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Hello....again!

Quite clearly adjusting to my wonderful life with three children has taken . . . a LONG time!  My baby is now almost nine months old, and I have really been feeling like I need to get back on and post things.  Then today I got a wonderful letter from someone who found this blog.

THANK YOU!!!  Thank you for your letter.  Thank you!  I appreciate it so much.  So much more than I can say!

This is the scripture that is brought to my mind, when I learn of others who are struggling.

John 11:33-34

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus wept.

Oh, it is wonderful, that he should care for me, enough to cry with me!

He does!  The Savior does know, and He does care.  I am so comforted by these scriptures in the story of the death and raising of Lazarus.  Even though the Savior knew that Lazarus was about to be made alive again through the power of God, He was troubled, and mourned with those who were mourning.  I love His kind compassionate example of crying with those made sorrowful by the passing of Lazarus.

So my anonymous friend, I mourn with you!!  Today I cry with you.

I understand your feeling of the loss of your father.  I feel that I have lost my father as well.  What is left of him is pretty hard to understand or translate into the dad he was to me all my life before his stroke in 2010.

Did I ever write about the experience I had, when a neighbor came and asked me all sorts of personal questions?  Questions I avoided answering by responding to her with questions??  I don't remember if I did.  But often I feel so sad for her, for her misunderstanding of the value of life and the worth of the soul.  She said to me that day "Don't you just wish now that you had let your dad die?"  My answer: No. I don't think we really had much to do with that decision anyway. Besides that, I'm what you'd call pro-life.  Part two of that answer: I feel like crying.  I really felt like crying as she went on, unsolicited, explaining how we were cruel to opt for the surgery, and how she hopes if she is ever in that situation that her family will make a more loving choice than we did.

I don't know what the point of his life is now.  I don't!  Sometimes I think he had to survive that ordeal for the sake of his family.  But if just for that, if it's just for the people around him, then he actually is doing a lot of good, just by being alive!

Walking around Costco with him, he found multitudes of people to talk to and one lady said to him "So you can't read, so what?  So you can't write, SO WHAT?  God could have made you die before you got to that ER.  Quit thinking about what you can't do, and enjoy what you can do!"

Dieter F. Uchtdorf said "The Lord uses a scale very different from the world's to weigh the worth of a soul." (Here is a link to the wonderful talk he gave on that!)

My anonymous friend, I am sorry your father can't talk.  My dad talks way too much, but I am grateful that he can communicate through words, even if he uses 100 words when one word will do.  I am sorry for the devastation and the sadness this has brought.

I can promise you that the Resurrection is not just some nice story, some myth, some thing that we tell each other on Sunday's and Easter to make ourselves feel better.  It won't be like Shrek, with us just learning to be happy living forever in bodies with problems.  I do testify to all that it is REAL.  The Savior died upon the cross, and that dying did in fact bring new birth when he was Resurrected on the third day.

I would feel . . . desperate.  Hopeless.  Fearful.  Worried.  Anxious.  Depressed without my knowledge of Jesus Christ and His gospel.  If a person doesn't know it, they can learn about it.  If a person doesn't have a testimony, they pray and ask for one.  If a person isn't living it, they can start.  There is so much hope and brightness brought through the Gospel, through the Savior.  He IS the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.  He is the light of the world.  He is the light!!!

I love Jesus Christ, and I am thankful that because of Him my brothers and I will have "our dad" back once more.  My mom will have her husband, his siblings will have their brother.  You will also have your father back, and it will be marvelous!
____________________________________________________

PS You said you were looking for ways to help him improve.  I know you work to show your father love and patience, and I try to do that too!  But the one significant thing that has really made me go "wow, he's changing for the better in some ways" is this: my mom took him off of all unnecessary medications.  Maybe she could write a piece about that experience that I'll post here.

JIC

Here's an idea, just in case you're in the kitchen, you're tired, your bed is ten feet away and you're just too sleepy to make it ......

 

A for effort, right?

NCCU Memories

I have to be honest---I had no idea who Sarah Burke is until two weeks ago.  Then I followed her story with interest, and a lot of sympathy and prayer.  When I'd read about her in the NCCU or hear about the doctors or the tests---I'd just cringe!  I really felt so sorry for her family.  I remember being there and hearing the same things.  I hope they will find a lot of comfort and peace through our Savior Jesus Christ.  I know the story of my Dad ended differently, but a lot of what I read they were going through is what we went through with my Dad, and what hundreds of families are going through every day.  It is amazingly painful!  I like being on this end, living life basically normally from day to day.  I really am so sorry for her family, and sorry her life was cut short by an accident.  So tragic.

I remember a few days after he arrived in the NCCU, a friend from one of my old neighborhoods showed up because her brother in-law had sustained serious brain stem damage in a really minor bike accident.  That good young man died in the NCCU a few days later and I just happened to be there with my Dad when he died.  I watched that family as they walked with their heavy feet out the doors and to a new life without this man they all loved so much.  It is hard. 

So random thoughts here today.  I have just been wanting to write something down about Sarah Burke, and my wishes for health and happiness for her family who must continue living without her.  God bless them all!

One of the not so fun parts

One of the not so fun parts of this TBI mess happened last night.  I went to the U of U RED ROCKS Gymnastics meet which was held about 1/3 of a mile from my parents house.  A straight shot up the street.  Afterward he gets this fantastic idea about walking home in the freezing cold weather alone.  So the answer is no.  No no no, no, no double no, uh-uh, not going to happen, I don't think so, NO!!!  But he tells me again and again he is going to do it.  We went down to the floor to see my little bro and his gymnast GF Lia Delp and say hello.  I turn my back for two seconds and John says "Liz-Dad's attempting the great escape."  So off I run to catch him and he must have wanted it bad because even I was praying he'd slow down on the stairs, I was having a hard time keeping after him.

So here I have this guy who can appear normal by accident and is actually doing so at this point, and all these people looking at me wondering why I am chasing a man who looks completely capable of walking home by himself.  Do I care about their looks?  No I don't.  Actually not at all. 

Poor Dad.  I don't want to know what it's like be him, but I know it has got to be frustrating.  Sorry Dad.  I believe you that you think you can find your way home but it's dark, it's freezing, it's late, you stumble, you fall, you get confused and lost and there is no one available to search the entire campus for you when you don't show up.

Lia after the meet.  She did GREAT!  Charity was star struck and said she needed her "very own picture with Lia"

So I just pray.  Pray for him, for people like him, for care takers.  When my Dad wants to do something I tell him to just do what my Mom says.  I don't really think he ever does, but that's really all there is to say.  If you say "okay you think you can do that, I want to watch you try," you will watch him try and it might get ugly and you might end up searching the U campus in 2 degree weather for a guy who slipped on the ice and is lying on his face.  When I do things with my Dad, I sincerely enjoy it.  While I'm enjoying it I gain all new sympathies for my Mom and for all caretakers! 

 

I really had to put this picture up, I got the biggest kick out of all these girls waiting for Lia to autograph their posters.  Lia is such a wonderful girl, she is a great role model for these little adoring fans she has!

GO RED ROCKS!

Love you Dad!

I miss you Dad!

The other night I couldn't sleep and so I decided to sit and think of things that I have enjoyed!  That was actually a really fun way to lie in bed all night.

So I got thinking of my wedding day and my husband, my children and all of their births, and then I had a lot of fun remembering my Dad.

I remembered this particular time I felt very bad about my mothering.  I had just had my second baby and I had thought I was doing a great job helping my oldest with the adjustment until she innocently told me otherwise.  I got a very nice phone call from my Dad and I don't remember the particulars of what he said anymore, but I do remember that he made me feel much better and turned my feelings from total devastation into those of a "can-do" attitude.

I remembered a time when we were out on the motorcycle that we rode around on all summer, and how we made the loop up through Emigration Canyon and around East Canyon into beautiful little towns that I really fell in love with.  I recall so many times on the back of that bike riding around and singing songs, probably looking like dorks but who cares.

I thought about how many times I lay around miserably sick and throwing up with my first pregnancy, and all the hours he spent on the phone with me.  I loved getting to know more about his day and talking about mine every day, and loved the distraction from my misery.

I also thought about my Mom's voice.  I remember the pain in her voice when she called me to let me know she was behind the ambulance on her way to the hospital where my Dad was either dying or dead in the ER.  "The tender mercies of the Lord are over all the earth" and it so happened that I was just a few miles away on an in-law trip to the zoo, and was able to leave right away and be there with my Mom almost as soon as she arrived.

Then thinking about my Dad lying there.  Which is when I said good-bye to him.  "Good-bye Dad!  I love you.  Thank you for being a marvelous and kind father to me."  But just good-bye to the Dad I have known all my life.  I wonder how long he will live, and I wonder if by the end of his life I will have known him longer as the dad I grew up with or the dad my children will grow up with.

Isn't part of life learning to just accept things as they are?  Admitting there is nothing to do but trust in God?  These circumstances, although I would not have wished for them, have really caused me to really cry out to God, to beg Him for help and to ask Him comfort.  You know what I found?  He was already sending it.  Already before I asked.

The week before the stroke, I was at his house with my two children and he called on his way home from work.  My kids wanted to see him get off the train so we hopped in the stroller and I walked them up there.  We waited....waited....waited....over an hour later he came.  They thought it was the best and I love my memory of him walking off the train, and also watching him wave from the window as the train came to a stop.  I actually was not too happy with the wait, but once he got there it was all worth it and is a great memory for me now.  I consider this to be a tender mercy of the Lord, and I know He provided us with the opportunity for this sweet memory.

I don't like or even love Dr Laura but some things she says  I think are great.  Such as: there is no such thing as closure.  She says what we call closure is actually just saying to yourself "This is how it is and now I have to figure out how to live with it."  I like that thought.  The best "closure" you can give yourself is to say "this is how it is.  Now I need to figure out living with this fact, while maintaining a happy lifestyle."

I miss my Dad.  I do!  Okay I am his daughter and I know he misses himself more and my Mom does too!  But I love that I get to spend lots of time each week with him, I love that he is around to talk to more, I love watching him play different games with my Dad.

When he was lying on the bed in the NCCU I told him I loved him, I told him I appreciated him.  But I believe in life after death.  I know there is a God and a heavenly plan for all of us.  I have so much comfort from the Savior and from the scriptures and living prophets.  So I told him he didn't need to stay here for me.  I told him I was okay with it if he needed to leave, that I wasn't holding him.  But here he is!  The other day he told me he knew he choose to stay here, but he didn't know why.  I told him I knew the same thing!

So if you're reading this and a loved one has a TBI or if you're reading this because you're my friend checking out my blog, thank you!  I pray for all of us to find the peace that passeth understanding from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  One of the many things I have loved from Sylvia Allredwhatever circumstances we are in.

PS I have a crying baby at present and therefore no time to proof read this so forgive any mistakes!

Catch up!

We have had a really good 2012 so far, and in my own opinion.  I  have had a lot of nice visits with my Dad, I am pretty sure he hasn't been mad at me once, and we have had a lot of fun singing show tunes and monster mashing on ice.  I am excited for this Friday when we don our UTES gear and go to a gymnastics meet together. (GO LIA!)

One of my favorite things I have seen my Dad do this year is shave.  Before I would take him out this one day, I told him he had to shave.  He sometimes refuses which, I think he does to look cool in front of my brothers, and so I often hold activities and donuts hostage over the shaving thing.

So this particular day I tell him he has to shave before we go out.  John came in and said "can you hear what Dad is in there singing?"  Yes, as a matter of fact I could hear him singing "The Ballad of Davey Crockett" with bouncy tune.  So John points out the new lyrics, and we all could not stop laughing. 

Born in the mountains of Tennessee,

He killed everyone that he could see!

He chopped down every wooden tree,

And crawled all around, when he was only three!

So he got the rhyming down, and sort of the idea of each line.  It was pretty funny.  The best part came when John added the punch line "And he's in there shaving with toothpaste."

I thought it was pretty funny to go in and see that he was indeed shaving with toothpaste, which was sitting right next to the shaving cream.

LOVE YOU DAD!

Great Art Work!

A while ago we had a very fun art day.  My Mom drew this picture of my Dad.  When he saw it, he said it was "probably the best" drawing of him he'd ever seen.

This was the piece produced by his genius:

Merry Christmas!

My Dad and I went pants shopping the other day. While stopped at a light on our way home, my Dad rolled his window down and said to a man walking in the cross walk: "Hey! Butt head! Merry Christmas!"

I almost died.  Of laughter.

The other day I was thinking of how he really has always loved making people laugh.  Now he does it more than ever!  I know he was probably trying to say "Hey!  Buddy!  Merry Christmas!"  I know he likes to make contact and talk to folks and be a fun guy.  He is really great!  I sure love him and admire him for all he does.

My Dad picked out the cutest little stuffed animal for my baby Lucy.  I love the things that he does all on his own, they are always so precious to me.  He is such a sweet man.  He is really not at all the dad that I grew up with but I love him a lot still!

Laughter! The BEST medicine.

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”

-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

The first time I heard this I thought "Yes.  That has to be me.  Crying literally does give me a headache and sinus issues and I don't enjoy it at all."  I am not sure everyone thinks my laughter is always appropriate, but there are times when my Dad will do something so crazy that its either so sad and depressing how far gone he is, or it is fun to just enjoy him as he is.

A while back my son Jimmy Jim was carrying around this ceramic alligator bank that we had as kids.  The whole time my Dad was saying "careful James!" and "don't drop that James" and "he's going to drop that in a million pieces."  Apparently he was very very worried James was going to end the nostalgia connected to this coin bank. Okay.  Makes sense.  James really might drop it, or who knows, throw it down the stairs?  Well it ended up on the coffee table in the living room with James no longer interested in it, and staring at it from his seat on the couch.  My Dad walked in and saw it there and took advantage of the opportunity.  "James," he said, picking it up, "watch how easy this could break!"  Then he ripped the alligator's head off. 

It was too funny.  I laughed a good 30 minutes about that.  Then laughed more as I took the pieces to the trash.

Oh, Dad.

A merry heart doeth good like medicine.

Proverbs 17:22

Why can't I read Proverbs all day?

Liz

GO UTES! (Even though you stank up the entire place today!)

My Dad at physical therapy doesn't have much to do with what I have to say!  I do love this picture of him there.  By the way, my kids and I had a great time that day at physical therapy with him, and I was "not at all" jealous when he was getting a nice shoulder rub from the aides there!

I just wanted to make it known that my Daddy-o is a trooper.  He and little brother went to the last Ute football game today and although they weren't at their best (to say the least), and it was FREEZING and windy, he stuck out the whole game AND had a great time, to boot!

Who am I sir? A Utah man am I! A Utah man, sir, and will be til I die!

Really, who would have thought 18 months ago that he would be here to have that fun day with my Dad? I always say people in Utah either love BYU or they love to hate BYU.  It might be an understatement, but John definitely loves to hate and I think he has persuaded my Dad to join him.  (Even though Dad is a BYU grad!)

Today I took my son to the store and saw this hat.  It is way so cute and reminds me of my wonderful Dad and the hats he wears.  I don't know what to call it other than a "duffer hat" but I guess its called a newsboy cap!  Both of my grandpa's wore this hat and my dad and uncle and brothers---its sort of a family thing by now!

Dear Dad!

Dear Dad,

Just having had a new baby and with Thanksgiving coming up, I want to say that one thing I am VERY thankful for is my family.  I am SO thankful I get to be darling Matt's wife and a mother of such excellent children, I am so thankful for my parents, my brothers, my sister(s) in-law, and I am really thankful my Dad is here to know Lucy.


I love you Dad!  Thank you for being such a great Dad year after year!  Thank you for being such a great grandpa to my children.  Thanks for being a great example of a Christian and a Latter-day Saint!  Thanks Dad for loving me and always being nice to me.  For being the kind of Dad that has helped me understand better what it is that God feels for me.  Thanks for seeing the potential in me and helping me to find a great husband!  I am thankful for the opportunities you've given me.  Thank you Dad for making life fun!  I thought a lot of things were goofy, but those goofy things are the BEST memories I have.  I am so glad we have always been friends.


I LOVE MY DAD!  I love you as you are, even when you say embarrassing things to random people in the store, even when you are frustrated or can't express your thoughts. I love the way you describe ice as a "big messy pot of freedom fighters" or how you call catch "boomsheeba."  I love you just like you are!  I love the part about you that thinks everyone wearing perfume or chewing gum is personally trying to annoy you.  I love watching you get excited about the Utes (GO UTES) playing football.  Dad, YOU ARE GREAT!  I love how you think about things deeply.  I love my memories of all those years, waking up and seeing you studying the scriptures at your desk early in the morning.  I love my memories of things you would get excited to take us to do.  I love your inventions, like ice turbans.  I love when you look at "House" and read "Help wanted."

I don't know what I would do without you.  I am planning on not finding out for about 50+ more years.  I love you so much and whenever something is really, really bothering me I always know who I can talk to in order to feel better.  You really have helped me so much in overcoming big heart aches.  You have helped me with your words and love and example. You are really one of my very best friends and one of my favorite, favorite people to talk to and spend time with.


Now it is my turn to help you a little more than before.  I hope I will always be as good to you as you have been to me.  I continue to look to you for a lot of things and you will always be my only Dad!  Thank you for all the help and support you continue to give to me.


I wish I could show you how much you have meant to me, and continue to mean to me!  I love you so much Dad!  TBI or no TBI, you are SO important in my life!  Your contributions to my life are so wonderful and important to me!



Thanks for being such a great Dad, a great dad in-law, a great grandpa to me and to my family.  I am thankful for you!  Thanks for being you!


Love, Liz, HDC-VP, GBH extrodinaire and collector of 10 gallons of balls.  :)

Long time no post!

Hello out there!

I never understand why people complain about lack of sleep with a newborn because I get a lot more sleep with a newborn than I ever do while I'm expecting!  Our family has had a wonderful, wonderful time with our new baby!  She is such a jewel and we are so blessed by her presence and membership in our family!

I keep a journal for each of my children.  My goal is to write in it twice a month and so far I have been able to keep up with that.  I just got a journal for my newest baby, Lucy, and I really enjoyed sitting down to write yesterday.  I already have so many sweet memories with my new daughter, and one of them is my Dad!  I have treasured and loved the experience I have had of introducing my children to their Poppy.  My Dad really seems to come down to earth, and get really sober and sincere when he has held my children.  Watching him hold Lucy for the first time was a neat experience for me, and afterward he commented on what a spiritual experience it was for him to hold her.

We go over to visit (except when we have a new baby we're keeping out of the cold!) at least once a week and it is so much fun!  Lately it has cracked me up to watch my Dad my children.  The other day my brother Ammon found this little alligator bank at DI and bought it because it was just like one we had as kids.  It is this ceramic bank, the alligator is sitting and his mouth is open and happens to be where you drop your coins in, if you dare to put your hand into and open alligators mouth!  :)  My son James was toting that bank around and making my Dad nervous, he was so worried James would drop it.  In one final act of desperation, and after several lengthy explanations, my Dad decided to give James a very visual lesson. He grabbed the bank and said "James, look how easy this could break!" and with that he grabbed the head of the alligator and ripped it off.  James looked very confused as Poppy was giving this demo and I was laughing my head off!!!  Oh Dad!

Tonight my Mom (love you Mom!) and I were talking about him and she was saying how hard it is to notice his progress because she is there to watch that pot as it slowly comes to a boil.  Really though, he is doing a lot better since last Thanksgiving.  Last year he sort of felt to me like Brian Regan looks when he talks about Pluto---okay you'd have to see that---but he felt to me like someone floating around in the air with not a clue about what was going on.  This year he is still not, not, not, not, not, not at all himself, but he really has improved.  He seems to be able to follow along a little better and seems to have way more of "a clue" than he ever has before.  So even though I expect he never will be "Dad" again that he was, I hope and I pray for continued progress in his on-going and life-long recovery.

The hard thing is being reminded of the way he was.  But who am I to complain?  I am not living with a TBI so I feel silly for even saying that.  I miss my Dad a lot.  I will have him back one day, I know it.  I am really excited for that.  I love reading the scriptures and feeling how much compassion the Savior had for the sick.  I love to read how He healed them.  Each account is so miraculous and I can't help but wonder what it will be like to see my Dad's healing take place, and to wonder what it is I will write down about that. 

Bring Me Sunshine

This video by The Jive Aces is probably my favorite of all time!  I love it!  It is so cheerful and happy!  I hope you have a minute to watch it.

Sick James

My son is sick right now.  Yesterday I got to spend alone time with him and I realized there are a few benefits to people being sick and one of them is how things at home (my home at least) get to slow down for a while. I'm not talking about the dishes or laundry because those, in fact, pile up faster when people are sick.  I just love how the little people slow down.  They aren't running around pulling books off shelves, coloring on the carpet, flushing things down the toilet, emptying the fridge . . . I feel like this: aaaaahhhhhhh!

However, they drink their extra fluids, take peptobismal and then we're done.  It's nice to have people slow down for a day or two mostly because I know they are going to speed back up.  That's the way I prefer life.  Normal and crazy and in a home made messy by busy little children.  I believe that must be one of the many hard parts about things like a TBI.  There actually is no hope my Dad and others like him will speed back up.  There is no hope that in this life they will speed back up.  This is a done deal.  This is my Dad for the rest of his life, this is what he's like.  You know what?  I love him!  He might eat cups of butter and sour dough starter, stumble when he walks, say crazy things (i.e. we were in Costco and he turns to an Oriental man, speaking with an accent my Dad couldn't understand, and my Dad says "Hey, have you ever considered learning English?" and he said it out of sincerity to help this guy who "can't communicate" with the people he works around) but I just love him!

I was remembering the Mother's Day before his stroke, he wrote me a really nice card and gave me a gift card.  I was remembering his writing on that and how he wrote "I wish I had some Daiiiirrry Queen!" and the way we used to joke about that line from a movie we both love.  I really missed him!  In a very real way, he died the day he had that stroke.  He's just not the same.

But I am so thankful because while the reality of who he is today is painful, the reality of what he will become is glorious!  Thinking of the Savior Jesus Christ and His unmatched loved for all of us, His willingness to give His life and then to take it back is a glorious truth that gives me a lot of hope for the future.  That is the reason I can choose to laugh when he says about the guy walking by "He doesn't know it, but Stuart and I could take him out" instead of crying every time I'm reminded of how brain injured he really is.

I am so thankful for Jesus Christ.  I know what He did is REAL.  I know the Resurrection is REAL and really will happen to all of us.  I know these things!  I was raised in a Christian home, and LDS home, and I am so thankful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my heart.  I just don't know how to survive anything without it.  I am thankful for the scriptures and I know they are true, there are great lessons to be learned there! 

I love the scriptures of the man by the pools of Bethesda who had been there years and years, only to be healed  by the mercy, love, and power of Jesus Christ.  I know I am not perfect, my body is not perfect, but I know I will be made perfect through the gift of the Resurrection.

I am very grateful that my own Dad helped me to learn these things and to know them for myself.  I hope I will do the same for my very precious children, and help them to learn to turn to Jesus Christ in all things, to pray to Heavenly Father, to love and serve others, and to repent and pray for mercy.  I know our Father in Heaven wants all of us to pray to Him and love Him.

Brethren We Have Met To Worship

May I just say there are some FANTASTIC hymns out there?  I found this one not long ago and I find myself thinking about it all the time.  I like to sing to my children in my barely able to sing voice.  I figure---and I hope---that since I am their mother it is sweet to them.  This is one I am working to memorzie all the verses for the sing to my son.  I want him to be a missionary just like his dad and just like my dad!  I hope he will take the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people all over the world.  I don't know how folks get along without Jesus Christ in their lives! 

Come, let us bow down in worship.
     Psalms 95:6

BRETHREN WE HAVE MET TO WORSHIP

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.

Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace, and filled with tears?
Is there here a weeping Mary, pouring forth a flood of tears?
Brethren, join your cries to help them; sisters, let your prayers abound;
Pray, Oh pray that holy manna may be scattered all around.

Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.