Honoring One's Parents

Three days ago, we were faced with the reality that my mother will not be able to return to the retirement home where she has spent the last ten years of her life. Three months earlier, Mom had fallen and broken her arm in two places. Her rehabilitation has been painfully slow as her 87 years is taking its toll. My siblings and I have visited, cajoled, and bribed her best we could, but we finally had to face the reality of the situation - Mom would never be going back.

So this weekend, my wife and I will be making an unexpected trip to Mom's retirement home six hours North of us in Cooperstown, NY, to clean out her room. She will be staying where she is for now, in a rehabilitation facility about 40 minutes from Cooperstown, transferring to the nursing home section. We are not going to try and make any decisions until after New Years.

Meanwhile we seek the Lord's guidance as to how do we honor her. Do we leave her in the place where she has become settled? Do we try and move her down to a facility near us so we would be able to visit regularly and monitor her care adequately? Do we have her come live with us on a trial basis to see if we are physically able to care for her needs? We look to the Lord for wisdom and grace, unsure as to what effect this may have on our search for land.