Thankful Thursday

I want to first say I am so glad I found Linda at Truthful Tidbits.  She is a grandma, like me.  And she has had to watch her daughter go through one of the most difficult things a mom can go through, and sadly, more than once!  Finding Linda let me finding Iris at Grace Alone where Thankful Thursday is hosted.  I encourage you to stop by and visit them.

I have so much to be thankful for and yet I find myself complaining more than thanking...such is the flesh of man!  Surely the devil would rather keep us bound up in negative, depressing thoughts rather than thoughts of praise.  And it is so easy to get caught up in the vicious cycle of negative complaining, feeling sorry for oneself, blaming, etc.  The devil doesn't even have to do a whole lot of work to get us there.  We simply walk right into that pit with eyes wide open.

So, I want to thank Iris for Thankful Thursday.  It causes me to stop and pause and actually think about things I am thankful for.  So, without further adieu...

I am thankful for the doctors at Mayo Clinic.  Because of their hard work, dedication, and willingness to learn about medicine, they are able to take a healthy kidney out of one person, and place it into the body of another person who has a sick kidney.

I am thankful for Christina, the wife of our small group leader (she co-leads with her husband), because she heard my husband's plea even though he wasn't asking.

I am thankful that God gave Christina blood that matched my husband's blood and kidneys that are healthy.

I am thankful that my work has told me that I can take the time off to help my husband heal and to "not worry about what goes on down here."

I am thankful that I have a family that will rally around my husband and myself and lift us up in prayer as we face this new place in our life.

And I am also thankful that November 23 is not too far away.  We may miss Thanksgiving day, but we sure will have a lot to be thankful for.

I Chronicles 16:8-12 (NIV)
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced

Be blessed,

Sue

Wednesday's Walk

I found a new blogger, Jenilee, at  The Goodwin Family Blog.  She hosts the "Wednesday's Walk" at her blog and I have decided to try it.  If you haven't checked out the Goodwin Family, I would encourage you to visit her.  She and her husband are children's pastors in Ohio and she also homeschools her girls.

Anyway, as I understand it, I am to post a memory of some sort and then let Jenilee know about it.  So without further adieu, here is my walk down memory lane.

I am a mom to seven children.  Four I gave birth to four, and three I was blessed to inherit when I married their dad.

Today I will share about my first two girls, Kerry and Connie:

Connie and Kerry

Oh my gosh, are they cute, or what!!!  I was just a young mom when I had them.  I really didn't understand the importance of cherishing each moment with them and they grew up way to fast!

Gotta love the hair styles back then!

Connie and Kerry a few years ago

The girls got married and gave me lots of grandkids...

D

Dave and Connie

Jeremy, Kerry and three of their five kids

Connie's boys, Michael and Jacob

Kerry's first born, (and my first grandchild), Nicole and prom date

Kerry and Paige

They are all growing up way before I want them to.  I can't seem to make time stand still. Someday Nicole will be married and having babies of her own...making me a *gasp* GREAT GRANDMOTHER!  (Don't even go there Nicole!)

Kerry and Connie were the best behaved children one could ask for.  I could take them anywhere and never worry about having to remove them from where ever we were because of whining or temper tantrums.  In fact, I used to say I could take them to visit the President of the United States and know that they would behave.  I used to dress them alike when they were little and people would always ask me if they were twins.  (They are 19 months apart.)

One of my regrets today is that I wish I understood then, how fast time flies, and how important it is to spend quality time with them.  When I read blogs by SAHM who homeschool their children and do all those crafts and field trips, I feel a bit of a sadness in my heart.  If I'd only knew then what I know now.

However, dwelling on what can't be is not healthy, nor will it change anything.  So I need to look at now and be willing to be used in whatever way the Lord will use me to minister to my children, pray for them, love them and guide them in the best way I can.

I pray that my children know that I love them very, very much.  I am so thankful that God chose me to be their mom. 

I have so much I want to share.  I want to talk about my son Adam, my daughter Sandy, and my three that I inherited when I married Jack.  But I don't have any pictures of them on this computer so I will need to do some hunting on my old laptop and see what I find.  That will be another Wednesday Walk post.

Meanwhile, here a few pictures of them over the years...

Sandy, Jack, Adam,  Connie and Angie surrounding Poppop, their great grandfather.

Six of my kids with some friends

Most of my kids in a rare family photo, L-R
Back row, Connie, Kerry, Brent
Front row, Jack, Adam, Michelle and Sandy
Missing from the picture is my daughter Angie

This is my four kids.  My goal is to post more on some of the other kids next Wednesday.

My children are my joy.  I love them so much and when they are with me, all is right with the world.  It is so amazing how bad things don't seem so pressing when my kids are around.  I guess you could say, I love them to the moon and back!  I am blessed beyond blessed.

Be blessed,

Sue

Transplant update

We have a kidney!  Well, we have a donor who has been approved to donate her kidney!  We don't have a surgery date yet, but are looking at sometime around Thanksgiving.  We should know more soon.

Meanwhile we will continue to wait for the kidney/pancreas transplant. If it comes first, he will take that option.

I will continue to post on the transplant issues as they come along.

Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze Fun!

On Sunday, I had the delightful opportunity to go with my youngest daughter to a pumpkin patch and corn maze.  She was taking three of her children and a niece with her and invited me along.  Having always wanted to visit a corn maze, I didn't hesitate to join her.  We had dollar off coupons so the cost was only $6 a person. 

At the time, I thought the cost also included a pumpkin, so I thought it was a pretty good deal!  Therefore, I was quite surprised when we arrived to find out that pumpkins were extra.  But considering the farm also had a petting zoo, train (which turned out to cost $2 a person), and bouncy house, we figured it would be worth the cost.

When we first entered, we saw a slide and the kids immediately ran to it and started going down it.  I reminded them that they can go down a slide anytime and there was a lot for them to see and do.  I told Desi that there were horses to pet and pointed to the fence.  Desi loves animals so she didn't need any encouragement, and she ran right over to the horses.  Lilly was a little hesitant at first, but once she saw Desi pet the horse, she tried it herself.

Desi had no fear of the horse!

Lilly was a little unsure...


 

But with a little encouragement, she did pet the horse.

As you can see by the above picture, Desi is having a blast with the horse.  She has this magnetic draw to animals and they seem to be drawn to her as well.  Jaciana kept her distance from the horse which turned out to be a wise decision.

After we visited the horses, we next went to see the goats. 

There was also an ostrich in a cage there and we took the girls to see it.  (I was sad to see it in a cage.)  It had a warning side on the cage that stated that it might bite so we made sure the girls didn't get too close.  Desi would have walked right up to the cage if we'd let her.  Lilly and Jaciana were sure they were already too close!



Lilly really didn't want to be that close at all!



After the petting zoo, we headed over to the maze.  I, myself, had never been in a corn maze.  Every year I tell myself, "this is the year..." but I never follow through.  I was always a little nervous about getting lost inside one!  But since I had my daughter with me, I thought it would be fun!

Peek-a-boo!

Needless to say, I was more than slightly disappointed.  The maze was more like one path that went from the entrance around to the exit.  There were no side paths or alternative routes to take.  There was no way to get lost! 

Then we headed over to the bouncy house.  Of course I couldn't miss some great photo opportunities...

My grandson fell asleep before we got there and slept through the whole visit. 

It was getting hot and the girls Nana was getting tired.  One last stop to see the piggies and then we were done. 

It is entirely possible that the maze we went through was the kiddy maze.  There was a bigger maze behind the bouncy house, but my daughter's niece turned out to be allergic to farm animals.  Her eyes were all red and swollen and her face was red and blotchy. We were going to buy some pumpkins but decided that we needed to get her out of there ASAP!   Sandy would bring her girls back to buy pumpkins on another day.  (Thankfully, once they got home, a dose of Benyadryl cleared her up.)

I don't know if it was worth the $6, but we sure had fun!

Tomorrow, I am going to try to post a post for  Wednesdays Walk.  I have no clue what it will be about, so stay tuned!
Be blessed,

Sue

Crazy, Crazy Love

I am a dog person. I love dogs and I can't imagine my life without them. I love cats too, but too many in my family are allergic to them, including myself, so I love cats from a distance.

When we first moved into our house almost 17 years ago, the kids and I wanted a dog. We begged my husband until he finally relented. Seconds after he said "OK", the kids and I were in the car and headed to the humane society. (I kid you not, it was literally seconds!)

We got there and walked around looking at all the dogs. We all wanted one so bad, but they were either too big, not good with children, or just didn't respond to us when we approached their cage. We walked around looking at each dog several times but it just wasn't working.

I finally told the kids we needed to go and could come back next weekend. My youngest begged me to let them walk around one more time. Even though I felt it was useless, I agreed. I knew they wanted a dog as badly as I did, if not more so.

Suddenly, my daughter called to me and asked me to come to the cage she was standing by. So me and the boys rushed over to see what she was so excited about.

There, we saw the cutest little black dog who was wagging it's tale and licking her hand. The woman who works at the humane society was standing with her.

"Do you want to look at this dog," she asked? "He just arrived a little while ago and we just now put him in his cage." We quickly said yes, (There was another woman showing an interest in him so we wanted to grab him first.)

She took us out to a caged play area with him and he immediately started playing with the kids, running back and forth from one to the other. Then he jumped up on the stool where I was sitting and planted a big ol' kiss right on my cheek.

I was in love. I had to have that dog. The kids had to have that dog.

We told the woman that we wanted him. She had me fill out all the paperwork and pay the fee for him. He was approximately seven months old and the family that had him were being transferred to New York and couldn't take him. He'd been at the humane society just 30 minutes before we saw him. His name was Buddy.

We took Buddy home and he was the best dog I'd ever had.  He was gentle with the kids and loved to play with them.  He had one accident in the house, but never again.  He was easily trainable and did all kinds of tricks.  We loved him and were so thrilled to have a dog.

Of the years the kids grew up and started leaving home to start their own lives.  Buddy began missing the kids and started to get lonely.  So Jack had the great idea of getting Buddy a playmate.  I was not sure I wanted another dog until we met the cutest little puppy.

This is not my dog, but one that looks just like her. 
I don't have any puppy pictures of Bandit on my computer.

Jack took one look at this face and said we had to have her.  Of course I had to agree.  Buddy needed a playmate so we bought the puppy and brought her home.  I wanted to give her a cute name like Cuddles, but I was outvoted by Jack and Adam.  They said she looked like a Bandit because of the mask on her face.  I thought Bandit sounded too much like a boy's name but they didn't care.  So, Bandit became her name.  (Needless to say, every time we take her to the groomer, he puts a boy bandanna on her...even though we tell him she is a female!)

Buddy loved Bandit.  He had a little sister to play with and he sensed that he had to be gentle with her while she was still small.  It was so fun to watch them romp and play and love on each other as dogs will do.

Bandit was (and still is) a bit neurotic.  I do believe she was given to us at too young of an age.  (Six weeks.)  I think she was weened off her mama way too soon.  My reason for this, she licked my carpets like crazy!  Back then I had a white carpet, so it showed the dirt real good.  But with Bandit licking it like she did, I had white spots all over it.  It took us a long time to finally break her of this habit. 

Buddy lived for almost 17 years.  But he was getting old and had tumors on his body, was going blind and his heart was failing.  He was also suffering from arthritis and in constant pain.  The day finally came last October when we knew it was time to say goodbye.  It was a sad day and I cried like a baby when we put him to sleep. 

Bandit had a hard, hard time without her boy.  She became depressed and just laid around the house.  Jack and I both realized she needed another playmate so we started the search for a new dog.  And that's when we found Bailey.

Bailey was a victim of all the foreclosures in the valley.  She was found half starved and dirty out in the desert.  She was rescued by one of the rescue shelters and fostered out to another family.  They bathed her and fed her and got her back to being healthy before putting her up for adoption.  I saw her picture and fell instantly in love with her.

We were so excited to bring her home.  We thought for sure Bandit's lonely days were over.  Bailey loved Bandit instantly.  She understood that Bandit was the big sister and treated her as the alpha dog. 

Bandit, on the other hand, had always submitted to Buddy as the alpha dog, and had no desire to be top dog.  As hard as we tried, she just wouldn't be boss.  This has caused some stress for Bailey, because she really has no desire to be top dog either.  So they both decided mama (me), would be top dog. 

Bailey and Bandit do play together at times, but on most days you will find them like this...

Sometimes I wonder, had we gotten another male dog, would Bandit have been happier.

Recently, we had new neighbors move in next door.  They have a dog.  A  BIG dog.  It barks all the time and it has a big bark, so that's how we know it's a big dog. (Plus one day Jack decided to look over the fence to see how big it is.  He took a chair, peaked over, and this giant horse..okay, this huge Great Dane, jumped up and put his paws on my six foot fence and scared the crap out of my husband!)

We think it is a male, because Bandit sits at the fence and stares at the wall all.day.long.

Every day, no matter what they weather, she will be at that wall.

I mean literally, every single day, she is at this wall from sun up, to sun down.

Talk about crazy, crazy love!  I've thought about having the neighbors bring their dog out front (on a leash of course), and I'd bring Bandit out to meet him.  The only reason I haven't done it yet, is because I'm afraid the neighbor dog might think she's dog food, and eat her!

You don't see crazy, crazy love like this very often.  That is, unless you open a Bible and read about our God who is so in love with us, that He decided to come down in the form of man and give His life for us so that we can live with Him forever.  This Man chose to be called crazy, despised by many, called more names than we can imagine, be spit upon, beaten, and murdered by being hung on a cross, all because he is in love with us.  Talk about crazy, crazy love!  Awesome! 

John 15:9-17 (NIV)
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Be blessed,

Sue

Thankful Thursday

Today I am going to try something new.  I am going to try blogging to Thankful Thursday.  Each Thursday you blog something(s) you are thankful for.

1.  I am thankful that I still have my mom and dad here. While they are now getting much older and their bodies have become aged, I am still so glad they are here.  I am also thankful that in this day and age of divorce, my parents are still married.

2. I am thankful that my husband, with everything he is going through health wise, still wakes me up each morning with a cup of coffee and makes me breakfast.  I don't tell him how much I appreciate this enough.

3.  I am thankful that God blessed me with four children that came from my womb, and three that came with my husband.  I love each one of my children and can't imagine life without them.  They have blessed me countless times over the years.

4.  I am thankful for my grandchildren.  They bring so much joy to my life, they make me feel young and they make me laugh.  Each one of them is special in their own way and it has been a privilege to watch them grow and become their own  persons. 

5. I am thankful for my church.  I am who I am as a Christian because of the faithful teaching of my pastor and small group leaders.  You have walked with me through some of the hardest times in my life as well as the best times.

6. I am thankful for friends, both live and on the internet.  You have counseled me, prayed for me, cheered me up when I was down, encouraged me when I thought I couldn't do something.  You have shown me that the world is not such a bad place after all.

7.  I am thankful for the precious Word, my Bible.  The promises in it are breath to me.  It gives me life and hope.  It shows me God's love, unfailing.

8.  Most importantly, I am thankful for my Savior.  I truly believe I could not have gone on at times if I hadn't had His hand in mine.  The ability to cry out to my Father and know that I know that I know, He will hear me and respond, is amazing.  I look forward to that day when I can meet my Savior face to face.  I pray that while I am here on earth, I will walk His walk.  May I always point to His glory.

What  are you thankful for today?

Be blessed,

Sue

Fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis

I had a follow-up appointment with my Rheumatologist yesterday.  On my first visit I came late in the afternoon and was having a fairly good day.  My pain level wasn't so bad that day.  At that time she did prescribe lidacaine patches for my back and told me she wanted me to come back in six weeks.  This time my appointment was scheduled for early morning.

I always ache worse in the morning.  When I rise from my bed there are days it hurts just to walk to the bathroom.  I usually take a hot bath first thing in the morning to help get me moving.  However, I didn't have a chance to take one yesterday morning.  So, when I saw the doctor, I was hurting all over.

She did another exam on me, and when she was finished she asked me if I had read the pamphlets she gave me last time on fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis.  I confessed to her that I had not read them because I didn't want to know what the symptoms were.  That is when she told me I really needed to read them, because I definitely have fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis. 

I was stunned.  First, I have not really thought much about fibromyalgia.  In fact, I once called it a "diagnose of convenience!"  In other words, I thought doctors were too quick to diagnosed it because they didn't know what else to call it.  (I know....I know!)

So, today on the way to work, I decided to read those two pamphlets.  It was difficult to read them while driving.  It's hard to drive while darting in and out of traffic, stopping at lights, etc. (KIDDING!!!  I take the bus!) 

Fibromyalgia is a condition associated with widespread chronic pain (me), fatigue (me again), memory problems (what were we talking about), and mood changes (wha chu talkin' bout Willis?).  Well, there you go!  I have all four of those symptoms.  But wait, there is more!  There are 18 points on your body that when pressure is applied, are very tender.  16 of the 18 points on my body hurt, 12 of them a lot and 4 of them are mildly tender.

Osteoarthritis has ten areas that are commonly affected.  I ache in all ten areas.  My fingers on my left hand hurt when holding the steering wheel.  My fingers on my right hand are not near as bad.  I have to wonder if this is from playing the guitar?  My knees really hurt, especially when I'm cold.  My lower back and my neck are always in pain.  In cold or damp weather my hips and ankles hurt.  (I guess I can forget about moving back east...)

The doctor did tell me that there are medicines out there that may help alleviate some of the pain, but not all of the pain.  At this point, I would just like to see the level of pain decreased.  I have a high tolerance to pain, so I can live with some pain.  (However, if God wants to heal me 100%, I would be willing to accept it!)

I did tell the doctor I did not want to be put on any anti-depressants.  I took Cymbalta a few years ago and hated the way it made me feel.  (And getting off of it was sheer hell!)  She prescribed a medicine called gabapetin.  One of the side affects is feeling tired, so she suggested I take it at night.  Last night was my first night on it and I have to say I slept like a rock.  However, I've been dragging all day.  I hope that once my body is used to the medication, it won't feel so tired.  She did tell me it takes about four weeks before I will begin to notice an improvement. 

So, I have a diagnose.  While not thrilled with it, at least now I have an answer and I can move on.  So, moving on...

Hubby and I went out  for dinner last night with a friend of his and his wife.  They are part of a church plant and currently meet in a home.  Because it is small they have a lot more time for ministry, prayer and counseling.  We met with them to discuss some of the  issues in our life that we are dealing with and to see if we could possibly counsel with them.  I was hesitant at first because I had only met the husband a few times and never met his wife.  So we decided rather than a counseling appointment, we'd just go out for dinner together.

What a neat couple!  They had experienced what Jack and I are going through now, many years ago.  They have been walking in victory and now they minister with others who are going through it.  We had a great time of fellowship, prayer and even a bit of counseling.  They gave us some sound, Godly advice but of course, it will be up to us to follow through. The biggest thing I came away with, was the importance of  spending time in God's Word.

Our friend said, "Isn't it amazing how much joy we receive when we read His word, yet it is the one thing Satan can keep us from doing so easily.  You would think, knowing how much He speaks to us this way, and how much it changes our heart, it would be difficult for the devil to keep us away from it.  Yet it is one of the devils greatest tricks...keeping us from spending time in the Bible!"

How true!  And sadly, I am guilty of allowing the devil to trick me into thinking I don't have time to read each day.  And then I wonder why I feel so empty, down, hopeless, etc.  When I read God's Word, I feel so alive.  I have so much joy in my heart and I want to shout His praises from the mountain tops! I have strength to go on and face my trials and I don't feel alone.  The comfort I receive is beyond anything else in this world.  And yet...

And yet, I find myself too tired, too busy, too into my life to make time to read God's promises to me.  And then I wonder why I feel so angry, so sad, so much despair, fear, hopelessness, etc., etc., etc.  HELLO?  Anybody home?  Sigh...

God is so good.  And He is so kind, and gracious and compassionate (and patient)!  He is standing right there and eager to talk to all of His children.  We just have to come to him.

Psalm 145: 8-9 (NIV)
 ⁸ The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and rich in love.
 ⁹ The LORD is good to all;
       he has compassion on all he has made.

My goal right now, is to get back into the Word on a regular basis.  No more excuses.  I don't want the devil winning this one!

Be blessed,

Sue

Face painting, ocean adventures, rescued miners

The past few days have been have been very interesting.  I think my emotions have been all over the map.  On Tuesday morning I woke up with a heavy heart because I knew my son was at that moment on a jet plane headed to Florida.  I've been a mom for over 36 years and it is the first time one of my children has moved so far away.  Seriously, I don't know how my mom does it with two of her girls living back east.

Since Monday was a holiday, I was able to take Tuesday off as my flex day.  Feeling as down in the dumps as I did, I felt the first thing I needed to do was head to the beauty salon and get a cut and color.  I was sick of the gray and it was getting to a point that I had to use the curling iron every morning to straighten in and curl it the way I wanted it to go.  It would take me about 15-20 minutes each morning to do my hair.  So I told the girl to cut it in a way that would take me no time to get ready.  I also told her I'd like her to color it brown with some red highlights. This first picture is what my hair looked like last time I got it done in January.  The second picture is what we ended up with this time...

I was a bid shocked, to say the least.  The gal (very young gal, I might add), told me to give it a chance.  She tried to style it, but my natural curl wasn't going to have any of what she tried to do.  So when I got home, I sprayed it with water and let it do it's own thing. 

I've had a lot of compliments on it, but it definitely wasn't what I was going for.  HOWEVER, being that it took me all of one minute to do my hair this morning....I think I can live with it.

Anyway...at the time, after leaving the hair salon, I was pretty upset.  Instead of cheering me up, it made me feel worse. 

I had told my daughter the day before, that I would pick Lilly up from school and bring her home.  Since I was feeling so down in the dumps though, I decided to bring her home to my house for a while.  She is a funny kid and knows how to make her Nana laugh.  I am so glad I did! 

Her first words were "OH Nana, I LOVE your hair!  It's so Be-u-ti-ful!"  After we got back to my house we snugggled for a little bit while watching "Hello Kitty."  It was putting her to sleep so she asked me if I would paint her face.  We got on my computer and looked at face paintings to see what she'd like. 

Of course she wanted a butterfly.  She loves butterflies!  But she also wanted something else.  After looking at several pictures, she finally decided on a strawberry.

It was my first attempt at a strawberry, but I was pretty happy with the results.  (So was she!)  Then she and I went through the butterfly pictures on my computer.  She picked out some really awesome ones.  She especially liked the ones where the wings were on both sides of the face.   I'm glad she thinks I'm so talented, but I'm really not.  So we finally decided on one to just go over her cheek.

I think with some practice, I may get the hang of it.  However, it would have been a whole lot easier if she hadn't been yawning the whole time.  Having a cousin spend the night on a school night probably wasn't the best idea as she was very tired the next day!

After the face painting, Lilly helped me get dinner ready.  Since the weather was a little cooler, we decided to have dinner out on the patio.  I convinced her to try peas (something she said she hates), and after a bit of coaxing, she took a bite.  It was a hoot to watch the expression on her face when she realized they tasted pretty good!  "Oh Nana, peas are as good as corn!"  Her mom will never make them though...she hates peas.

After dinner I took her home.  I was feeling a whole lot better.  Still missing my boy, but at least not as sad.  That is, until he started posting pictures...

I'm not sure which is worse...the fact that I miss my boy and hate that he is gone...or that I am jealous that he is there!  Oh how I do envy him.  He is able to pack up his life and start all over again.  Wouldn't we all love to do that!  However, for whatever reason, this is where God has me, and I need to learn to be content in whatever situation God places me in.

  But I sure hope he doesn't fall in love with Florida and stay there for good!  Having one son on the east coast, and another one the west coast...well, what can I say.  A mama needs her boys!  Whose gonna take care of me when I'm old and feeble? ;-)

Yesterday I had MSNBC on my computer.  I watched the live stream of the miners being rescued.  I think the sweetest sound I heard yesterday was the sound of the siren that went off right before each miner would come through the earth.  Can you imagine spending 10 weeks trapped like that?  And they still came out all smiles and jubilant!  The tears of joy and happiness on their families faces were a sight to behold.  It sure changes one's perspective on their own little problems.  (Although I am guessing there is one miner who has another hole he is going to have to dig himself out of now that he's home!)  But to see all those people work together from all around the world (the drill was made right here in the USA), was so heartwarming.  And I am so glad the Chilean government agreed to film it live.  It was a blessing to be able to share in their joy.

This morning I woke up feeling a little better about life.  I know God is still sitting on the throne and He still has His hand on me.  He is indeed good!

Be blessed,

Sue

Saying goodbye is sad, even if it's only for a while

I've had the pleasure of having my son stay with me this past week.  He is leaving early tomorrow on an airplane and he's moving to Florida.  For a long time I didn't really believe he was going.  I just thought it was talk.  But one by one I watched him sell or give away his belongings and his beloved animals.  He was officially out of his apartment on Monday and he came to my house for the rest of the week.

I really enjoyed having my son with me.  I never get to see him enough as it is.  He works (worked) evenings and I work during the day so it was always hard to find time to see him unless it was a holiday or I went to see him at his shop.

This morning I cooked him hash browns, eggs and toast.  He was so happy with it that he took a picture and posted it on Facebook.  Tonight I made his farewell dinner.  It was steak, baked potatoes and mixed vegetables.  He invited a friend over to join us, and again, he took a picture.

I can always tell when my son feels like he's eating a good meal.  He takes a picture!

Two of my daughters came over to say goodbye to him also.  Connie brought her two boys over and Sandy brought her two girls over.  They all had a good time with Uncle Adam.  He showed them all the neat things he can do with his face.  He is a body piercer and he has piercings everywhere.  He showed them how he can take the one out of his chin and stick his tongue through it.  (Yes, I know, I think it's gross too.)  My granddaughters screamed when he did it.

As strange as my son looks, he has the sweetest, kindest personality in the world.  The kids love him and think he is wonderful.  It is because of him that I learned not to judge people who are covered in tattoos and piercings.  I've met a lot of his friends and they are all great people.  Strange, yes.  But still, great people.

Since I don't know when he'll be back, I took some pictures of him and the kids.  They were trying to be all gansta.  Epic Fail!

I am going to miss my son.  He promised me he would come back and I'm going to hold him to it.  He will be living with my sister and her son and the game plan is that he will bring them back here to AZ sometime next year.  She can't afford to move home on her own and will need enough money to rent the U-haul and pay for the other expenses.  I would like to see them here around March (my birthday).  Hopefully with his help, it will happen.

I do admit that I envy my son.  He has no wife, no kids, no responsibilities.  He can go somewhere else and find out what it is like to live there.  My sister is close to the ocean, so my son will have an opportunity to enjoy the beach and ocean life for a while.  Sometimes I wish I could just pack up and start over somewhere else, but I have too many responsibilities here. The only way I could ever move someplace else would be if God would make the way possible.  And I don't see that happening....so my life is here.

It was a wonderful week having Adam here.  I enjoyed our late night talks when he would come home from work and was glad to have him here.  I keep expecting him to walk in the door.  I don't think he gave me my house key back so he really could.  (OOPS!)

If you read this Adam, know that I love you very much.  I miss you already and I hope you come home soon.

Be blessed,

Sue