Home again....

After a week full of ups and downs (not counting the airplane rides...:) I'm home. Very mixed feelings....my mother is frail and shouldn't be on her own. However, greater than her frailness is her stubborness...so that's about all I can say there. Shouldn't we embrace the positive in the changes that are before us???? After a VERY long day of traveling, I'm home. And I'm glad. And I'm happy to see Oliver and Sammy is "still ticking". Amazing.

Change.....

Life is full of changes...some we expect, some we don't. As I visit with my folks in Michigan, I see changes in the making. My dad is doing sort of ok in his assisted living home, my mom is sort of managing being on her own....my niece and nephew in law face huge unknowns as he battles brain cancer. I wish I had something profound to say about all of this but I don't. What just came to mind was "in all things, give thanks"...as I have tried to share that with my mom...that as difficult as their situation is, it is not unexpected and they have soooo many advantages that many other 87 and 89 year olds simply don't have. We did take my dad out today....his first time in many weeks. We went out to a coney island hotdog place and they had a grand time. They acted like they were out on a date. Very cute. So, it was a good day there. I had planned to go stay at my nieces' today to help her, but her husbands' tests were all moved up and they had to go yesterday. I'm not sure how to give thanks for their situation...I'm just being honest, folks. I can give thanks for good doctors and for the family that is helping them, but the rest is so hard. So, if you are a praying person, please lift Lindsay and Steve up....as Lindsay said, they need all the help they can get. Thanks..............

A Different Kind of Fireworks......!

Last night, I had dinner with some friends at Fager's Island. If you know Fager's, you know they play the 1812 Overture as the sun sets....well....there was no sun to be seen....all overcast and cloudy, but the 1812 was played with great fervor anyway. Gotta love those cannons! THEN....we were able to see most of a fireworks display a little ways down which was fun, BUT then the real show started....God unleashed a fireworks of his own with grand thunder and huge lightening. In Fagers, there are a lot of windows....the side room is almost like a sunroom with windows on the top and the side, and we were right next to that....Well, the lightening flashed and the thunder boomed and the rain pounded. I LOVED IT. An unexpected treat...combined with good friends and just about laughing myself sick at the silliness, it was a wonderful evening. KABOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Key Verse.....?

I Peter 4:11b, "If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

Isn't this really what it should all be about? Isn't this why we are given gifts and skills? Isn't this the key to who we are in Christ? Now, the interesting part of that is not that the scripture reads, "If anyone serves as a pastor" or "If anyone is paid staff at a church". It says "If anyone serves" and then the absolute key...."he should do it with the strength God provides" So...how do we get the strength God provides?? I guess we could wait 'till we are zapped with a lightening bolt...might happen....with God anything is possible, of course. But within that scripture, a huge responsibility is laid out for us. That responsibility is to access that strength through the reading and hearing of the Word and of prayer. Lots and lots of prayer. God has enlisted us in his ARMY....are we content with sitting on our cabooses or are we ready and willing to act using the strength HE provides? I challenge each and every person reading this posting today.....Are you reading God's word daily??? Are you spending MORE than nominal time in prayer? Let's keep journals this week...journals of what we read and how we pray, thanking God for the strength He has for each of us. Strength to serve which will glorify Jesus Christ. Let's be honest with ourselves and with God. Let us prepare ourselves to serve in ways we never imagined possible. Let us not even THINK of trying to do this on our own strength, but turn to God for HIS strength. Are YOU willing?

Stars and Stripes Forever!!!

I thought this was appropriate for the 4th of July.

Can you spell...........C-O-N-D-O??????????

Whew...after a day of ripping up nasty, disgusting, filthy carpet and trying to pry the tack board up, a condo is looking pretty good. No yard to cut....no insane things growing in my scraggly bushes....no insanity of repairs that I have no idea of how to make. Sounds pretty good....then, I look out the window and see the back, or I think of how incredibly wonderful it is to have space and not have neighbors right on top of my place...well...then I wonder. So...I don't know. I just know, I'm TIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But wait....there is MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was even more to my trip! I did get to spend almost a week with Christy, Jenny and Josh in JAX. The Savannah trip was just a couple of days of that visit. One of my favorite things was going to the pool on base...that is where the picture of those two bathing beauties was taken. We also explored the wonderful world of knitting on circular needles...I achieved a simple victory by actually finishing a little hat! I'm not sure how many hats a FLA baby is going to need, but I guess we will find out as Christy and Josh have a baby due in December! I got to go to their drs. appt and see my "grandbaby in progress"! Such amazing changes in prenatal care. One last special event was to have breakfast with Christy's friend, Chelsea who is a pilot. This was also a wonderful event....I have known Chelsea since she was a "youngster" at the academy. She is a wonderful young woman. Wasn't this a great trip?

Beautiful Savannah....

After 25 years, I finally got to return to Savannah. I lived there in the late 70's/early 80's when I played with the Savannah Symphony. Christy and I got to share a "blast from the past" by visiting some of the places I used to frequent. I was so pleased...we drove into town and I knew exactly where to go. Within minutes, we were at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House for lunch! If you aren't familar with Mrs. Wilkes', it is southern cooking personified. Oh my, some of the tastes almost brought tears to my eyes...yes, because it was that good, but because it was a taste that I hadn't experienced since I left Savannah. We drove over to Whitfield Sq. and visited the gazebo where Christy's father and I were married. Nothing looks any different there at all. What did look different was the house where I used to live on Gaston St. It was all grown over and looked kind of unlived in. I took Christy through the back alley to see the courtyard and it was like a fortress had been built there. Very bizarre. We had a wonderful room at the Hyatt on the riverfront which i purchased for an EXCEPTIONAL price on priceline....we walked the riverfront, ate at the Pirate's House and then to top the day off, took a twilight carriage ride through the city. The next day we had some time for shopping and then a visit to the Civil Rights museum. It was a wonderful time.

Sunny days in FLA!

Two beautiful girls....maybe we could break into a chorus of "Sisters, sisters..."

What a wonderful thing to see these two together.

Finally..........

Wow...packing up one classroom is one thing, packing up two is something else entirely. But it is finished. Finally. Hooray. Hallelujah. Ta Da.....etc. etc. etc. AMEN!

Jam Packed Worship!

Yesterday was one of the best worship experiences we've had for awhile. It was jam packed with special events and each one seemed designed to go with the others. Admittedly, I was about ready to throw up by the time the service began because there was much chaos in the planning or lack there of by certain parties...you know, it was probably more of a lack of communication than planning...however, the results were the same...but once things started, it was grand. The choir sounded beautiful, Jimmy did a great job with praise, we had a commissioning service for our mission's team and then a baptism. I so appreciated what the minister had to say prior to the baptism...his words about Lydia were perfect. I am a firm believer in if an elephant is in the room, introduce him, and he did...in a loving, honest, supportive way. His sermon about the prodigal was very good. After the main service, we had the meeting and then the dedication of the farmhouse addition...THEN a lunch! WOW....I was busy running around offering key tabs for donations for the mission's team and missed the food. HOWEVER...my friend showed up unexpectedly and off we went to lunch. The best of everything. A grand Sunday.

Incredible weekend....

I think I have now seen the most perfect hideaway on the entire eastern shore. One of the teachers at Primary, hosted our end of the year party at her parent's cottage on the Nanticoke. It was a magnificent setting, with fantastic food and wonderful people. A breeze kept things cool, jello shooters kept things bouncing and the roost's fried chicken kept things tasty. Crabs and shrimp for the non-allergic (not me), tons of tasty side dishes and desserts AND a dandy boat ride. The sunset was beautiful and I have to say I can't remember when I had a nicer time. THANKS!

Anysoldier update...

Have you ever gotten a letter from far away that didn't even need a stamp?? Military stationed in a "war zone" can send letters for free! They just write "free mail" where the stamp goes and it starts it's journey across the sea. The first time I got one of these letters, I just stared at it...it had come such a long way! Anyway, I got one of those very special letters and it absolutely made my day. I had sent some greeting cards (for the troops to send to families) and a DVD that my kids at school had put together. I am always seriously touched when someone who is in such a difficult position takes time to write to ME and thanks ME for what I've done. I think they've got it just a bit backwards! This very kind LTC told me that we had brightened their days and that I was to tell the kids their production beat Radio City Music Hall any day. How sweet was that? God bless them and protect them.......

Hooray for Hollywood...

Westside style....Monday evening was the 5th grade promotion celebration at my school. This is not something I'd usually write about as I was not all that pleased to be there...not that I have anything against 5th graders being promoted...I just hate giving up an evening!!! Anyway..I was sitting up on the stage where I had a birdseye view of the kids as they came through the curtain after hearing their name and their awards read. Most of the kids looked happy..some kind of embarassed....some were dressed to the 9's....some were dressed very kid appropriate, some were...well, maybe not so appropriate. But one child in particular struck me....she came out on stage, kind of gangly, braces, not a "looker" by the traditional teenybopper standard...by oh my...the look on her face brought me to tears. It had everything combined into one look... She was a combination of innocence, trust, excitement and hope all rolled into one. Her look at that moment was the personification of all that is good in a 5th grade child. It was a look and a moment I will long remember. Definately made it worth giving up an evening.