Challenging Journey

I cannot even believe that it is Easter weekend! The past week has passed in a complete blur. My brother has been very sick and in ICU for a week now. That means a family member needs to be with him as much as possible, so I have been to the hospital (3 hours of driving there and back) for some part of each day this week.  I wrote a blog post about my inspiring brother about 5 years ago - click here to read it.  It is so hard to watch someone that you love while they struggle to breathe. A simple automatic reflex for most people is excruciating for him right now. He has a lung infection which has resulted in what they call "a white out" which means his left lung is not functioning at all and appears on the Xray as a blob of infection. He had to be on a respirator to be able to do the CAT scan, and at last count he has 13 tubes coming out of him. At the end of the week he was also diagnosed with a blood infection.
The only good thing about hospitals (besides the hope for healing), and about ICU in particular, is that you spend a lot of time waiting... which can be put to good use as stitching time! I have been working for the last 5 years on the "Journey of a Quilter" pattern (by Leanne Beasley). It seems that I only work on it when on vacation and am away from my sewing machine, so it has stretched into a very long term project.

I am working on the 9th (and final) block and made lots of progress on it this week. The french knots in these flower centers were very relaxing to stitch.
If my brother's recovery continues to be so problematic, I will soon have this whole block finished. 

I am hoping that Easter thoughts of rebirth and the promise of new life will encourage my brother (and all of us) to not give up on the journey toward healing and renewal. The love of family and friends (and the meditative process of hand stitching) sure do help to keep us on the right path!