When I got home from Wisconsin at almost midnight Thursday night, I was exhausted and drained and filled up and blessed.
I have so many stories to tell from the visit but not much time available today. For now, I will just highlight a few favorite photos from the time spent with my siblings–sharing the care.
We didn’t just share the care between each other, we were also blessed to be able to share it with the wonderful therapists, nurses, and aids at the rehab facility mom is at.
Mom was telling us one day that each morning when the aid helped her out of bed, she always tried to point her wheelchair toward the TV. And every morning, Mom would politely tell her that she didn’t want to point toward the TV; she wanted to point toward the window and the sky and the birds.
Mom would much rather be entertained by the glories of nature than by the blathering of the television.
On Monday, I went with Mom and Debbie to an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.
I realized that Iron Man has got nothin’ on my mom when it comes to fancy gadgets!
This is the bruising 10 days after her injury; it used to be a lot worse.
The surgeon said that in all of his years of practice, he had only seen one other case where there were several bones broken in two places in one arm. He said that ten years ago, the kind of reconstructive surgery he did on Mom was only being done in a few places in the world. I was grateful that Mom had a surgeon who had learned and mastered new surgical techniques that would make such a difference for her.
Throughout the four days I was there, I was witness to such amazing compassion and care. Randy and Debbie are the consummate caregivers–loving, patient and supportive.
I especially love this picture because it shows Debbie and my brother Phil bustling around taking care of things for Mom, and Mom just sitting quietly, safe and secure in the love of her family.
I had the honor of doing some wheelchair pushing; I tried not to pop too many wheelies along the way.
Mom is determined to get better as quickly as possible so that she can get back to her little apartment. Physical therapy is a big part of that process and while it’s not always easy for her, she gives it all she’s got. 
My sister, Ruth, drove over for a couple of days and made herself an invaluable part of the JoAnn Campbell Care Team. We had some fun sister time along the way. I’m so blessed to be such dear friends with my sisters. (Debbie is the youngest–5 years younger than I am.)
Each night when the three of us got ready to leave Mom’s room, we would read something from the Bible and then pray with her. Here’s Debbie reading Psalm 100.
One on particular night, Debbie got Mom tucked in and then she and Ruth and I gathered around Mom to pray. I started to pray out loud but only made it a couple of words into the prayer when I was completely shut down by tears. I had to hand off to Ruth whose prayer was, as always, heartfelt and poignant.
There is something at once heart-wrenching and heart-filling to be in a room with siblings and a mom I rarely get to see and to experience with them the shifting of the generations. I posted last week about how it felt to experience the reversal of the roles and I continued to live that reversal over and over during the visit–we three sisters sharing the care of a mom who birthed us and fed us and cared for us and prayed with us.
I couldn’t believe how many times I teared up throughout those precious days. I think the most poignant moment of the visit came one evening when Ruth, Debbie and I decided to sing for Mom. We three girls have been harmonizing since we were small; in fact, Debbie was telling me that she actually remembered the day I taught her to sing harmony.
We haven’t sung together in a couple of decades but when you spend many decades making music together, you don’t quickly forget your place in the sisterly blend. To sing nighttime lullabies at the bedside of our brave, injured mom, to join our voices and bring a smile to her face–well, life doesn’t get much more special than that.
Once again, the tears were never far beneath the surface for me; however, the joy of music-making and sisterhood-sharing bubbled up over the tears as we shared those musical, magical moments together.
Here is one of those moments. (I started off just pointing the camera at my skirt because the three of us didn’t really want to be on camera while singing. But then it finally occurred to me to point it at mom instead and capture her peaceful smile.)
The door to her room was ajar as we sang and I pictured our voices carrying those old hymns down the hall to other rooms where someone else may have needed to be reminded of a tender Shepherd and everlasting arms.
What a joy to share the music, what a joy to share the message–what a joy to share the care.
Beautiful voices! Beautiful people.
Simply Beautiful.
Elizabeth,
Thank you! It truly was a beautiful time with my beautiful mama.
How wonderful that all three of you girls were able to be there for your mom. I will pray that she has a smooth recovery and heals well. Such a major surgery!
I loved your songs too. 🙂
LeeAnne,
Glad you liked the songs and THANK you for the prayer. She is doing really well.
It certainly was a treat for us three to be together, with mom! A wonderful time indeed.
Ruth,
It was over too soon but I am so thankful I had those few days with you all!
reminded me of the hymn “When in our music, God is glorified…. Alleluia!”
glad you were able to be with your Mom and sisters and brother.
Mrs. Pam,
I’m not familiar with that hymn but I love the words!
Prayers for your Mom to have a quick recovery. Those bruises look painful, but your Mom looks good for all that she has been through. It must have been very comforting to her to have all three daughter’s there. So glad you were able to make the visit!
Kari,
Yes, there is nothing like family around to help through a difficult time! So thankful I got to go.
Love! 🙂 It was such a gift to have you here, for mom and for us. You lifted the load and brightened every corner of our hearts–thank you for all you did. Love you!
Deb,
Thanks for your sweet words, Deb. It was my honor.
your singing was beautiful. at one point it seemed your mom was moving her lips in the first song. I do hope they could hear it down the hall and be blessed. prayers that she gets home soon and thanksgiving that you are home safe. Becky I also made the tortilini soup and I know it was supposed to be meatless but I had a couple of chunks of pork (not enough for a meal) that I precooked and threw in as I was trying to clean out the freezer. Soup was awesome and I know I will be making it a lot this winter
Becky,
So glad you enjoyed the soup. And I often add turkey sausage to the soup so your leftover pork would have been perfect. I love being able to use up leftovers instead of throwing them away.
The best thing about that soup is how incredibly easy it is. Love that!
My prayers are for your mom to recover as best she can. How wonderful for her that you were able to be with her!
Liz,
Thank you! Found out yesterday she gets to go home next Monday. She is so excited about that!
Your mom is so lucky to have such wonderful caring daughters. And let’s not forget their supportive husbands. Thank you for sharing the sweet music. I imagine it must have been difficult to leave her but so fortunate that you were able to go.
Lesley,
Supportive husbands is right! Definitely blessed in that regard.
What a blessing you three were to your Mom and her to you. Treasure those moments because they are gone too soon. So thankful for your trip.
Ann,
Thankful, too. Such a treat to get to be with family, especially since I don’t get to see them often.
Beautiful singing to your beautiful mother. She has such a calm presence about in that comes through the photos; her calm expressions remind me of the peaceful expression Sarah often has.
Also I made your tortilini soup last week and it was amazing! A big hit with my family.
Jenna,
Different people have said over the years that Sarah looks like mom. I love that you noticed their peaceful expressions “matching.” 🙂
So glad you and your family loved the soup! So easy and so delicious.
Wow, that brought back memories. There are 4 of us girls, but the youngest is 11 years younger than the last one. So three of us use to sing together – dad would play his guitar. When the youngest came along, she also sang and then played piano. When mom was in the nursing home we were able to talk to her, and think we sang. Unfortunately, she didn’t know who we were, but to be with her was the best. We all lived far away and only saw her (and dad) about once or twice a year. How wonderful for you to be able to be with your sisters, loving each other and sharing together.
Sharyn,
We DO have a lot of similar memories–singing with our sisters and ony seeing our parents a couple times a year.
Memories so very precious.
Y’all should record an album. I love the sound of music like that. And music like that that sings to God, even better. Makes both my heart and soul calm. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Brooke,
We actually did record a couple of albums when we were much younger; we traveled around NC and SC with our parents and we sang and dad preached. Good memories! So glad the music brought you calmness.
You did? That’s lovely. Are those recordings available? Or just one of them?
Brooke, I’m afraid it was so long ago I couldn’t even put my hands on them anymore. But we traveled and sing with my parents for several years, each of us played an instrument and I wrote most of the songs. Good times!
Beautiful..l
Steve,
Memorable, musical moments–the best kind.
How wonderful for your mother that she has three daughters to care for her. Three songster daughters!
I was sorry when you changed the angle of your camera…it was fun watching your mom tap along to the music.
Prayers for her continued recovery.
Jan,
I know, I loved watching her tap, too. My filming of the whole thing was so last minute that I was just sort of flailing around with my iPhone. 🙂
Good times.