Thursday, April 3, 2025

The Lord Works in Mysterious and Wonderful Ways

Read: Proverbs 17:6, Jeremiah 29:11

Our daughter Katrina (Katie) DeWitt Broom lives with her husband Garrett and children Laura (age 10) and Jack (age 9) in Mount Pleasant smack dab in the middle of the Mitten.

She is a nurse, and got her degree from U of M. Many of GPUMC’s medical professionals encouraged her to be a physician, but she was adamant that nursing was her calling, if for no other reason that it gave her “life and career flexibility.” This has been true, since over her career she has practiced in OB-GYN, Endoscopy and Colonoscopy, Surgery, etc. Her current focus is as a discharge nurse, making sure that patients leaving direct medical care land in a spot where they can receive ongoing care.

Her husband was formerly employed as an athletic department fundraising executive, successfully moving up the professional ladder at major Midwest universities. Being a nurse with career flexibility allowed Katie to easily find employment at each move and blend in child raising at the same time. Garrett recently got appointed to a new position with US Soccer as Major Donor Executive for the Midwest and will operate remotely from Mount Pleasant. This is particularly exciting in that the 2026 Soccer World Cup sponsored by US Soccer will be held in the Western Hemisphere with events in Canada, USA and Mexico.

How does this become a devotion? Her Grandmother Mary, age 95 (Sue’s mom), has been in a wonderful assisted living facility called Independence Village (IV) in Petoskey for a number of years and is close by to Sue’s younger brother who lives just over the Mac Bridge in the UP.

Prior to being at IV, Mary had moved from a condo in town to a number of assisted living facilities where she was always blessed with good mental and physical health. With each move, Sue and her brother had to help her with the decision making, which was emotional for all three. Change is hard at any age, but particularly as age creeps and then accelerates towards the end of life. Finally she ended up at IV where she has thrived and is able to have some of her life’s treasures and furniture in her apartment.

You can guess where this is leading! Yup, finally age recently caught up with Mary and the ability to care for herself was finally taking its toll. Her congestive heart problem was bad, but recently when a norovirus entered her facility, her condition severely declined. There were five upfront options: staying in her three-room apartment with no help, having IV provide some care, move out of her apartment to one of IV’s total-care single rooms, go to a new full continuing care facility, and/or wait until she needs serious last-minute medical care in a hospital.

But thanks to Katie an additional option not considered previously was Hospice. Many of you know that Hospice care can last for a long time and imminent death is not the only criterion to qualify for care. With Katie’s amazing assistance, in cooperation and follow-through with her close cousin Kim in Grand Rapids, they took the lead in making the connections, and helped their Grandmother come to grips with the wonderful option of staying in her apartment and living more comfortably. This was especially important in that Sue’s brother Fred recently had serious blood pressure issues, and had to focus some on his own health, and had a little less of the same mental and health stamina that were needed now as in his Mom’s previous life changes.

Mary passed early Saturday 2-15-25 in the morning and all of our kids got to personally reach out to her over the days prior. That was because the GPUMC annual retreat was in Boyne Falls that same weekend, which is only ½ hour ride to Petoskey. So, close to her passing, with Katie helping remotely and in-person arranging medical care onsite, Andrew driving his Mom up and back two days before she passed, and our eldest son Ben, who was taking a long-awaited leave from his military deployment in Texas to attend the retreat, all allowed them to be with their beloved Grandmother in her final time on Earth.

So, did Grandmother “plan” to die during the Retreat? Who knows, but I think that the Lord and Sue’s Mom together helped make the dying process a place where our family could be together with their beloved Grandmother in her final days on Earth. YOU decide.

So, also thank the Lord for giving our family the ability to work together in relatively close proximity when their key help was needed.

Blessings

Dave DeWitt

PS – Prior to knowing Garrett, Katie was the attending OB nurse at St John’s a long time ago for his sister’s first child. Mutual friends thought that Katie and Garrett should meet….and the rest is positive marital history. Once again, thank the Lord.