Daddy’s Girl

My sweet, sweet Daddy with the blue, blue eyes! You taught me how to live…and in the end you taught me how to die–without fear and embracing the life to come with Him. How I love you so, Daddy!

God Restore America

Thank you, my precious family for having the courage to fight against our enemies to ensure American liberties and freedom. May God restore America…starting with our hearts!

God’s glasses

“God reads our hearts with 3+Readers…He knows…He truly knows!”

Mr. Bunny makes Mama happy

Still decorating Mama’s door at her assisted-living bedroom like she’s a sorority girl. She so loved the Mr. Bunny I made her…it’s just NOT quite BIG enough!!!

Cheesecake

I was feeling sorry for my husband who was starting his restrictive cardiac diet, so I headed home for lunch to cheer him on. Upon opening our refrigerator I noticed that the huge piece of Cheesecake Factory dessert that a friend had dropped off was gone. I said, “Did YOU eat all of that cheesecake?!” David’s sheepish look confirmed my suspicions. He guiltily responded, “Yeah, but not in one sitting!” “Right,” I shot back at him. “It was in there when I left for work and gone when I came home for lunch!” Question: How many times do YOU think he pulled it out of the fridge so he could say this to me? It’s going to be so HARD!

Cycles

The cycle of life…I bit food in half tonight to feed precious mama and couldn’t help but wonder how many times she had done this for me when I was her baby. Why must we enter life as helpless babes, grow up strong and confident, only to exit life as we began: small and again helpless? Life lessons which will stay with me.

Did He Forget Me?

One day my sweet mama asked me, “Why do you think God still has me alive?” I didn’t know how to respond to her heart-felt question. I knew she was tired and often suffered with pain. Then she confessed, “I didn’t expect to live this long? Do you think God has forgotten about me?” “Oh, mama,” I gushed to reassure her, “a loving parent doesn’t forget their child, and you, my love, are truly unforgettable!”

Dirty Feet

Nothing more humbling or intimate than rubbing or washing another’s feet! As I’m rubbing mama’s today, she looks up in amazing joy and says, “My first pedicure.” Oh mama, how you have deprived yourself of all of life’s finery so that we, your children, would know them. 0h, Jesus, who abandoned your throne to wash our feet…how close I leaned into you today!

Dancin’ with Angels

Mama was unusually quiet and restful in her hospital bed today; she even slipped out for a little adventure. While I don’t know for sure where she went, I am quite certain who surrounded her on the journey. Mama, being a gracious Southern lady, complimented the angels on their lovely robes, and her Host on the magnificent view. She was obviously impressed and quite pleased with herself. I, on the other hand, suddenly an outsider, enviously watched Mama dance with the angels. Shame-faced and guilty, not yet wanting to release my grip on her hand, and her grip on my heart, I selfishly implored her to return to IV drips, staggering pain, and her little scared girl. A trial run for certain, for when I’m actually strong enough to actually let her go.

Stylist

I cut and styled mama’s flaxen hair today. No, I have never cut hair before, but I am learning to do all kinds of new things if it makes my mama feel better. So thankful she now knows us again! She’s even begun to laugh again. My mama has the greatest laugh!

Choices

Traveling down the highway today, the landscape was blanketed in the splendid jewel tones of fall. It always amazes me how the leaves change their clothes so efficiently each year. But the thing that really caught my eye was the stream of crosses that borders the busy highway; a reminder to all of fleeting time and departed folks: someone’s spouse, child, son, father, or friend, who headed out for one earthly finite destination and ended up in an infinite eternal sphere determined solely by their choices. MAKE GOOD CHOICES TODAY. Live for yourself less, and love others more.

Tick-Tock

David got released to drive this week after his cardiac events, and sweet Mama is thriving in assisted living. I think they are both going to live! At least for now…at almost 87, mama counts every second–not every day as a blessing, as should we. The clock ticks, my friends. Make every moment count!

New Year’s Insight

The New Year is like a hot, steamy shower after a long trek on a dusty road: refreshing, full of promise, and squeaky clean, particularly if the road was long and difficult. Yes, I am embracing the new year–but to gloss over the trials of prior years would surely diminish my vision for the future; it is only WITH the trials and lessons learned that I may truly appreciate the moments of today; not looking in my rear view mirror with regret, nor peering intently into the unknown future, but living…really living with the clarity that only His Peace brings.

God missed nothing

Mama’s radical gratitude never ceases to amaze me. On our visit Sunday she was braggin’ on God. Mama is a stylin’ 86 year-old who has maintained the philosophy that she may have to age, but by golly she’s going to LOOK GOOD! Thus, we found her silently examining her long, neon red fingernails (she does her own!) and marveling at God’s provision. Since her unexpected critical fall, her multiple bone breaks have begun to fuse together, (another of God’s miraculous provisions) and the itching process has begun. Mama, intently focused on her polished digits, said, “God didn’t miss a thing. He even remembered the fingernails for scratching!” I had to chuckle. “No, mama, God sure didn’t miss a thing when he created YOU!”