My Friend

This is a prayer group I was in in 1997. My husband and I had been married about 2 years and we were attending the church where we both grew up. This is just part of the group that studied and prayed together. I am sitting on the right and on the left is Linda, my friend. I won't identify the others. Linda first asked me to join the prayer group about a year before this picture was taken, but I politely declined not wanting to "share" my personal stuff in a group of women who probably had no problems. After some time passed, I kept feeling drawn (good Presbyterian, I am) to this group and after all, they did meet right before Sunday nite services so thought, oh I might as well just go see what they were all about. I fell totally in love with every woman in the group...what a bunch of prayers! I mean we prayed up dates for the prom, healing for the sick, for our church, for our world, I mean just anything you can think of that needs praying about, we prayed! We also studied several books during this time and I grew spiritually. Believe me, when you ask me for prayer requests, I start by asking how much time I have...even way back then, my son was having problems, lots of problems. There were at least four other ladies in the group, one's prayer request was that she and her husband be able to have a baby. After several months of me asking for prayer for one or the other of my children, she said, "just stop praying for me, I am scared to death to have a child". But I digress.......

Linda and I became very close friends. She prayed diligently for my children. She and her husband big T had four children, the oldest a boy and three girls. During our time in the group, Linda found out she had colon cancer. She had surgery and chemo and was pronounced cancer free. Maybe a year later, she asked for prayer because she was having various pains that didn't seem right to her, but was being put off by her doctors. After a good while of that, she went out of town for a second opinion. Her cancer was back with a vengeance. She had about 6 weeks of radiation and chemo. Three of our sweet ladies in the church would take her and stay with her 2 weeks each. Then she went to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. I talked to her the day after surgery and in a gentle, quiet voice she said "well, there aren't many organs left in my body". But the doctors there gave her lots of hope and she came home. When she went back for a checkup, it was back and the doctors told her she had 6 weeks to live.

Her husband worked out of town.

Those precious children, B,the oldest ,was well into his college years, K was early in her college experience, E was a senior in high school, and MG a sophomore, pulled together and kept that family running. K came home from college, she was the backbone for everyone. They were all heroes. Big T's aunt and uncle (they raised him) came and Mimi took wonderful care of Linda and the family. During those weeks that followed, B came home as often as possible and the 3 girls took such tender care. Linda loved those children and one of her favorite Bible verses was 3 John 4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

Linda died that February, one month after her 52nd birthday. I don't tell her story very well, but I want to tell the story of how this child of God's children have carried on since her death. That will take a few posts! So tomorrow another chapter.

Things that make your muscles sore

This from the lady that, until a year ago, worked out 5 days a week....what happened to me?????

One of our sons got married and after the wedding was over, I just stopped....just like that...cold turkey. It isn't hard to stop exercising cold turkey, no patch needed, nothing, just quit. So, one year later......cellulite for the first time in my life on my thighs, but on my stomach??? I didn't even get stretch marks from pregnancy. O.K. you get the picture, I'm out of shape.

So, Friday I held a baby for maybe 45 minutes....mostly sitting and rocking. Saturday morning my arms were sore. Saturday, my husband and I took our bikes and drove them out to 30-A where there is a nice bike trail. We rode bikes for about an hour then loaded them up, drove to a little market restaurant and had fried grouper! Sunday morning, my legs felt like wooden poles..oh, why did I give up exercise! My muscles obviously have atrophied!

Sunday started out normal, we went to Sunday School and Church, came home and rested a little while. I started out to go see my mama with my purse, keys, sunglasses, cell phone and a bag of garbage in my hands. It had been raining hard and small amounts of water had come under the garage door. As I got right to the garbage can, my foot slipped in the water and I came down HARD on my thigh/hip. So of course I screamed for my husband in fear that I had broken something....o.k. he says I'm a little dramatic. He picked me up and I could walk. I got my senses back and went to mama's, but it really shook me up....so now I have a huge black and blue thigh muscle! I'm guessing I really have worked out this weekend! I'm limping around on that leg, again so my sweet husband can tell me how dramatic I am. My daddy always said it was no use to feel bad if you don't moan and complain....I always do what my daddy taught me.

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Those sultry swimming days of summer

With summer almost over now, we are finally getting around to swimming! This has been a busy week, so it was a good day to rest at the pool with friends and their little ones. What a wonderful way to just sit and relax. Caroline was unhappy and sleepy, so I had the privilege of rocking and singing her to sleep. I sang Dwelling in Beulah Land (at least the parts I know, which is mainly the chorus) which was my daddy's favorite song.

This is the chorus:

I'm standing on the mountain

underneath a cloudless sky, Praise God,

I'm drinking from the fountain that never will go dry,

Oh, yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply

for I am dwelling in Beulah land.

It has a nice tune and is easy to sing. I'm not so good with music, so I have to sing what I know!

We had a wonderful time and I hope we do it again real soon. Sometimes I let life get too busy and get frustrated because I feel like I'm going too fast. That made me remember that old saying ,"Stop world, I want to get off"......No, I don't really want to get off, just slow down and enjoy every day the Lord has given. When my husband prays, he starts by saying "Thank you, Lord for this beautiful day". He prays this every day, whether it is sunny, hot, cold, raining whatever the weather it is a beautiful day because God made it and allowed us to enjoy!

Moving Day

Saturday after we got to Jacksonville, we started moving Matt's stuff from one room to the little apartment out back. The picture above shows that they got the most important thing up, the deer head.....Matt killed that deer last hunting season. I humbly apologize to those of you who are not hunters. Believe it or not, I came from a family of non-hunters so it hurts my feelings too! Oh, well. Dad and Matt did most of the moving, I wouldn't let them take a picture of me lying on Matt's bed with the dogs, but somebody had to keep them out of the way.

I did vacuum the carpet. I thought that was very helpful. Matt is fortunate to live in the house that another pharmacy student bought and rents out rooms. This is his second year there, and he really likes it, so do we. But with the move, we needed to go purchase things you need in an apartment, but not in a room. Silverware, dishes, etc. Oh, and microwave, no one could live without a microwave. Plus, he'll be studying so hard, he won't have time to really cook or go out to eat.

Moving was a very HOT job. I thought surely we would sweat off a few pounds, but NO. Now that Russell and I are empty nesters again, we really, really (I mean it this time) are going to diet. The house is quieter and we keep looking for him, it takes a few days to really get that he's gone. We thank our ever watchful God for allowing us to have a safe trip and good time with one another.

We went with Matt to visit a church there and we really liked the services. There were several college age men and women there and we hope he will connect and have a true church family of his own. We will miss him being with us at church.

A Grandmother's Word of Warning

I'm going to have to write our "moving son back to college" story in several parts (to bore you all the longer), but first I want to issue a word of warning to all parents. We stayed in our motor home at a lovely park near the Atlantic Ocean....during the weekend, there were lots of campers (as we were busily moving furniture, buying needed things, etc. all in the blazing heat....but on Monday when we got up, the park was almost empty, with just a few stragglers left. Monday evening, I was out walking our dogs and a darling little girl rode up on her bike. She had all the safety equipment and had her helmet on, so obviously somebody cares. She stopped and asked if she could pet the "puppies" and I said sure. In 2 minutes, I knew her name was L, she is from Pennsylvania, her parents are divorced and she and her mother live with her grandparents, she was here at the park with the grandparents, you get the picture. She gave me so much information in such a short time that I was thinking info overload...then she said, "you have a kid? I'm looking for a friend." I asked her age (now this was the ONLY question I asked, the rest of the info was for free), and she said 9. I said no, I only have a big kid. She proceeded to tell me that she was going to put her bike up and she would be right back to play with my dogs.

I walked back to our place thinking that if I was a (fill in the blank) bad person, I could have just asked her to come on in and play and taken right off with her. PLEASE, PLEASE somehow without just scaring our children to death, we have to help them know that everyone they meet isn't a sweet grandmother....that there are bad people out there....and for heaven's sake, in a strange place, don't let you child wander alone. As you can see from the picture, the park was heavily wooded and you can't see into the motor home. It just sent chills up my spine to think what could happen to children who are so innocent and just looking for a playmate. She was not in the least afraid to talk to me, get near or even to talk about coming back! I walked on and didn't see her again, but as a grandmother, it really made me think! I hope it makes you think too!

Back to school

Tomorrow our youngest flies out of the nest again and back to college! This picture is from his "coating" ceremony. Matt is attending the school of pharmacy at the University of Florida! He has finished his first year of pharmacy school, was home for the summer and tomorrow goes back. We were talking tonight as we were getting things together and he calmly stated, "well, you know I won't be coming back here to live again." I said "not so calmly" WHY??? He explained that next summer he will be working at a pharmacy there and then he does his rotations and then he graduates! Time has flown since he came into my life at age 7.

Please don't misunderstand, I don't suffer from empty nest syndrome...3 have already flown. But we will miss Matt more, maybe since he's the youngest. He's always been the one who made sure everything was locked up at night and the lights were off! He is a very dependable man. It is hard for me to say any of our boys are men....it just sounds odd to the ears of a mama. I think it may be harder for us with him too, because he had special obstacles to overcome, which he did with a vengeance! Matt was born with goldenhar syndrome and also has nystagmus and as a result has some vision issues and has always been very shy. Being away at school last year really seemed to bring him out of his shell.

We didn't think he would be able to drive but he fooled us! He has overcome every (what we would call) obstacle in his path and is on his way to a successful future . Most importantly, he sincerely loves the Lord.

We will be going down with him to help him get set up for a new year. God go with you this year and may you glorify him in all you do! We love you.

Oh, the places you've been, oh, the places you'll go!

These are two of my sons....the little one is David and he is 30 today. I can hardly believe that 30 years ago I was in the hospital having delivered him at 2:08 in the afternoon and by this time that nite, I knew something was wrong. 10 hours after birth, he started seizing on the right side of his body. No one told me that anything was wrong. They brought him to me to nurse and his whole right side began to rhymically jerk and his right eye blinked in time with the arm and leg! I honestly thought he was cold, so I did my best to warm him up and hold him close....the nurse came in and said she needed to take him to the nursery.....we didn't have a NICU. Later he was diagnosed with birth trauma, whatever that means. He was on phenobarbital for 3 weeks and slowly weaned off and has never had another seizure that we know about.

But backing up a little, my older son was 7 when David was born....I lost a baby to miscarriage 2 years before David was born, then went through the whole fertility thing. (as my mother loves to tell me when he's made me mad, "you know, you took fertility pills to get him.") She just loves to tell me that!!! It did take a while to get pregnant again and then for him to have problems at birth just scared me and tested my faith! I didn't know then that these troubles were refining me to face bigger ones in the years to come.

Happy Birthday David! I love you......mama