Prayers needed

Lots of people in my life could use some prayers right now.

First of all, some old friends of mine from Reno, Brian and Jami McCombs were just blessed with the birth of their third child, a boy, Ezra. However, he was diagnosed with a rare disorder called Pierre Robin Sequence which is a very small lower jaw, a retracted tongue, and cleft palate. Brian, Jami and the baby were flown to Salt Lake City's Primary Children's Hospital where they are awaiting surgery for Ezra's jaw. They have two little children at home. My heart goes out to them. I know God answers prayers and perhaps if you can think of them, it will help their prayers for Ezra be answered. For those of you who know them, you can check on Ezra's progress at ourmagnumopus.blogspot.com.

And pray for my family, specifically my Aunt Gail and cousins Jet, Joel and Chris and their families. My great Uncle Jerry passed away Monday evening. He was 67. His passing was something of a surprise to me. Apparently, he had been quietly fighting liver cancer. He hadn't told anyone except, of course, my aunt and Jet, and only him because they were staying at Jet's home coming to and from treatments. I guess the treatments wore him out and he came down with pneumonia recently and died from complications of that. I think the whole family is in a state of shock over losing our gentle giant. For the many of you who never met my uncle, he was a funny, kind man, a man's man. A cowboy. One of those men that "retires" just to keep working at whatever he could find to do. He rode horses and gardened, tinkered around with machines and rehab old Volkswagen Bugs. He loved the military channel and had a major stubborn streak about answering the telephone. I just can't say enough about him. I can't make it home for the funeral, so I will keep replaying the following scene in my mind.

We lasted visited home when Ellie was just 5 months old. She was born with a hemangioma on her head, a little cluster of blood vessels that pop up. Hers was the size of a dime on her temple and went away when she was about 7 months old. Anyway, I took Jack and Ellie to lunch at the International Cafe where I met my parents and Gail and Jerry for lunch. As they came in Jerry plopped down and looked at Ellie in my arms. He is ALWAYS on the lookout for a way to get my goat, to rib me over something. He is not cruel and would never try to hurt anyone's feelings. But, he looked at me and said, "Mandy, what the hell did you do that baby's head?"
I was a bit sensitive to people pointing out her little bump, but before I could say anything, Gail hit him and with a look of genuine horror said, "Jerry, she was born with that!"
For a good 30 seconds or so, his face fell. I could tell he was sorry he'd said it. But he had a sense of humor and in that time, I think everyone knew he hadn't meant anything. So, he realized he couldn't tease me about dropping her, but picked up where he left off and asked again, "Well, what the hell did you do that baby's head?" We all laughed. Perhaps that isn't as funny written as it was the day it happened, mostly because I can see the look on his face when he switched from genuine sorrow to realizing he could still tease me.

He was a wonderful, quiet man who will be so dearly missed. And my aunt's advice right now is to immediately give a hug to those you love because you never know when it might be your last chance. Sage advice.