Dear Glo,
I realized today at church that I am forgetting some of the things that happened over the last 8 months that have been obvious blessings from Heavenly Father.
One: two days before the house inspection Rebecca and the babies were visiting and they were in the basement rooms sleeping. On the day they were going to leave, I noticed that the tub was clogged. I tried to unclog it and took the drain apart and plunged it and snaked it with my snake and could not get it to drain. Then I noticed that the toilet was not draining either. I tried to plunge the toilet and water started leaking out from under the toilet. I turned the water off to the toilet and told everyone not to use the toilet or the bathtub. As I was passing through the basement, I realized that there was a terrible smell coming from the basement furnace room. I went in there and there was water all over the floor and a smell of sewage. So, this was Sunday and we had our house inspection on Tuesday. So, I put a request in to American Home Shield to come over to fix it on Monday. On Monday morning I got a message from them that the place that was supposed to fix it would come on Tuesday morning at 8 am. That would not work as the inspection was that morning. I called the place that was supposed to come and they would not come till the next day. So, I called American Home Shield and told them I needed another place to come over, they arranged it and I got another name. I called them and they said the guy who needed to do this, would be over later in the day. Well, he did not show up till 8 pm that night but he came over. He checked the whole thing out and figured out that the sewage ejection pump was bad. That was a pump that would eject sewage from the basement up to the main floor septic system. With the pump being bad, the sewage from the basement toilet and bathtub and sink would just pool in the basement and that was why it smelled so bad. So, the guy figured out what was wrong, and that the toilet wax ring was bad and he went to Menard's, got a new one and the stuff he needed to fix it and that night he came back, fixed it all up after replacing the pump and had it working by about 12:30 am and fixed the toilet. Then I mopped all the gross water and sewage up and thought I was done. I flushed the toilet one last time to make sure it was all fixed and the hoses from the pump blew off and shot yucky water all over again. Thankfully, I knew how to fix the hoses which I did and mopped again and got it all cleaned up by about 1:30 am. I put some fans blowing all night to dry everything up and the next day the smell was gone, the house smelled fine and it was all done. That Tuesday, the inspection happened, the pump was working and the house smelled good. If they had come over and the house had smelled like sewage and the pump had not been working, they may to have bought the house. I know Heavenly Father helped us get everything fixed on time for the inspection.
Two: selling the house. So, when we put the house on the market in January we were asking 799000. We had lots of showings for two months and then we got a cash offer for 750000. I was tempted to take it because it was cash, there was no need for an appraisal or financing and though we would have lost 50000 on the house, it was all the offer we had. Mommy and Kristin the realtor said we should not take it and I was worried but we did not take it. Then, we had no showings for the next month. Not one showing. I was so worried. But, I trusted in Mommy's feelings and the realtors assurances that we were ok. Then, out of the blue in March, a family came through on a Saturday. We did not hear anything after they came through and I though nothing of it. On Tuesday they made a full price offer; 799000. The fact that we already had an offer that we had rejected prompted the new buyers to offer full price. Then, these people had their inspection and found painting they wanted done and the price dropped 5000 dollars. Then, the house did not measure what we thought it measured out on the appraisal which affected the price another 30000 dollars. The new buyers wanted the house, so they paid an extra 15000 out of their own pockets so they could buy the house. So, we basically sold the house for 780000 which was acceptable to us and I felt like, the new buyers were a blessing, their willingness to pay the extra money to buy the house when the measurements were found to be less was a blessing and the fact that we had waited for another buyer when we had the cash offer was a blessing, because I was tempted to take the offer in hand, rather than hope for another one, but it all worked out.
Three: our trip to Albuquerque. So, we were not planning on a trip anywhere while we were waiting for my hearing. We did not want to spend money and I was working with my lawyer a lot at the time. One day I had the feeling like I should have Nancy Carlson call Mommy. I asked her to and she did. They had a great talk. That night, Mark called and told us he was trying to find a place to stay in Albuquerque and he did not know what to do. Mommy texted Sis Carlson because she had just spoken to her and Sis Carlson asked Mark if he wanted to stay with her and Bro Carlson for the summer. This was a major blessing for Mark for like 5 different reasons. Then, Mommy suggested we go help Mark move to Albuquerque and we considered it. This turned into a trip to Albuquerque and we decided to ask the Carlsons if that would be ok and they said yes. Then, I thought maybe there was a conference around Albuquerque and lo and behold there was a conference the week before Mark would arrive at the Carlsons. So, my plane ticket to Albuquerque would be free, and we could go to relax at a conference and then go see the Carlsons. Then, right around the same time, I got an invitation to see Shawn Clark and his wife Holly get sealed on the Saturday between the conference and when Mark was coming in the Provo City Center Temple. So, we bought plane tickets to Salt Lake and made a plan to see Hanni for the wedding and then to take her to some national parks like Bryce Canyon, Arches in Moab and Capitol Reef. The whole trip was amazing. The conference was in a beautiful place, seeing the wedding was beautiful, seeing Hanni and going to national parks with her was beautiful, and then going back and seeing Mark and the Carlsons for the rest of that week was beautiful as well. The whole thing was such a fun and sweet time. It worked out so perfectly and I knew as we were watching the Air Show on the Air Force base in the VIP tent, that it was a blessing from Heavenly Father that we had had such a fun trip. I also realized on that trip that if Heavenly Father cared about how we felt for a 10 day period of our lives while we waited for my hearing, he would surely help us make it through the hearing and have a good outcome.
Four: finding Dr. Starr, my expert witness. So, while we were preparing for my defense at my hearing, we had to find an expert witness to testify for me. It had to be someone with good credentials and someone who would review my surgical cases and agree with me and be able to defend me. So, Louis my lawyer found Dr. Robert Starr from Dearborn and he talked to him and Dr. Starr said he would talk to me and see if he could feel good about defending me. So, one night, we talked on the phone and he said he would be willing to do it. Then, we had to get a ton of medical records, 1200 dollars worth to be exact and Dr. Starr had to review them and see if he was still willing to defend me. Then the hearing was delayed. So months passed, we got the records and the hearing was about 6 weeks away and we needed to have Dr. Starr pick up the records and review them. Louis could not get a hold of him. He called, he texted, he emailed and Dr. Starr would not respond. He was getting worried and so was I. I actually fasted in April for Dr. Starr to respond. If we could not get him to do it we would have to find a completely different person which could take a long time. So, the Tuesday after I fasted I felt like I should go to the storehouse and Mommy was asked to substitute that night at the temple. So, I went to the storehouse that Tuesday afternoon. Unbeknownst to me, Mommy decided to go to Dr. Starr's office and ask him to help me. When I went in to the storehouse, she left and went to his office. She had some issues finding his office but she kept trying and right around the time his office was closing, she found the office and left him a heartfelt letter asking him to help me and us. All this time, I was at the storehouse doing service. While I was there doing meat attack at around 5:30 I got a text from Louis saying Dr. Starr had responded and they were going to meet and get going. I was so happy. I went out after meat attack and told Mommy as we drove to the temple, and she told me the story about how she had got and written him a personal letter to ask him to help us. As she told me the story, I literally had the feeling like a key had been inserted into a lock and turned because it had to happen that way and it did. As it turned out, he was a great witness for me, he did an excellent job and he was very forthright and convincing and he defended me as well as anyone could have defended me. I felt like again, here was a blessing from Heavenly Father, that we had found him and Mommy had convinced him to help us and he did a great job.
Five: finding Louis Szura my lawyer. So, when I found out that IHA for whom I work, would not pay for a lawyer for me, I had to find a lawyer myself and I did not know anything about even what kind of lawyer I needed. I eventually figured out I needed a medical staff bylaws lawyer and that is a very specific type of lawyer. I looked up online and found a few names around Detroit. I called on a Saturday morning expecting to leave a message and Louis Szura answered. He asked me to tell my story and I did and he listened for about 2 hours. He told me he would take my case and we began to work on preparing a letter to send to the hospital. A few weeks later, as I was wondering if Louis was the right lawyer for me, I got the names of some other lawyers who do this kind of work and I called them. One guy I spoke to said they charge 375 per hour, that they would take a 15000 dollar down payment up front and that when that was gone, they would get more. The other guy said he would charge me 2500 just to review my case and that he was 450 dollars per hour. Louis was personally interested in my case, he charged only 275 per hour and I always felt like through the whole process, he was personally invested in helping me and he really felt for me. At one point, he said he could not sleep because of my case, that it kept him up at night, and he had even had a dream about someone lying in the trial and that they had dismissed my case because of the lie. In fact, it turned out, he was right in a way. The opening argument and the committee head who did all this to me were based on the fact that they had invited me to speak for myself to the committee at the beginning of all of this, which had not happened. In fact, in a meeting before this adverse action occurred, I had asked to come to the meeting where they made the adverse recommendation against me, and the committee head had ignored my request and then said I could submit a statement which I did. He denied that he had just asked me to submit a statement and then during my hearing my lawyer had shown an email where he had said I could submit a statement but not that I was invited to the meeting. Anyway, the way I knew Louis was the lawyer I needed, was that the day I spoke to the other two more expensive lawyers, I got really worried I should get a different lawyer. That afternoon, I was crying to Mommy, that I did not know what to do or who to choose for my lawyer. I asked her to pray with me about it and so we knelt down in the living room and said a prayer, asking for help from Heavenly Father, to know which lawyer I should use. While we were praying, Louis called me. I took that as a confirmation that Louis was the lawyer I should use. Seeing how hard he tried, how well he did preparing me and how well he did tearing the other side apart in his closing statement, I believe that finding him was a blessing too.
Six: the temple - working in the temple and going to the temple over the past 8 months has been a saving grace from God for me and Mommy. Brother Groen and President Lund both gave me blessings that were messages from God, in the temple. One night as I was standing by the endowment room door, an amazing sense of peace came over me. Another time, I was sitting in the endowment room, waiting for the session to start and even though I was by the door and people were coming in and out of the room, it was like a cocoon of silence and peace enveloped me for like 20 minutes before the session. Over and over, I would go into the temple and feel so much better after I was in the temple vs before when I was outside the temple. It was like I would be subject to the buffetings of satan outside the temple, and then I would go in and a curtain of peace would close on the world and my mind would be at peace for the whole time I was in the temple. I loved the words of the initiatory and the blessings we are given on each part of our bodies, supporting us through our trials and receiving blessings to have the strength to bear our burdens. I have been so thankful for the endowment and the blessings and words of the endowment through all of this. The idea of passing through the veil and entering the presence of the Lord has been so comforting.
There have been so many blessings I have received since starting this terrible ordeal. I know the Lord has been with us. Another one I forgot, till just now: we were so healthy for so many months of this time. Until the past few months, we had really good health. Then lately we have had pretty bad health, but up till the past few months, even Mommy was more healthy than normal.
Also, Mommy has been so patient with me. She has been so faithful and supportive throughout all of this terribly long time. I have been so thankful.
There are lots of other blessings, I just wanted to tell you about some of them.
Love,
Daddy
Comments
Post a Comment