"I'm not quite sure what it is," she said. "My tummy is just feeling a bit rumbly."
She was only able to sip a few spoonfuls of broth that night. And yet because it was the last night together as a family, with Renee's flight back to Chicago the following evening, she pushed aside the pain for more moments of togetherness.
The next day she went along her way: serving here and serving there.
"Marlene, I'm so glad that you are feeling better tonight!"
In all her beauty, as she sat, gathered with the rest of us at the table for dinner, she quietly said "I'm not" and excused herself from our presence.
It was when she emerged from the back bedroom, dressed in her pajamas, even though it was only 7:30, when we knew something was just not right.
3:15 am the car door slammed shut as Greg took his Bride to the health center in the big city of Staunton, about 20 minutes away. The cause: an inflamed appendix. Surgery would need to be completed within hours.
Around 2 in the afternoon yesterday the surgery was complete and Marlene was resting quietly in her room when we came for our first visit. Weak, yet able to see the goodness and the Perfect Plan of the Lord, Marlene greeted us and demonstrated her strength of character.
She just walked in the doors of her home, this Woman of the House and all is well, now that her presence is back within these walls. She sleeps peacefully in that back bedroom of refuge, even as Tirzah sleeps deeply in the bedroom exactly above her own. Perhaps someday they will rest a nap together in the same room, heads together and feet curled, resting quietly in the Almighty's will and with the LORD as their refuge, even through the rain that pours.
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