Washing Feet: An Example of Service or Something More?

Jesus Washing Peter's Feet by Ford Madox Brown 1852-6 So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. - John 13:2-5 Today, in 2024 A.D., we don't give much thought to these few sentences. The impact of the activity of Jesus is lost on us because a) We wear shoes everywhere. Many of us even have "inside shoes" and "outside shoes". b) The Church's liturgy (as popularly practiced) often misses or lessens the importance of this event (pro tip: it's not simply Jesus giving and example of serving others). Contrary to what we see in the movies, the roads in the time of Jesus weren't all covered in perfectly placed cobblestones or silky, fine dust. If r

Day 5

Today we had two visits with Karen, the OT that runs the program. It was very nice to finally meet her in person. She is incredibly kind and compassionate.

Catherine did terrific, accepting 2 tastes of yogurt on Karen's finger before getting pretty upset at the 9am appointment. Then at the 11:30 appointment, she accepted multiple tastes of a dry spoon and then a spoon dipped in water before getting upset. Karen would count 1....then touch the tray with the spoon, 2....then touch her arm/hand with the spoon, and 3....present the spoon to her mouth and she actually opened pretty big for it, and then I would sing her a song to reinforce her.

She did end up getting pretty upset after about 15 minutes, so we let her down and we continued eating our lunch. She was watching us pretty intently so I put her on my lap and offered her some small pieces of popcorn and she ate 5 or so of those and licked a potato chip. Karen says it looks like she has great oral skills, in other words she can do the mechanics of eating, she just needs the motivation to do it and some practice.

Catherine's calories have been reduced 70% today and tomorrow it will be reduced 80%, and we'll stay there for a few days at just 20% and keep giving her water and watching her weight.

Catherine and Daniel are having their nap right now, so unless anything major happens this evening and night I'll update again tomorrow. Thanks again for your prayers!

Comments

Patience said…
I visit your blog most days and say a prayer for Catherine. (doesn't matter whether you update either so no pressure here)