HOW COULD I FORGET July 11, 2010??? That is when Bob preached for the first time since his stroke in March, 2009! Dale Rabineau, the pastor at Christ’s Church at Butler, was going to be on vacation with his family. They needed someone to fill the pulpit in his absence, & my Uncle Eli & Aunt Deb Fuentes thought of Bob. When Bob first got the request, he was hesitant. But on faith, he said he would do it. He was scared just like he was over 25 years ago when he preached his first sermon at Grabill Missionary Church, where he interned. In his first sermon at GMC, he was preaching about David & Goliath. He got tongue-tied at one point & said, “Ga-ga-ga-Goliath”. My sister Kristie has NEVER let him live that down! Anyway, he said he’d preach on July 11th @ Christ’s Church @ Butler. He pulled out one of the last sermons he was ever able to preach as a senior pastor at County Line Church of God, & he tweaked it so that it would be up to date. He went over it I don’t know how many times, to make sure he had it right. That morning he was a little clammy & pale, but the summer heat warmed him up. We prayed together before the service started, just the two of us. He was sure he could do it, but he was afraid his speech would get jumbled & confusing. We sat where we always sit - in the front. Next thing you know, Uncle Eli was introducing him to the congregation. He leaned over to me & said, “Pray for me!” He really slurred the words when he said that. Then he stood up, walked on stage & the Holy Spirit took ahold of his voice! He preached the entire sermon without slurring, stuttering or stammering. He never got lost in his notes, not even once. God spoke that morning through Bob, just like He had done for years at County Line. After he had finished, he walked down & sat next to me. He grabbed my hand & squeezed it, then leaned over and said, “How did I do?” When he asked that question, his speech again was slurred. It is just amazing to us that when he prays or even preaches, his speech is crystal clear without hesitation or hiccups. I told him that day that God has more for him to do. He has more for him to say. He’s not done with Bob Herman yet!
A couple weeks after we learned of my mom’s terminal condition, I had the thrill of taking my first child to college. No, not my first child, but the first one to go away to college. Rachel & I helped move Isaac into his apartment in Evansville. A 6+ hour drive. Wal-Mart to stock the cupboards. Coming home with one less kid - PRICELESS! Isaac was where God wanted him to be & we were confident that Isaac was safe in God’s hands. On the long drive home, it was nice to have all that time to chit-chat with Rachel. Since she lives with Connie, we don’t get to hang out a lot. Surprisingly, I think I talked more than Rachel (wink-wink).
In early September I did something I never thought I’d have to do. I applied for Food Stamps & Medicaid. The last of our severance pay came in July & we used that money to pay off some bills. We didn’t have a savings, I can’t work because I’m disabled & even though Bob began working at Hobby Lobby in mid-July, he didn’t make enough money to buy groceries & gas for a month, let alone pay the rent & everything else. God gives grace to the humble, so I humbled myself & accepted the grace He was providing, even if it came through our state government. God had the most helpful person in the local DFR office help me that day, because she made sure we qualified for everything that we possibly could qualify for. She was a great blessing. I am not ashamed to have to rely on government aid to survive. God gave us the government we have & in that government He saw fit to make provision to aid people like us facing hardship. I see it as a very temporary arrangement & we are working hard to get to the point where we no longer need state assistance. So for now, it is God’s way of providing for us & we are grateful.
For most of September we spent as much time with my mom as possible. We knew her time was short. We thought we had to be careful not to wear her out, but she was a woman on a mission & there was no slowing her down! She did everything she could not to let anyone see how tired she truly was. In her mind she had many projects that she wanted to finish before she was gone, & those projects are what kept her with us as long as we had her. She pushed through the pain & exhaustion so that she could serve people she loved one last time. As the days went on, the effects of her disease became visible. Her legs were covered with bruises. In a weird twist, her hair started to grow! By the end of her life she was wearing her wig less & less because she actually had hair again. We have no idea how long she has had gray hair (she’s been an avid hair-froster for as long as I can remember), but her gray hair was a beautiful crown upon her head. As her final days grew nearer, her radiance increased all the more. In mid-September we had family photos taken by Terri Christner (www.averymichaelphotography.com). God worked it out so that Austin, Kristie’s son who is serving our country in the Navy, could come home on emergency leave so that he could be with his Mimi one last time this side of Heaven. Terri took amazing photos! Looking at those photos, it’s hard to believe how deathly ill my mom was. At one point, Terri had her look to the sky like she was looking towards Heaven. My mom started to cry. We asked her why she was crying, & she said “Because I want to go there so bad!” That just about got everyone in tears, which is really bad for all of the females with mascara on! I, of course, wore waterproof mascara.
The following week we met with Karen Smith at Smith & Brown Funeral Home in Hicksville, Ohio. We helped my mom & dad in the planning of her funeral. Karen did an exceptional job with us that day. Is it OK to say that we actually had fun together? Well, OK or not, we probably laughed more in the time we were there than those walls had ever heard! I mean, it can’t be fun to plan a funeral, but just being together was fun even though we were doing a very serious thing. My mom was so full of life & spunk! Karen couldn’t help but laugh at the bantering back & forth between my mom & the three of us girls! My dad just rolled his eyes & we heard him say, “Yes, dear” a lot. After planning her Celebration, we had to pick out her casket. As soon as we walked into the room, she saw the one she liked most. It was a silvery light blue, with a white inner lining. My dad was shocked to learn that it was one of the least expensive caskets they sold! He was used to my mom always having better taste than he could afford, so this was a real change for him! She had planned out what she would wear for her burial, & she even had her friend Barb Funnell making some special fluffy pillows for her out of the most plush light pink fabric I had ever felt. It was a relief to get that step out of the way.
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