Thankful Thursday: My Sweet Mama

 

I have the BEST Mama.

I know everyone thinks their mother is the greatest, but...

My mom will be 72 on the 8th.

She and Daddy took a chance on a sick baby who may have been profoundly disabled.  One who they may have to take care of for the rest of their life.  

She has 8 kids; 7 biological and one stepdaughter; 5  boys and 3 girls.  You'd never know it though.

She went to nursing school in her 40's to support her family; working 12-hour night shifts, so that the little kids always had someone at home to take care of them.

She took care of Dalton for about 6 weeks before  Bobbye was born.  (He was 3 and she lives an hour and a half away from us - she kept him during the week. Barret would pick him for the weekend .)

She came and helped take care of me after my hip replacement.

She is helping to take care of a family .friend.

I love my mama!!!

A Christmas Memories-Kindness in a Bitter Sweet Moment

 

Photo by Kindpng

I don't know know if this qualifies as a good Christmas memory or not.

It was the first Christmas after Mama and Daddy separated.  I had just turned 17.  We knew Christmas would be very different that year.  

As we were getting ready to go to my aunt and uncle's house, someone knocked on the door. No one was there, but there were 4 big garbage bags and 3 smaller bags.

There was a tag on each that sack that said: "From Santa".

We never found out who the "Santa" was. (I have my suspicions, but will probably never know).

The strangest thing was that Mama's gift was a "Mother's Ring". Jimmy, Luke, and I had wanted to get her one for Christmas, but couldn't afford it.

NO ONE knew this except Daddy, but I don't think he was financially able to accomplish that.

We had other blessings that year.

A lady from our church worked as a waitress and her restaurant adopted us.  They had a lovely meal for us and gifts too.   

I think we had people leave money in our mailbox, too.

Christmas is such a beautiful holiday that gives us so many opportunities to show GOD's love to others.  Even if it's just a smile and a "Merry Christmas".

About Me Tuesday: My Daddy

 

Yesterday, Oct 24,2022, would have been my Daddy's 77th birthday.

I was a Daddy's girl (except when my Mama was around 🤣!)

He was my first encourager.  My parents were told to leave me at the hospital and forget about me.  He said "Not my daughter."

He helped me overcome all the limitations that were placed on me.

When I started to walk, I was a little wobbly, just a little bit.

My Daddy was a big man - he was 6'7.  All my friends thought he was a giant.

He would help me walk; when I stumbled, he always caught me; usually before I fell.

Walking with him always made me feel safe

One of my favorite things to do with my Daddy was to debate him: about religion, politics, and current events.  We could talk for hours.

He told me I could do ANYTHING!!!

As I became a teenager, my relationship with my Daddy got rocky.  There are things we both struggled to understand about each other.

He was so proud the day I graduated from college, got married, and had the kids.

I always knew he loved me.

This picture was taken 4 days before he died.

That was the last time I ever saw my Daddy.  

Hard to believe he's been gone 17 years ago.  

I miss and love him every day.

About Me Tuesday - Why I Write

 

 Photo by FAVPNG

We all have that 1 thing that we love to do.  That 1 thing we have to do.  That we are meant to do.  It makes your heart beat a little faster.   It consumes your thoughts and even your dreams.

Mine is writing.

My inspiration was Judy Blume.  Who could read about her character, Fudge, and not fall in love with her and want to be a New York Times Best Selling Author?

Writing was always a way for me to express myself when people couldn't understand my speech.

It was something that was just mine.  I could keep it to myself or share it with others.  I grew up with the first three Norman Boys: Jimmy, Luke, and Caleb.  As the only girl, (I'm 19 years older than my sisters) sometimes I felt like I got lost in the chaos.  (Don't be fooled, though, I could hold my own in a fight!!!)

I can remember when Mama and Daddy got us a word processor.  I was so excited.  I can remember how the words were orange against the black screen.  I haven't thought about this in years...I'm actually getting chills just thinking about it!!!

We were at a used bookstore and Mama got me a book about writing.   She signed it to her "budding author" I felt so special that she called me an "Author"  Being a writer was fine, but being an author held a certain social status that meant that you had made it as a writer.

Writing, to me, come in phases.  I can go days, weeks, and months even without writing anything substantial.  Then I  can get on a roll where all I want to do is write.

Every time I write; everything I write tells a little bit more of my story.

Reflection Sunday - 5 Tactics to Slaying Giants

                                                                                                                          Photo by CLIPARTMAX

At church, we are going through the book of 1 Samuel, and today we talked about David and Goliath.  A favorite story of kids everywhere. 

When Dalton was  little, he had a Super Heroes Bible.  I'm sure no one is surprised by this!  (He may still have it.)  It highlighted some heroes in the bible and their characteristics

Some of David's characteristics are: obedience, humility, patience, courage and faith

We can see these 6 tactics when David faces the great Goliath.        

    - Obedience: David obeyed his father who sent him to take food to his brothers on the battle field.  He obeyed GOD when he told him to fight Goliath

    - Humility: Samuel had already told David and his father, Jesse, that David would be the next king of Israel.  It would have been so easy for him to become a cocky, prideful teenager.  But he was honorable and obedience; which is probably one of the reasons GOD chose him. A man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14) 

Luke 12:48 says,   "From everyone who has been given much will be demanded, and from the one who's been entrusted with much, much more will be asked(This just happens to be one of Dalton's favorite verses, plus it was somewhat reference to in Spider-man.)  Because David was such good shepard, GOD trusted him with bigger and better things.

       -Patience: The kid was a shepard, and at night on top of that.  It may have been a ,little more exciting than watching paint dry.

I think its interesting  The GOD likens  HIMSELF to a shepard.  Sheep are suppose to be one the dumbest and most vulnerable animals alive.  David is very patient with his sheep, just as GOD is patient with us.

      -Courage: It is believed that Goliath was between 8 and 12 ft tall.  My Daddy was 6"7' tall, Everyone at school thought he was a giant.  So, I couldn't imagine being a youth (some people think he was under 5" tall) and facing someone that tall.  Hearing stories of how others who were taller and older than him, may have made David quake in his  boots.  Then King Saul placed his armor on David; which was too big and heavy for him.    He knew that unless he followed GOD's command, then he would have enough courage and wouldn't be able to defeat Goliath.

       -Faith: Not only did David have to obey GOD, but he also had to have faith that He would take care of him.  I've come to the conclusion that faith is either really simple or really difficult.    Hebrew 11:1 " "Faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence pf things unseen.  Some people only believe in things they can see.  In John 20:29 JESUS tells Thomas; "Because you have seen me, You have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen but still believe."  Without faith, we can't even take our next breath.  David had to have faith in order to gather up the courage to fight Goliath.

We all have giants and the same 5 tactics can apply to slaying our own giants:

1.  We  have to be obedient to what GOD tells us about our giants. 

2.  We have to be humble enough to say that we can't fight our giants without GOD

3.   We have to have patience to wait on GOD to tell and show us how to fight our giants. 

4.   It takes courage to fight our giants.  Sometimes it takes just as much courage (if not more) to NOT fight our giants, because GOD wants us to learn to cope with our giants, not slay them.  They are  intended to be part of our testimony .

And finally

5. We have to have faith to slay our 9 ft giants.  We have to know that GOD is with us, even when we can't see evidenced of it.

How do you slay your giants?  Comment below, please!

Wednesday's Word: Compassion

 

Photo by Pixy

Everyone needs COMPASSION!

The definition of compassion is:

"sympathetic consciousness of other's distress together with a desire to alleviate it"   Merriam-Webster

Covid has taught us many, many things.  We have been reminded of how heroic people can be; not just in America, but all over the world. I don't think anyone has been praised (and rightly so) more than the people in the medical field; especially those on the front lines: like emergency rooms and ICUs.However,  the other side of the coin is that not many people want to work in health care right now.Since I live in a nursing facility, I am seeing this firsthand. We don't have enough nurses or CNAs (certified nurse assistants).  They are always short.  Some of the CNAs work through agencies (because they pay more) and many of them really don't care how they deal with the residents because they'll be at a different facility the next day.  The CNAs who do care are stretched to their limits and many don't have time to give the residents the care that they need and deserve.But, what I want to talk about now is the compassion that we owe the people who take care of us.Our society has such a "the customer is always right" morality, that many of us don't show others the common courtesy that everyone deserves.I can remember when were kids, if we didn't say "yes ma'am, no ma'am; yes sir, no sir; please and thank you", we better hope our daddy didn't find out!!!Most people work really hard; it doesn't matter if you're the top neurosurgeon in the world or a garbage collector; EVERYONE deserves respect.Sometimes, all it takes is a simple "thank you" and a smile to lift someone's weary soul.


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THANKFUL DAY 2 - GOD MY FATHER

Today I'm thankful for God,my heavenly Father.  I find it amazing that God reaches out to His people as a Father.  This intrigues me for many reasons.  First He is the creator.  He spoke everything into existence out of nothing ~  That also makes the world's first and greatest magician. Nothing we can ever create can ever even compare to the vast wonders of God's creations.  The farther is also the head and the bedrock of the family.  (Side NOTE - I am in no way trying to say mothers aren't as important as men or that they can't be the head of their family, because they can.  However, I do believe that the father is biblically  suppose to be the head of the father.)   The father is to lead the family and to have the final authority.  He carries the bulk of the responsibility of the family.  He can be stern and loving at the same time; knowing that true discipline is true love.  My first true image was my earthly father.  My Daddy was 6'7, strong, hard working and loving; but you knew if he took his belt off that you needed to run for the hills because you were in for it.  But the strange was, when all the dust settled, I could go back and talk to my Daddy and still receive that unconditional from Him because I was his daughter.  I can mess time and time keep running back to God because I know that I am His daughter and I'm loved by Him.

Stumbling Blocks

Photo by PNGTREE

When I learned to walk, it was not like other kids walked, I more or less just stumbled about wherever I went.  (Not much has changed in 40+ years)  As I grew, I graduated from a walker to crutches and eventually to walking on my own; yet, actually, I just became a better stumbler.  My favorite aid to assist me in the process was my father.  Daddy, in his prime, stood six feet seven inches tall!  He was known among my friends as "The Giant".  Daddy was a very strong guy and this really showed when he was walking with me.  I can't remember ever falling; somehow he always managed to catch me and keep me steady.  Although Daddy couldn't physically keep me from stumbling, he did everything he could to keep me from falling.  When I did fall, Daddy did whatever he could to encourage me to get back up and try again.

        I have another Father who does the exact same thing!  This is God.  He is so big and strong.  He holds me in His arms at all times.  Even though He doesn't always remove all the stumbling blocks from my life, He does guide me down the path and He is there to pick when I fall.

                                                                               It has been a long time since I've gotten to stumble beside my Daddy. I grew up, as little girls do, and my paths did not always cross with his.  I suppose the last time I got to stumble with him was down the church aisle at my wedding when he handed me over to the man that I will stumble my life away with.  After I had my two precious babies, I had a hip replacement, which has helped my stumbling a lot.  My daddy is no longer here on this earth to stumble about with me.  And even though when I reach heaven, I won't be stumbling anymore, I know that both my Fathers will be waiting to walk me down those streets of gold

YOU'VE GOT TO KNOW WHEN TO HOLD 'EM AND KNOW WHEN TO FOLD 'EM

One of my Daddy's favorite songs was "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers.  It's one of those songs that takes more right back to my childhood.  Two other songs that can do this is "The Coward Of  The County" also  by Kenny Rogers and "The Ballad of Thunder Road" by Robert Micthums,  I got sidetrack while writing this because I kept finding songs on YOU TUBE that my Daddy like so I wound on a train going down Memory Lane.
     Anyway,  there's a line in "The Gambler" that says "You have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em."  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV) tells us there is a time for everything.

 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

There is also a song by the Bryds called  "Turn, Turn Turn"  based on these verse.  God knew there would be different seasons in our life:  Some seasons break your heart and make you want to tear your clothes and wallow in the ashes and then there are seasons that are so beautiful that you catch a glimpse of heaven.  However; most of us, most of the time, are in seasons that fall somewhere in between..  My seasons are  shifting.   This summer I became a mother of an adult who will graduate in nine short months and a daughter  who just dipped her toe into to that big pool called high school and is counting down the days (I think its 22 ) until she can get her driver's permit.  It seams like just yesterday she was in her Johnny Jumper and he was  running around acting like Spider-man, (well, somethings  NEVER  change).  I can remember there were days when I thought I'd never make it, and now I find myself wanting those days back.    But life's like that isn't it?  Time passes on whether you want it to or not.  We have to know when to hold 'em - when we need to fight and keep doing what we believe God it telling us to do, but there are also time when we need to fold 'em - when God is telling us that is time to let something go.  I think it's harder to fold 'em because we HATE  not be in control.  Life is a gamble; the ONLY thing I can be sure of is that I am property off the King and will I'll spend an eternity with Him in paradise.  I hope that on November 7th, 2018 Bryan and I will celebrate our 20th  wedding anniversary, but it's not promised.  I hope and  pray that when Dalton and Bobbye Sue get out on their own, that they will live a life pleasing to God.  But I can't make that decision for them.  But my prayer is when I get to Heaven I'll be able tell God That I held 'em when He told me to hold 'em, and I folded 'em when He told  me to fold 'em, and He'll say; "Well done, good and faithful servant."