My Grandchildren

Here are some pics of my grandsons too. I LOVE the one of all 4 of them with Santa - Aminah (9), Gabriel (3), Elijah (almost 2), and Zoe (6 months).

What can I say...I'm a PROUD Granny!

Angie, Aminah and Zoe

I just have to post some pictures of my daughter (Angie) and 2 of my grandaughters (Aminah and Zoe) taken this week while up in Washington. I still didn't get a picture of my son David!

It was a wonderful trip. I pray that God will continue to lead us up in "that cold country" as my mom says!

Trip To Burlington

We just got back this evening from our trip to Burlington, Washington. It was a really nice trip. We still don't know anything at this time about what is going to happen, but in about a week we will know which direction our lives will be taking this summer. Either this door with be wide open, or it will be closed.

We saw lots of snow. The country is absolutely beautiful up there. I got to see my children and grandchildren. I'll post a few pictures, and will post more later.

I'm praying that we will be moving to Burlington in June!!!

What if...

You are in your car driving home. Thoughts wander to the game you want to
see or meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever
heard fills the air.

The sound is high above you. A trumpet? A choir? A choir of trumpets? You
don't know, but you want to know. So you pull over, get out of your car,
and look up. As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one.The
roadside has become a parking lot. Car doors are open, and people are
staring at the sky. Shoppers are racing out of the grocery store. The
Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt. Players
and parents are searching the clouds. And what they see, and what you see,
has never before been seen.

As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part. A
brilliant light spills onto the earth.

There are no shadows. None. From whence came the light begins to tumble a
river of color spiking crystals of every hue ever seen and a million more
never seen. Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels. They pass
through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square
inch of the sky.

North.
South.
East.
West.

Thousands of silvery wings rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of
the trumpets, you can hear the cherubim and seraphim chanting, Holy, holy,
holy. The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded
elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship. Presently
the movement stops and the trumpets are silent, leaving only the triumphant
triplet: Holy, holy, holy. Between each word is a pause. With each word, a
profound reverence. You hear your voice join in the chorus. You don't know
why you say the words, but you know you must.

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet. The angels turn, you turn,
the entire world turns and there He is. Jesus. Through waves of light you
see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King.
He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration: I am the
Alpha and the Omega.

The angels bow their heads. The elders remove their crowns. And before you
is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know: Nothing else
matters. Forget stock markets and school reports. Sales meetings and
football games. Nothing is newsworthy.. All that mattered, matters no
more....

for Christ has come. .

Doesn't that just give you the chills? What a wonderful and glorious day that will be!

Looking Ahead

Today has been an emotional day for me. This morning John told the congregation that we would be leaving sometime this summer. He did a terrific job of it. I know it couldn't have been easy after being there for over 15 years. As with most things, most everybody had gotten wind of it, which probably over all was a good thing. There were a few people who were a bit shocked or surprised by the announcement though.

It was kind of sad, because though I look forward to the future, I know I will miss everybody here SO MUCH! Everyone has been so good to us...First to John and his family before Teresa's death, and then they were all so accepting of me when John and I got married.

Your church friends truly do become your "family"!

John and I are leaving for Washington on Friday morning, early Friday morning, about 4:30 or so for the airport! We should arrive in Seattle around noon. We'll rent a car and drive up to Burlington, spend the weekend there, then back to the Seattle area to visit with Angie and her family and my son David. I just have to meet my last 2 grandbabies! I can't wait!!

Busy...Busy...Busy

The last few weeks have been really busy for us. First of all, I DIDN'T have to do the jury duty thingy, which was a good thing. Usually I don't mind. In fact, I find it all kind of interesting. But the timing just wasn't good this time!

We have had quite a few activities at church...get-togethers and we went Christmas caroling one night. That was fun. We had church services as usual on Christmas Eve. A group of us from church went to see the movie The Nativity Story. The kids had to be accompanied by a parent, just in case there was some kind of doctrinal error that needed to be talked about. There wasn't. The only things that stood out for me were the usual: the 3 wise men (we don't know how many wise men there actually were, the Bible doesn't say), and their visit to the baby Jesus in the stable laying in the manger (Jesus is actually referred to as a "child" in the Bible and the wise men visited him in a house.)

It was a beautifully made story that brought to life how Mary and Joseph must have felt with what they experienced, and how God spoke to them and how He worked in their lives. And the gift He was giving to ALL of us, the gift of his son Jesus.

Mom is still down. She will be going to church with us tonight, then we will be taking her over to my niece's house after church because we will be leaving early tomorrow morning to go up to Hartselle for a night, and then on to Anniston for a night. Then back home on Saturday because John doesn't have another Sunday he can take off this year. So it'll be a quick trip.

Oh yeah...we will be going up to Burlington on January 12th so John can try out for the job. Please pray that everything will work out and we will be able to move up there! I'm sure the weather will will quite different than what we have been experiencing here in Florida. But I can't wait to go!!! It's going to be an exciting year next year!!!

Things just keep moving along

Things are looking pretty good right now regarding our possible move to Burlington. John and I will be flying up for a weekend in the middle of January. This way, they can meet us and see if they are still interested in hiring John as their new preacher. On the other hand, John can meet them and see if he's still interested as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my prayers going that it will all work out and that in June we will be moving up there! So far everything has worked out so well that this is really going to happen! I'm starting to get excited about it now, but I have to hold back a little just in case it doesn't work out because I will be SO disappointed!

Mom and my brother Danny are supposed to be arriving sometime today. They will be here until December 29th. Mom will be staying here most of the time, but she'll probably spend some time with my brother Gary and with Danny's girls as well. I guess I'll share her!

I had it all arranged. Monday was supposed to be my last day to work until after January 1st. Mom's coming down...I was going to spend as much time as possible with her...and then John asked me what I did with my JURY SUMMONS! I'm like, what jury summons??? Apparently I got one in the mail a while back and didn't find out about it until Thursday evening. I was frantically looking for it around the house, hoping there wasn't a warrant out for my arrest or something for failing to show up. Anyway, I found it, and I have to show up on Monday, the 18th! It's too late to try to get out of it now. Maybe I won't get picked this time though.

Why is it that some people seem to get summoned more often than others? This will be the 3rd time in 6 years for me, and I was picked to be on the jury both times before! Usually I think the whole process is pretty interesting, but this time I think I'd rather just step aside and let someone else take a turn!

It's Fall Ya'll!

What a beautiful day we are having today. Just a little cool,clear and sunny. Absolutely perfect! I was sitting out on the deck, just enjoying the weather and the view. Guess SOMEONE needs to get out there and rake up some leaves???

Krispy Kreme Temporarily Unavailable

In the Sunday Pensacola News Journal there was an article about our Krispy Kreme Donuts. It seems the building that has been at the same spot for 40 something years is going to be razed and a brand spanking new building will be there. A bigger and better place for cooking up those one-of-a-kind donuts that you just can't get enough of once you've tried them.

The article was really great, describing exactly how I feel about these tasty treats. I'm just not a good writer, so I'll let him describe my feelings exactly!

Don't Bogart that donut, hand it over to me by Carl Wernicke

I fear an ominous rumor as much as anyone -- especially when it threatens our very way of life.

So rumblings that the Krispy Kreme outlet on Ninth Avenue in Pensacola is never going to reopen after its closing for renovation have to be taken seriously.

After all, the phrase "Closed for remodeling" has been the epitaph for more businesses than I can count. It is far more deadly than the dreaded "vote of confidence" coaches of failing teams get from management just before they are fired (or go ask Don Rusmfeld, who might have gotten the quickest post-vote-of-confidence boot in history).

The company's stock has been pummeled, and falling sales of Krispy Kreme's coma-inducing sugar bombs have been blamed on the erroneous belief that if you eat only healthy foods, you will never die.

Of course, that fits in with today's "I want it now, and I want it all" mentality, but not even the fitness-obsessed baby boomers -- the most spoiled generation in history (unless you count their kids) -- will be able to escape the final breakdown.

Company officials counter the rumors with plans not for a renovation, but a complete tear-down and rebuild, with a reopening scheduled in four short months.

OK.

But it had better happen, that's all I can say.

I was first acquainted with Kripsy Kreme's famous glazed doughnuts as a Boy Scout. We bought them by the boxed dozen for a quarter, and raised money by selling them for 50 cents.

It was never that hard selling the doughnuts. I pitied the kids who had to hawk magazine subscriptions or weird stuff from catalogues. I once sold my grandmother these clever little colored plastic balls filled with water; you'd freeze them for use in place of ice cubes, and give your next party that festive air so lacking in more humdrum homes. The first time she did, several people got sick when the balls leaked tainted water into the drinks.

She demanded her money back, which was a setback to a little kid, even if the balls were a disappointment. Of course, today her guests would probably sue me.

I went back to selling Kripsy Kremes, which I knew people really wanted.

And why not? In those days, it was a no-brainer: a dozen fresh sugar bombs delivered to your door on Saturday, sometimes still warm, for 50 cents.

Let's eat two, as Ernie Banks used to say.

Naturally, we'd order some doughnuts for ourselves (and I'm talking glazed -- any other doughnut, even a Krispy Kreme, was an affectation; don't even talk to me about cake doughnuts, which sit as heavily on a Southerner's stomach as the defeat at Gettysburg, leaving no room for fried chicken).

Anyway, you'd dig into the box and pull out a couple of glazed delights -- if still warm, they threatened to melt on your fingers and pull apart as you drew them out. You'd already have a big glass of cold milk poured, and the doughnut would simply dissolve in your mouth; you didn't even have to chew a hot one.

Within minutes, the world would haze over and something would happen to your body. Your brain would start humming, your heartbeat quicken ... and everything and everyone else would slow down. The only way for them to catch up was to eat a couple themselves and dose their own bloodstream with the potent chemical load baked into every round little food-nuke. (Is a Krispy Kreme actually food? I don't know, and don't care.)

I do know that if I want to be the most popular guy in the newsroom I stop by the Krispy Kreme, stand in line with the other sleepyheads, and order several dozen "hot doughnuts now" to go.

Once in the newsroom, I put out an "all" message: Doughnuts in the coffee room.

Soon, there's nothing but a couple of empty boxes, with latecomers reduced to shamelessly scraping the congealed sugar off the cardboard like some desperate junkie working the bottom of his stash.

What I'm saying here is I had better not see a fried chicken place or convenience store rise up where Krispy Kreme now sits. The world is getting crazier, and I feel the need coming on to slow it down.

Family Pics

Telephone Inverview

John had an interview over the phone with the elders in Burlington yesterday afternoon. It lasted about 30-40 minutes. After it was over, he said he thought it went really well. Of course, we're no closer to knowing whether or not they will offer him the position, but he's gotten this far in the process anyway without a door being closed. Because I am a believer that God really and truly cares about all aspects of our lives. And if we pray about it, and really put God's will first regarding this issue, then things will work out the way they are supposed to.

Does God want us to move up there? We're still waiting for the answer to that question. If it's His will, the door will be opened. If not, He'll close it. Now I know I'm saying this at the risk that we won't get the opportunity to move up there, which would disappoint me terribly. But I have to believe and trust that God can see the bigger picture and He knows what is best for us. (That's so hard to do when you want something to happen so strongly!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a beautiful day in Florida today. About 75 degrees, warm and clear. I had to work for part of the day, but this afternoon we went out to the beach for a little while, just walked around and spent some time. The water was cold, but even so, there were a few brave souls actually getting into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Jared and Daniel tossed the ball around, while Abby and Tiffany looked for seashells. It was a nice time.

We plan to have our "real" Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow because of work today. I got a lot of it done today though, and ham is pretty simple to make. We had a turkey breast today. Gotta have turkey on Thanksgiving!

Anyway, hope everyone had a blessed day!

Satsuma Trees

We have had some absolutely beautiful weather down here in Florida the last several days...until today! I had to work Monday and Tuesday (when it was so nice), and today it is stormy and rainy! Oh well...I like the rain too! A good day to be home, curled up on the couch under my comforter and reading a book or watching something good on t.v. (if I can find something good that is!)

On Sunday after church I took a few pictures of our Satsuma trees in our back yard before I picked most of the oranges. Well...I think they'd be classified as oranges. They're really more like a tangerine because they can be peeled so easily, and they have hardly any seeds in them. We have 2 of them, and they produce plenty of oranges for our family and for us to share with some of our friends from church.

I really love the idea of going out in my back yard and plucking an orange off the tree and eating the sweet fruit right off the tree! We also have blueberries (in the summer) that are really good. If we move to Washington, I'll have to get some apple and plum trees, and the blueberries grow very well there also (and yummy raspberries!)

Well, it's started to rain very hard and the wind is blowing. Guess I'll be lazy and try to finish that book I started. I'm reading "At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks.

Just Stuff

I just realized that I started this blog a year ago already. It was right around Veterans Day, and before the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm not sure just how things will go this year for Thanksgiving. I know Daniel and Tiffany and Abby will be down, but looks like I'll have to work. The schedule I'm on now has me working 12 hour shifts, and I work every Thursday to boot. So...guess they may be eating turkey at Cracker Barrel this year, and maybe even without me! Guess it's too early to worry about all that right now.

It hasn't been the best of weeks for me :( John is out of town this week at a Preachers Retreat in Columbia, Tennessee. I've been working, but have had a migraine headache for the last couple of days. Pretty frustrating, I can tell you! I've had these things for the last 30 years. I thought they were supposed to eventually just go away, but that hasn't been my experience. I still get em.

Jared and his girlfriend have broken up since Halloween. They'd been going together for about 9 or 10 months. I think Jared is handling things pretty well under the circumstances. He's handling it all right, though he often says how much he misses her . It's fascinating to me that he would consider taking her back, even though she already has another boyfriend. I like her, she's a nice girl, but they are both so young. I just know that if it was me, I'd not even consider taking someone back who didn't want to be with me and left me to be with someone else. Maybe I'm just too hard on people...I don't know???

John is starting to get a little more aggressive about looking for a new job. Once Jared graduates from high school at the end of May, he'll be moving to Tennessee and going off to college. We plan to move next June or so ourselves. He found a church that's looking for a preacher in Burlington, Washington. That's just outside of Mount Vernon, Washington and not that far from Bellingham and Vancouver Canada. I would absolutely love to move up there. I'd be pretty close to Angie and her family, and even closer to David. I'm keeping the prayers and supplications going and I'm learning a pretty good lesson in patience. Of course the most important thing is if that's the door God wants to open for us. Is that where HE wants us to go??? I hope. I hope. And pray.

Finally Done

We have finally finished enclosing our screened-in back porch. I now have a new office space. And we now have another bedroom available should we need one. (That used to be the office).I'm posting some before and after pics. Sorry, I have better before pics, but couldn't find them! This one is from a church activity we had at our home (a care group meeting I think???)

Finding Fault

Why is it so easy to see the fault in others and so hard to admit our own faults?

Letters 1971 - 1998

You asked me how I gave my heart to Christ,
I do not know;
There came a yearning for Him in my soul
S0 long ago;
I found earth's flowers would fade and die,
I wept for something that would satisfy
And then, and then, somehow I seemed to dare,
To lift my broken heart to God in prayer;
I do not know, I cannot tell you how;
I only know He is my Saviour now

Author Unknown

When I was helping mom pack some of her things to get ready for her move I found a box of letters. These letters were written by me to her and dad from the time I was 15 years of age, until I was 43 years of age. It was like finding a diary of my life. Many things I'd forgotten about. In other instances it brought back vividly many precious memories: When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, Those first years after my son was born, and then my daughter. How I felt when I went through a miscarriage at 5 months of my pregnancy...so many things.

It was such a surprise to find those letters, and such a gift! The above poem I found within that stack of letters that I had written and sent to them.

Classic Movie

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Mom Has Moved To Texas

My mom is 82 years old. She has changed a lot, especially in the last year. My oldest brother lives in Texas. He comes down to visit with us and his 2 daughters several times a year. He has been trying to get mom to move in with him and his wife for a couple of years. Everytime he has come down during this last year especially, he has seen a big change in mom. I've noticed it as well, but it hasn't been as obvious to me since I see her often. He wouldn't see her for 3 or 4 months, and so would really notice the subtle changes that I didn't see. He was concerned that she wasn't taking her medicine the way she should. Or that she wasn't eating right (which was my concern as well).

She finally agreed to move, which surprised me a little. She's always been so adamant that she was going to stay in her own little apartment. I guess she knew that she really needed to be with someone. Danny isn't working, so he can be with her during the day and make sure she's taken care of. Once it was decided, Danny didn't waste any time! They left yesterday, and I already miss her! The weekend was a busy one - moving the furniture she decided to keep onto the truck, finishing up with packing all her things. Everybody worked hard, but we got it all done.We considered her wishes through it all.

I would have loved to have her move in with John and Jared and me, but we're gone so much of the time with work and school and church activities! And, in all liklihood, we will be moving next summer. Jared will be going off to college (Freed-Hardeman in Tennessee). We will be moving somewhere, depending on where John finds a job. He's been here 15 years and is ready for a change.

My brother Gary stopped by with his grandaughter Autumn. I was fortunate enough to get a picture of mom and her 3 remaining children. Dad is gone, and my sister Merlea. This may be the last time we'll all be together for a while.

What Happened To July?

Being a person who has never suffered any kind of serious illness, I can now say I am MUCH more understanding to those who do and have. This last month has been an experience I will never forget, though I would love to! Basically, this is what happened:

July 5th - I worked, but just didn't feel very well. By the end of the day, my whole body ached, my stomach was upset and I had a fever of 101.

July 6th-9th - I called in sick on Thursday (6th). I knew I had the next 3 days off, so thought that'd be plenty of time to "get over it" whatever "it" was.

July 10th - Monday morning. Still sick. Still running a fever of 101 and 102. Can't eat or drink. So I decided to go to the Urgent Care Clinic. They examined me and sent me on to the Emergency Room. Told me not to eat or drink anything because they would probably be doing some abdominal scans to figure out what was going on. Waited for either 4 or 5 hours before they got around to seeing me. Had a temperature of 102. Was MISDIAGNOSED! They told me I was dehydrated so they started an IV to rehydrate me. They gave me some phenergan for my nausea, which basically put me to sleep. They told me I had viral gastroenteritis and to go home and "get over it".

July 17th - Monday morning. Experienced a week of misery. Continued fever off and on during that week, abdominal pain, nausea, and other things I won't mention. But I figured I HAD to get back to work, even though I still didn't feel very well. So, I went back to work. Worked my 9 hours.

July 18th - Tuesday morning. Woke up with a low grade fever of 100.6. Didn't feel well. But...went on in to work (I know, I really shouldn't have!) As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse. I was on a Continuous Care case, so when the RN stopped by to check on the patient, I told her I was going to have to leave because I was not feeling well at all. My husband got on the phone to my doctor and told her I REALLY NEEDED to see a doctor. The soonest she could see me was the 20th (Thursday).

July 20th - Thursday morning. Saw my doctor, who sets up an ultrasound to be done Saturday morning at the hospital(the 22nd).

July 22nd - Saturday morning. Ultrasound done of my abdomen. Ahhh...it appears my gallbladder has been acting up. So about 2-3 hours later, they did emergency surgery to get that gallbladder out!

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrating my experience with the health community has been...especially that ER visit. What people have to go through to get seen in the emergency room is a joke! But the killer is, you wait for hours to get back through the doors and on one of those beds (which in itself is a blessing because all you want to do is just lay down on their cold, dirty floor after waiting so many hours!) I understand they're busy. But they don't seem to take the time to really listen to what you are saying. If they had done that ultrasound on the 10th I wouldn't have had to suffer and go through all that I did.

Having said that, I have now been able to vent my frustration, and now I am so thankful they were able to figure out what was wrong and do what needed to be done. I feel so much better and will soon be back 100 percent!