Afternoon everyone.
Well my daughter was tested as a formality in the hospital. It was positive as we knew it would be. She has ITP or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia. We found out she had it about 13 years ago. She always had issues as a child when she got sick and the doctor mentioned it offhand once but all the symptoms had gone away so there was no reason to follow-up. Her husband got scared today because her hands were "freezing up". One of the side effects she gets when she has a viral overload is her platelets plummet and she gets these kind of weird events. Thankfully 2 bags of fluids and some IV meds got her BP back up and the symptoms subsided. I picked up her prescriptions and she is home with orders to stay hydrated, even add extra fluid intake as she can. I just wish we could figure out how to stop these issues. She has had blood tests for every known auto immune disorder known and while they all come back off none have ever been decisive. She is my baby and I worry about her. She was a failure to thrive baby and stopped growing when she was 2 months old til she was about 5 months old. I have always had a fear I would outlive her, something no mother she ever worry about, and I think because of it I panic more when she gets sick.
Thankfully the grandsons are both showing mild symptoms and the oldest should be out of quarantine in 3 days.
My church went through the search for a new priest a few years ago and I don't envy anybody in that position. When my church merged with the church we are now part of we both had to give up our interim priests. We were gifted with an amazing man that most of us loved. Unfortunately ONE woman hated him, we always thought because he spurned her romantic gestures years ago when they worked at the same hospital. He was offered a church full time and with a rectory, so of course he took it and about 1/3 of the parish followed him. We got a new interim who was a lovely woman but again a church offered her a full time position and we were in need again. A priest coming in on Sunday for the service only is not a good thing. In the Episcopal Church the Vestry is charged with the search. I was on it the Vestry at that point.
The first step is the Vestry meets to decide what we are looking for in the priest. This led to many heated arguments. Then we start getting candidates in. We have a list of questions we ask to get an idea of what the candidate is like and then meet again privately to discuss our opinions. They have learned when I get really quiet watch out - I am about to explode. We honestly had one woman on the committee who wanted a candidate that would preach that children born out of wedlock were an abomination in the eyes of the Lord! He would also refuse communion to anyone who was gay. A friend knew I was ready to go off so she goaded me. I try to stay quiet when I am getting that angry. I didn't this time. None of my grandkids came from a wedding ring and every single one of them was a gift form the Lord not an abomination. I also have an aunt and a brother who are gay.
I tend to be a little to the left in my thinking because I feel we are all OK. It turned out that 2 of the Vestry members were gay and they didn't know what to say or do. My coming to their defense without knowing I was meant a lot to them. Anyway after that fiasco we realized we needed a candidate that was able to walk down the center aisle to reach both Left and Right. It is not an easy task.
Thankfully we were sent a fill-in one Sunday who came with his wife and daughter. The thought was he could be an interim. He had been an assistant at a church who found the priest they needed so he was losing housing, We had an empty rectors house. He has been with us for about 6 years now. I don't always agree with him and I do love to start some heavy theological discussions with him just to keep him on his toes. He has been a blessing though. We now have a priest and his family from Uganda, a multi-cultural parish and people love the parish.
It is not an easy process to find the perfect candidate and sometimes you luck out and the person falls into your lap.
@flyingdumbo127 I wish you much luck and prayers that you find a candidate that suits the needs of youI church.
Have a good evening all.