34 YEARS

This blog's second year seems to be following the same pattern as this blog's first year.  Wow, how time flies!  Seems like just a short time ago I was posting my second post to this new blog and now here it is a year and it's the second post of the "new" year.  

Yes, The Husband and I are blessed today to celebrate another year of marriage.  I really can't add anything more than I say on a regular basis about our marriage.  It is a blessing from the Lord and one that I pray we never take for granted.

Last year (see blog post titled 33 years) we actually took a trip to St. Simons for a couple of days. The two of us took separate vacations this year and each of us had a fabulous time.  The Husband enjoyed a seven day trip to Louisiana to do his favorite sport of fishing and had a wonderful time.  Even if he had caught no fishes but had fun it would have been good enough but alas, he has stocked up our freezer and that makes me really happy.  We love to eat fish.  As for me and my seven days, I chose a staycation and stayed home and did many various things I chose.  For example, I had a 24 hour solo pajama party, spent time with my camera, took a couple of day road trips, slept as long as I wanted (6:30 a.m. is late for me), and cleaned out a lot of things I had stored  for a while.  I had a fine time as well.  With all that said and our dual fine times we had, I do think we were very happy to see each other again.

A celebration will involve red meat at a restaurant later on today and we will both enjoy that.  In the meantime, since my mother's birthday photos have gotten rave reviews, I thought I would let you all reminisce with me from that day 34 years ago when the Husband and I  said "I do".   I did notice the photos have acquired somewhat of a yellowish tone...even so, enjoy....

The Husband was skinny and had sandy colored hair...and look at that 1970's style tuxedo...

I, too, looked fine enough with my 1970's large--very large--eyeglasses and my dress with tons of lace.  If I had to wear that lace around my neck and those long sleeves on my arms today, I would be sweating for sure.  While my style in clothing has changed a bit, my taste in flowers has not.  I still love yellow roses and white daisies.  Especially white daisies.

One of my favorites was this one as my daddy and I were waiting to enter the church for the ceremony.  My daddy looked pretty happy and so did I.  Hmmmm?  I thought the sky was pretty that time of day....8 p.m.  On a Friday.

The bride and the groom......together.......notice the groom's white shoes.  I don't think he's ever worn white shoes again.  I thought it nice that I seemed to have a waist in this picture.  Nice.   I have almost forgotten what a waist on me looks like.

Look at those fancy cars in the parking lot....was this only 1979?  Wow.

And then those we love....some look happy, some not so much.....and notice the dark green tuxedos...and the mint green handmade bridesmaids' double knit dresses.   Stylin' and profilin'....and we sure must have loved greenery with the massive amount I see...and.... I love that those stained glass windows in the photo are the same ones we see and love every Sunday now in the new place.

And lastly, not to forget the beautiful wedding cake made by our friend, Vevelyn.  She has talent for sure.  It was beautiful.

We give thanks that the love has just grown with the years.  Through good times and bad times, sickness and health, joy and sorrow, and whatever life dishes. love remains constant.  So on this day, I again give thanks for the blessing of marriage.   As the scripture from 1 Corinthians 13 that was read in that ceremony those 34 years ago says:

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth,
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,
Charity never fails...."

We are blessed today with such blessings.......and for that we are thankful.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY

Happy Birthday to my blog!  It's been exactly one year ago since I wrote that first post of celebration.  It seems like yesterday.  My, how time does fly as one ages!  I think I'll keep writing, I like it so much.  :)

Many of you will remember (or not) that very first post was written on the 21st anniversary of The Girl's diabetes diagnosis.  So yes, that means today is another red letter day....22 years to celebrate.  I plan to do that by having some lunch with The Girl today.  My treat.   

I had not mentioned the upcoming day and it's significance until I got a text last night after supper.  It was from The Girl.  She wondered if I had forgotten.  Nope.  I had not forgotten.  We talked back and forth via text about how we both felt and that was good.  She was very reflective about it and told me she actually spelled it out for the rest of the cyber world on Facebook and that I could read, too.  Well, admittedly, I got a couple of tears in the eyes after reading it.  I asked permission to share with you, my blog readers, and she granted that permission.  She wants folks to be encouraged.  She is encouraged.  Quite a young woman The Husband and I are blessed to call our girl.  So here's what she wrote:

21 years & 364 days... Time passed since my Type I diabetes diagnosis

Over 50,000... Number of times I've "needled" myself in those years 

2... Eyes that see and feet that run!

0... Days I've wished The Lord had made me different

Can't count that high... Ways that He blesses me with grace every day!

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I Thessalonians 5:18

Ill be greeting day 1 of year 22 with a thankful heart!! 

There is absolutely nothing more to say to that other than "Amen"!

A Birthday Tribute

Today is Flag Day and for all of you who don't know, it's also my mother's birthday.  In this blog usually I address people in my life as "The" but in this case today, I think I'll change a bit from the norm and call her "My" Mother.   Because I am a nice daughter, I will not outright tell her age, just in case she minds but I will say the first number is a 7.   The last digit will remain unmentioned on this blog.

My mother has been my mother for almost 58 years.  Yes, that makes me fairly mature also, doesn't it?   My mother has many stories to tell.  In fact she and I made a day trip to Huntsville a few months ago to go to The Son-in-Law's aunt's funeral there and I learned a lot about my mother that I didn't know. I think that knowledge will remain with me and I won't share, but I will tell you that my mother taught me right from wrong, showed me the example of a Godly wife and mother, and loves me and the rest of her family unconditionally.  Guess that's how God made mothers, huh?

So today I wish her a happy birthday.  And no, I have no nice gift.  Sorry.  I do have a book I have made of my blog posts.  My mother is not computer skilled or minded at all, so she misses reading these posts and I decided this particular post in the front of her birthday book would be perfect.  Hopefully the supper I prepare for her will be to her extreme liking and she won't scold me when she sees the following photos I have shared with you.

 Is she sitting on a church porch?  Of course she is....and look at that cute pocketbook....

 I put this photo in for selfish reasons....I wanted you all to see how cute I was as a child....and that my mother AND I were VERY skinny.

The lovely shirt I was wearing was made like Dr. Kildare's medical coat in the collar area so I felt very doctorish when I wore it....which was often.

To show what a good sport I am, I put this cute photo of The Sister....a ridiculous looking expression and nerdy glasses for me, but angelic of her.

I love this one...

This one made the cut because Mother loved that big hairdo she had and I loved my white wool blazer with the emblem on the pocket.  And my glasses improved a bit.  And The Sister remained cute.

We all looked happy here on The Parents 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

This wonderful photo was taken with my wonderful camera although not by wonderful me.  The Girl had the pleasure of capturing this treasure.

And my mother, the wedding lemonade maker...happily so, it seems.

So happy, happy birthday, Mother.....love you.......

VBS

Vacation Bible School....a time of learning and sharing for children, youth, and adults alike....

I've been thinking so much lately of VBS.  I don't know the first one I ever went to as a child.  I'm sure my mother can and she can tell you everything I did there because most likely she has all the VBS goods still, 50 years later.  My mother is like that.  She loves to keep those things.  The first VBS I can remember going to was the First Baptist VBS in our downtown.  I guess I remember that mostly because the town newspaper had a front page picture of all the students in front of the church itself.  I knew where I was in the mix is the only way I could pick me out.

The VBS I remember most is one I went to at a neighboring church as a teenager.  It was during the daytime as back then many women didn't work publicly and could throw on a good Bible School.  It was three hours----9 a.m. -12 p.m. and I'm telling you, there was no boredom at all.  I remember if we didn't know them already, we learned all 66 books of the Bible and if we did, we reviewed those.  We learned Bible scriptures by memory.  Very. Hard. Ones.  And we had great teaching by our teachers.  Our social acitivites and entertainment were provided during refreshment time around the church picnic table.  I remember this a lot because a lot of the teens who went to church there went to school with me, too, and we even rode the school bus together.  That was back when there was one high school in the county so the school bus ride was very long.  I think the most I remember about that time of social time was the simple conversation and caring that everyone felt.  (And I remember that I wore dresses every day.)  I don't remember that we ever played any sports there, we just learned about the Bible and were content with that.  It's one of those memories that's more a feeling than a visual, you know?  It's a warm and sweet memory feeling and I treasure that.  Plus, I'm glad I learned those 66 books of the Bible.  Talk about pride.  I had it.  Still to this day even though I have quite a bit of trouble with those last few OT books of the prophets, I can do pretty good at Bible Trivia with those questions about Bible books.  Little did I know then....

So this past week I was one of the four teachers of 4 and 5 year old children.  Let me say here that the other three teachers were wonderful helpers.  I couldn't have picked better if I had hand picked.  It was a great week we had growing together and loving together.    The eleven children we had on roll were exceptionally well behaved, had a willingness to sit still and learn (and that's a big accomplishment for that age), and listened when you said "no".  And we did say "no".

The theme of our VBS was "God's Big Back Yard...Under the Stars" and our room was starry and nightish.

We did handprints on our backpacks....

We did sand art....and yes, our shirts were collectively orange.  Bright orange.  Neon. Orange.  

We filled candy bags and made butterflies as gifts for those who served us during VBS week.

And our favorite craft activity was the glow-in-the-dark fireflies....what FUN, FUN, FUN!!!!!!!!

We had great lessons....

played Captain Midnight....

and made and ate smores.

On Thursday night, we had balloons (orange of course) with our names, memory verse ("Love the Lord with all your heart.") and colored pictures on index cards attached.  

We got ready, counted 1...2...3...and .....up, up, and away!!!!!

It was a great week for sure.

The story doesn't end here, though.  As I got my mail from my mailbox this afternoon, I noticed an unfamiliar return address, then as I looked at the addressed envelope, I saw my address with a name and VBS balloon project.  Imagine my excitement!

I opened the letter, sat in my car, and read it.  It was from a woman who had found this card and balloon in her front yard either Friday or Saturday morning.  It was the sweetest letter....this sweet woman telling this child in a letter about her experience of grace with the Lord...being saved at age 9 and now married with a family of her own who "love the Lord with all their hearts".  The letter said some more and I just sat there and cried in my car.  

Amazing to me that that little balloon could travel and land in a yard 136 miles away.  And more amazing to me that the yard would belong to a Christian woman who had the perfect words to encourage my not-so-encouraging day.  It was the Lord speaking to me through her and assuring me that "it is well".  

Some might say I'm ridiculous in believing that the Lord could do that or that the Lord could even do anything.  Doesn't matter to me.  You can think whatever you want. I KNOW that my God can do AAAANNNYYYTHHIINNNGGG.   He sends me things that reaffirm my trust in Him at the perfect time and lets me know He's right there taking care of business.  

So yes, last week it was the faces and joy of children that was a blessing.  When VBS was all said and done, it was the release of a little balloon during VBS that kept on working and brought me what I needed this week... a tiny balloon sent to it's destination by my big God.

And of course, I say a big, "AMEN"!!!!!

WELL......

Yes, it's been a month since I have posted.  Where has time gone?  In my world it's been filled with house painting, VBS preparation, and life.

I spent the last week at night with 11 four and five year olds at VBS.  I had a wonderful time.  I will post that to a separate post, but not today.  My old body and mind are exhausted from that wonderful experience.

Yesterday I got news that a very good friend who was dealing with a cancer diagnosis (and dealing very bravely with the Lord's help) had been hit with yet another cancer diagnosis.  My heart ached yesterday for her and her family.  And for me, as her friend.  I believe she's gonna beat it.  It won't be easy, but I believe she's gonna beat it.

Turmoils, problems, things that hurt and disappoint come to us all every day.  Some days are a struggle, some days are a joy.  And then there are many days in a row that are total strikeouts.  Then something, however small, comes along to show me that someone else is in control.  That happened to me yesterday.

I had to go to the store to buy ice cream ingredients.  I was at a a stop light waiting for it to turn green and as I sat there thinking, my eyes traveled down to the bumper of the car ahead.  My eyes teared up as there, barely able to be seen, was a bumper sticker that said:

GOD LISTENS.

And my heart said a loud "Amen".