New Routine

Now that we have begun a new year, Lena and I felt it was time to bring more structure to our day. Since we are both no longer working, the daily routine of a work schedule needed to be replaced with another routine, for our physical and spiritual well being. Without routine, you can quickly fill up a day and not accomplish all that much. We can also easily get sloppy with devotional time and miss out on spiritual blessings. We need to spend time with God in His Word.

 

First of all, it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get up, washed, and dressed each morning. I wear compression socks to prevent edema in my feet and ankles, and they are tough to get on. These socks help quite a bit. Lena has to completely dress me, as the weakness in my arms and legs do not allow me to do this for myself. Then we have breakfast, which Lena prepares. I can still feed myself, but it is a bit messy and I require a bit of clean-up afterwards. After breakfast we take some quiet time for devotions. I am using an ipad to read the Bible, and am following R.M. McCheyne’s one year Bible reading program. The ipad eliminates the difficulty of having to turn pages, and there is an audio option if reading becomes difficult.

 

After devotions, I need to go through a daily stretching exercise routine which takes about 1 hour. These are range of motion activities to maintain joint flexibilty in the neck, arms, shoulders, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. The program was planned and taught by a physical therapist, who monitors my progress. Several of our children take turns doing these stretches with me so that Lena has a break. These exercises help my breathing, sleeping and ability to use utensils. By the time we finish all this, it is about 12:30 p.m. and I feel like having a nap.

 

Visitors usually come at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m., or else we run to town to do some shopping and errands. Skipping lunch, we usually have an early supper by 5:00 p.m. Our evening is then filled with reading, emails, phone calls or visits. And so a day quickly passes. One day resembles the next. Days, weeks, months quickly fly away. The highlight of the week for us is the Sunday, where we have the opportunity to publicly worship God and be instructed from His Word. How comforting it is to hear the overtures of His grace and mercy for sinners such as we are. How wonderful it is to be able to lean on His precious promises to believers.