Life List........

This has been an emotional week for me. I'm not sure why......... Perhaps the death of a relative has caused me to reflect on my own mortality or perhaps it's just me being female. However, I'm determined to be thankful for all things God has supplied.

A Savior

A loving husband (After 33 years, he's still my best friend)

Children and grandchildren

A loving family (blood relations and my adopted family: Adam Family - take note)

Special friends (especially Lisha, who keeps me sane and on track)

A wonderful work environment and great partners in ministry (who wouldn't love working at Mulder?)

Even though Bob will lose his job by year's end, we are trusting God to supply all we need. We can't let the uncertainty of tomorrow guide how we live our lives. I firmly believe God has His hand in all things that are affecting my family. I choose to celebrate all things...find joy in all things.....and praise Him always!

Wondering Why......

I'm always leary of conversations that begin, "Are you sitting down?". Those were the words my brother spoke to me on Wednesday morning. I had heard that before......Same question.....same tone of voice. I heard it when his 42 year old daughter had died suddenly in June 2007. I knew something bad had happened. Then he told me......His oldest son (who was my age) had been taken by ambulance to a local hospital and wasn't expected to live. He died around 4 pm that afternoon. While I haven't been close to Steve in a long time, we were close as children, so naturally I am saddened by his passing. I fondly recall long lazy summers, playing outside. I remember holidays with the house full of children and the aromas of good food to share. Those thoughts have been buried for a long time...Steve's death served to remind me of simpler times. Yes, I am sad, but even sadder is my brother and his ex-wife who have lost 2 children in 13 months. We are always deeply touched by parents who lose young children.....I'm convinced we should be touched as well by parents who lose adult children. How do you comfort parents who are in their 60s and 70s and wish it had been them? Tomorrow I will sing Amazing Grace as we gather to say goodbye to Steve. He lived a hard life, he lived a solitary life.......I'm not sure of his eternal destination.....I can hope he found salvation before the end. Life is short.....live it to the fullest for the glory of God.

Catching Up.........

My good friend, Lisha, gently asked if I was ever going to blog again. Guess that was her way of telling me that I needed to put words to the screen.

A lot has happened in the last 6 weeks:

1. School finished. Richard will be a high school freshman in August!

2. VBS went off without a major hitch....just a few minor blips. Great job, Lisha!

3. Richard's baseball team won their league championship. He hit 7 homeruns this year, tying the league record.

4. Richard made the 14 Year Old All Star Team!

5. Richard is now my son. Adoption Day went off without a hitch. We were joined by Craig, Zac, Abby, Mark and Lisha. Everyone, plus Dan, went to Red Robin for lunch.

6. Richard's team won the Sub-District Championship, but came up short in District play.

7. Bob and I had dinner with Dan & Lisha in celebration of their 21st wedding anniversary. We attended an off-broadway production of Jesus Christ, Superstar after dinner. Thanks for asking us to join you!

8. Lisha, Valerie, Tanya and myself spent last weekend in Atlanta attending Deeper Still:the Event. What a blessed time of spiritual renewal. What a wonderful time of hanging out with the girls. I look forward to our next trip together.

9. Tomorrow we will travel to Lake Martin to celebrate the Fourth of July at the cabin of my BIL, Sonny. Lisha and her family will join us. This is the first year mother will not and I know I will miss her. She is unable to get out of bed these days............

10. My nephew, Bobby is on his way home from Iraq for some R&R. Hopefully, we will travel to ATL to pick him up on Saturday!

I could elaborate on any of these topics and may one day soon, but this is the best I could come up with at the moment. God is good and I am blessed..........

Gratitude

count your many blessings, name them one by one.........

Recently my friend Lisha completed blogging 30 days of gratitude. I was encouraged by her take on things for which she was grateful. Today has not been the best day of my life, however, it has certainly not been the worst. So, to put things in perspective here are some blessings in my life:

1. A God who loves me......
2. A husband who loves me......
3. My family...........
4. My church.........
5. My church family..........
6. My job (at church).......
7. My friend, Lisha, who has picked me up so many times recently.......
8. Craig & Mark J (I could not be in ministry with better people)...........
9. Volunteers who take care of church business in my absence..........
10. The ability to find humor in most things and laugh at myself when necessary.........

.......count you many blessings, see what God has done!

Celebrate.......

Today was a good day. After arising at 5:00 am to spend thirty minutes manning the Holy Week Prayer Wall, I downed a quick cup of coffeee, showered, dressed and made my way to church along with my hubby. We arrived around 7:15 am just as the Sunrise Service was adjourning. I actually look forward to these long days at church. I am blessed beyond measure to be able to spend a major part of my time serving the Lord and others, at the Mulder Church. My plan was to catch the early service as well as the late service. I was astounded at the crowd for the 8:15 service. It was so crowded that I gave up my plans to attend so someone could have a seat. Total in worship at 8:15 without nursery numbers:220. PTL! During the wait time for Praise Band rehearsal, I helped my friend Lisha prepare flowers so our children could decorate a cross. Once that was finished I moved to a room adjacent to Carter Hall to pray for the services.......Well, the Praise Band warmed up and the people flocked to the 10:45 service, all 255 of them (no children's numbers included)! I'm thinking Craig's guesstimate of 540 total in attendance is going to be very close. I'll have the final count tomorrow. All 255 of those people were worshipping and praising God...AWESOME!



Immediately after church we travelled to AC to visit my mother, my sister and our daughters along with their families. The children were so cute looking for those Easter eggs!



What a glorious day. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Celebrate......................

Travel Time

Yesterday, I took a trip to Atlanta, not for fun or for business, but to meet my grandson at the airport. (See previous blog about THE ACCIDENT). Bob and I left early enough to stop and have breakfast together in Opelika. We hardly ever have our morning meal together, so it was nice to able to eat, have coffee and just talk. It was also nice to not be surrounded by children with big ears. As we traveled closer to Hartzfield-Jackson International, the questions about how Wally would look and if he weathered the trip well, began to surface. Arriving at the airport about an hour before the scheduled arrival, we learned that the departure from Green Bay had been delayed due to the rainy weather in Dallas. So we waited and waited and waited. Finally the board showed flight 4684 had landed.....and we waited....the board showed flight 4684 had arrived....and we waited...........then my cell phone rang. It was my daughter saying they were here and where was I? Of course, due to all the 911 regulations you cannot reach a gate without a ticket, so we waited in the Atrium..........and we waited...and waited. Finally, I heard someone say, "Momma" and there they were, the daughter and the grandson. Wally with 2 black eyes and a very flat place on his skull and his mother one tired girl. Braving the rain that had moved in we headed for the parking lot and the van. Bob went on ahead to bring the car closer. What a blessing he is. About 45 minutes into our return trip we stop at Steak & Shake for a late lunch. Wally always orders chicken, but this time he wanted fish.....has the skull fracture changed his taste? We resumed our trip stopping only at a WalMart to purchase the things you might need when you've been away from home for 10 days. At last, we got them to their home, weary but happy to be there. Bob and I continued our travels alone arriving just in time to take communion at out Wednesday service.



Our church is sponsoring a prayer wall this week and my assigned prayer time is 10:30 pm-11:00 pm. I was so tired that my good friend, Lisha, offered to pray in my stead last night. Have I told ya'll how much I love that woman? She's the best and is always willing to do anything to help me out and lately, I've needed lots of help! Anyway, after 9 uninterrrupted hours of sleep, I'm almost recovered from my trip........and looking forward to my next.....travel time!

My Man

I love my husband! He's been a part of my life for over 34 years and quite frankly, I could not live without him. Now don't get me wrong, there have been times I THOUGHT I could live without him, but they have been few and far between. This man is a keeper....he cooks, he cleans, he mows the lawn, he takes car of my vehicle and he loves me! How good is that? I arrived home from work today to find him frying chicken and----- he cleaned up his mess. He's a quiet guy for the most part but that's okay, I'm loud enough for us both. God blessed me with a wonderful partner in life and I'm a happy woman..................

Dutiful Daughter

My mother was a very strong person. You know the "Steel Magnolia" type. She raised three daughters on her own for the most part and did a pretty good job of it, if I say so myself. Sadly that person is slowly being replaced by someone I don't recognize, a mere shadow of her former self, an almost child-like being. I go bi-weekly for a visit to her nursing home. Lately I've been more due to a 10 day stay in the hospital that required someone to be with her 24/7. Sometimes she knows who I am, like tonight, and other times she calls me ma'm, I'm a stranger to her. Tonight was a good visit...we ate Cinnasnacks from Sonic and drank Diet Dr. Pepper. She laughed along with me, my sister and my nephew's girlfriend. I savor the moments when I recognize the woman who gave me life and whether or not she remembers my name, I'll make the trek for our visits. Until the Good Lord calls her home, I will continue to be a dutiful daughter.........