A trip through the snow....

Karena is still at the Duchess of Kent hospice....she could have come out but we are still snowed in at home so she will stay in the hospice for the time being. Yesterday's birthday celebrations were not quite as planned due to the snow....I couldn't get the car out of the drive, so we ventured out on foot with cholocate and pressies in the rucksack. We missed the train by 5 minutes (grrrr), the next one (half hour later) was cancelled, the following one (scheduled a further half hour later) was half an hour late - so we eventually got on the 5 minute train journey into town an hour and a half after we arrived at the railway station!! Slightly irritating! We were all very cold but after a hot chocolate in a warm cafe the toes started to return to life....and after another train journey and trecking through the snow we eventually got to the hospice 4 hours after leaving home - an adventure and a memory at the same time...we felt quite triumphant after our mission codenamed "Operation Lubir" was eventually accomplished !
We then had the birthday party - we did pressies, family dvd, take-away pizza and had some fun!
This morning I managed to dig the car out with help from a neighbour and so we got to the hospice much more quickly. Karena is an outstanding woman. This morning she completed an "Advanced Directive" which is a legal document which says what intervention you do (and don't) want in the event that certain things happen and you are not compus mentus enough to be able to decide what treatment you would like to have.....and the reality of her situation hits home once more as you discuss the possibilities of how her last days could end. The consultant was absolutely outstanding though - better care you could not hope for.
Am hoping to take Karena out tomorrow for lunch with the children - she is still hoping to get home to make a birthday cake sometime over the next few days. She is now very anaemic though so will be having a blood transfusion on Monday. Hopefully she'll be able to come home afterwards providing the snow clears to some degree (so that I can confidently get her out of the house in an emergency).
Karena read from her daily Spurgeon readings today from April 20th (don't ask why she's on April when it's January??!!)...which is based on Hebrews 2:14 and reads...
"Child of God, death has lost it's sting....ask God the Holy Spirit to grant you an intimate knowledge and a firm belief in your Redeemer's death, so that you may be strengthened for that journey....so Child of God, what is there for you to fear in death, seeing that through the death of our Lord Jesus, it's curse and sting are destroyed..."

Where oh death is your sting ?