Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

Yesterday I was talking to my mother in law about my husband’s older brother. His birthday is about a week away and he LOVES birthday celebrations. My husband’s older brother has Down Syndrome and he is just one of those people who loves other people, especially women if you know what I mean! He will go hug a woman he’s just met and smile the whole time. As he has gotten older (he’s in his mid-fifties now), however, he’s gotten a little more set in his ways. He doesn’t like going places as much as he used to and he would generally just rather stay at home and watch television or play with the little people toys he has had for years. He’s also gotten where he doesn’t want to work as much. He refused to go to work a couple of days this week and we don’t know why. But my mother in law said something that stuck with me about my brother in law and why she and his father want him to keep working. They’re afraid that if he stops working, he might just stop altogether. As with many older...

Who means the most to you in this world? If you're a parent, you probably would say your child. And to your child, you are probably the most influential person as well. So when your parent is not taking care of you any more, that's a major life change. How about when you need to start caring for your parent? This month my mother got a walker. A couple of weeks ago, she called me out of breath and upset to tell me that she had fallen three times just that day. In the past few months, she has had more health problems than in her entire life. I won't go into all of them but the latest one has been problems with her feet which have caused her to be off balance and in pain. The day after she called me, I talked to a friend and she mentioned a walker. That's how new I am to the idea that my mother needs help. She falls that many times and I don't even think "walker" until a friend mentions it. I just don’t think of her as being a woman behind a walker b...

Going into Memorial Day, I’m preparing for a busy weekend. I’m having some friends over for a cookout on Sunday and then going canoeing with some others on Monday. We’re putting up an aboveground pool to play in all summer today since yesterday was my son’s last day of school.   During all this activity we don’t want to forget to honor our fallen soldiers.   My son says he wants to say a few words at the cookout and asked me to find a verse that he can use in his “speech.”   We were at his grandmother’s house when he asked me and she mentioned John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?   Having the courage to put your life on the line for others.   We honor those that have done that for us this Monday.   We must never forget them. May is also Older Americans Month , and I think they’re a population that can also be easily forgotten so I’d like to share an organiz...