eating changes in the coming weeks?

If you need extra encouragement in that area, Alzheimer’s Reading Room has an informative article on a study showing that high cholesterol in your 50s raises your odds of contracting Alzheimer’s Disease by 50%. Now I’m really going to be eating healthier! http://tinyurl.com/9z5c7d

While we’re still on the subject of eating, Foodimentary passed on an excellent food tip. If you’re avoiding night shades (maybe because of arthritis), eat yams but not sweet potatoes. For more great food tips, take a peek at their website. http://budurl.com/Foodimentary

Jesus…is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant…forgiveness of sins.

“What to Expect When Visiting a Senior’s Home: Are you home for the holidays? Did you find your mom’s home in Austin cluttered and disorganized? Here are some frequently asked questions that might help you and your elder cope!…” http://twurl.nl/ch8uqw This is an excellent article from Home Instead Senior Care, Austin

Jesus – the Proof of God’s Love. (Philip Yancey)

If you are using Twitter or interested in giving it a try, I highly recommend TweetDeck – www.TweetDeck.com . John Haydon has made it easier for you with his Video Tutorial: Overview Of The Latest Version Of TweetDeck at his site – http://budurl.com/TweetDeckVid , along with many other useful articles and videos. You can also find a written tutorial for Twitter along with a list of applications and their descriptions at http://budurl.com/TwitterInfo .

Well, that’s all for 2008 at SandwichINK. I pray that you all have a fun and safe New Year’s Eve and a blessed 2009! See you next year

Point of Grace has a wonderful Christmas album, Winter Wonderland , which I love. It’s been a busy week, so it has stayed in my car’s cd player as I shuttled grandkids back and forth, mom back and forth, and me back and forth everywhere. When I wasn’t listening to the grandkids’ nativity DVD, I was listening to this album. One song caught my attention this year in a special way. For Unto Us is a beautiful rendition of Isaiah 9:6:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

This verse is the fulfilled prophecy of Jesus’ birth. As a multigenerational caregiver, these names given to Him really resonated with me this week.

Wonderful Counselor – His wisdom can enable us to gracefully juggle all the issues, problems, and personalities that come our way each day.

Mighty God – His power can fight our battles for us, of which there can be many for caregivers dealing with rising medical costs in these turbulent financial times.

Eternal Father – His love for us warms us and comforts us, so that we can continue to love and comfort those we care for.

Prince of Peace – We need His wisdom and guidance to peacefully resolve a wide variety of situations and needs.

These reflections encouraged me and I hope they encourage you as well. By the way, I used this song in the Smilebox Christmas card I posted yesterday. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.

As I write this, CNN, Fox News, Drudge Report and other news sites are reporting that Wall Street is doing awful, more banks are expected to fail, and the economy worldwide is in a world of hurt! Dealing with senior citizens who often live off investments means that all this can impact us in a very big way. We may be fielding calls from elderly parents who are very nervous about what’s going on. Many of us are probably fighting butterflies in our own stomachs about this. And even our adult children may be calling to say, “Hey Dad, Mom, what does this mean? Are you OK? Will it impact me?” The simple answer…we have no clue! I don’t think anyone here on Planet Earth really knows. But that reminds me of an oldie goldie phrase I love –

I don’t know what the future holds, but I KNOW Who holds the future!

None of this financial turmoil is a surprise to God. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He has promised to provide for His children. His Word is so powerful at a time like this and I thought it would be an encouragement to all of us.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake… Psalm 46:1-3

Kaye’s paraphrase – God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the banks give way and the stock market falls into the heart of Wall Street, though the newspapers roar and foam, and the network news causes quakes with its reporting.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.  Philippians 4:6-9

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.  Psalm 34:17-19

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.. 1 Peter 5:6b-7

Through God we will do valiantly, And it is He who shall tread down our adversaries. Psalm 108:13

Two, two, two book reports in one! Two great books for you today. One extremely encouraging during difficult times for the grownups. The second for children and grandchildren to teach them about the Bible.

RED SEA RULES

The Red Sea Rules, by Robert J. Morgan, describes itself as “10 God-given Strategies for Difficult Times.” The ten chapters each cover one rule. Some of the rules include:

Realize that God means for you to be where you are.

Be more concerned for God’s glory than for your relief.

Envision God’s enveloping presence.

Don’t forget to praise Him.

As you can see, these are great topics for everyone and especially for the Sandwich Generation – those of us caring for different generations – from senior citizens on down to grandchildren.

What he has written encouraged me greatly. On top of that, he has found wonderfully comforting passages from God’s Word along with inspiring quotes from a variety of Christians.

I underline in books as I read. It helps me find items I was interested in when I go back. I can always tell how good a book is by how much I underlined. My copy of this book has a TON underlined!

I especially loved Rule 2 – “Be more concerned for God’s glory than for your relief.” That’s something God’s been teaching me for a long time and it’s so nice to know I have company. Caregiving has difficult moments – whether because you are concerned for your loved one who is in pain, or because someone you are caring for is being a bit recalcitrant. Multigenerational caregiving can double or triple the issues you deal with. But God can use all of that to teach us, to grow us, to use us to teach others about Him. As his quote from Matthew Henry puts it, “God sometimes raises difficulties in the way of His people, that He may have the glory of subduing them, and helping His people over them.”

I have given away four copies of this book and suspect I will give away more in the future. I will also make sure to keep a copy close by for myself. The verses he selected for it are encouraging to me, in and of themselves. I highly recommend this book to all of you.

I LOVE MY BIBLE

This book is for those young ones you want to encourage in the Word. Written and illustrated by Debby Anderson, it is geared for children ages 2-6. She has done an excellent job of teaching basic concepts about the Bible in an entertaining way. She uses cute pictures liberally. She has included Bible references throughout so if you have a very patient toddler, you could have your Bible handy and show them where to look in the Bible to find the references.

The book begins by showing the difference between fairy tales, tall tales, video games, and the Bible. Ms. Anderson teaches Who wrote the Bible and how. You child will learn good reasons for memorizing the Bible and a good way to do so. When to read the Bible and how to share the Bible with others including those overseas is also covered. I was very pleased with this book and look forward to reading it many times to my grandchildren!

MORE IDEAS…

Well, there you have it. Multigenerational book reports for all you multigenerational caregivers. Have fun reading! And let me know what books you’ve read that encouraged you and your grandkids! Just leave a comment below or send an email to Kaye@SandwichINK.com