A Mama's heart

Kaitlin is sick. She got the sickness from her cousins. She had a glorious spring break with them but they shared their "grunge" with her. Stuffy nose, fever, ear ache. When she flew home her ear caused her terrible pain. That was Saturday. We treated her symptoms and she was feeling a little better. She got in the bed with Carl and me at 4 something this morning. Her ear was hurting her so bad she couldn't sleep. As she lay in the bed next to me, I stroked her hair and told her I would call the doctor as soon as his office opened in the morning. I rubbed her back and told her I loved her and that she would feel better soon. We went to the doctor at 10:30. She has a double ear infection. She is now on antibiotic , a decongestant and pain medicine. She doesn't feel better yet but has high hopes for tomorrow.

My friend, Darrell, has a sister named Tina. Tina is 45. She has the mental capacity of a 3 year old. Tina has inoperable cancer. It is everywhere. When the oncologist saw her three weeks ago he gave her less than a week to live. Tina is in lots of pain. I have been praying for Darrell , Tina and their whole family. I have been praying for wisdom for the family, for peace, for Tina to go quickly without much pain. But this morning as I lay next to my precious girl who was in pain and I knew there was a pretty good chance that I could get help for my baby but that Tina's mama can't do that. And for Tina to not be in pain at all, she needs to be with Jesus. And as Glorious as that will be, on a practical note, how can a mama hold the desire to help her baby and the knowledge that she needs to let her go at the same time in her mind and heart. My heart just broke. My prayers tonight will be verses of Scripture because I have no words. I know He will give grace to Tina and Darrell and to their whole family tonight and forever.

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

The Winner Is.....

Here is my friend, Brianna, with her new Andrew Peterson book. Happy Reading!

Update

Here is the laundry room with tile no grout. That is the door to John's room. Here is the view standing by John's door.The first thing their did this morning was move my fridge into the den. The last picture is from the laundry room into the kitchen. Majel is standing up taking off a door while Wade is taking off baseboards in the pantry. We are hoping that they get this all down today. ( see my fingers crossed)

God guides our steps

At the beginning of Andrew's second year at AUBURN he was playing a computer game online. He met fellow game player online and they began a friendship. Andrew finally asked where this young man was. Answer- college. Andrew - Where? Answer- AUBURN. Me too- where do you live? Answer- Little Hall. Andrew- ME TOO! Andrew went to meet Robert. Andrew " Where are you from?" Robert-" A little small town in northern Alabama, you've never heard of." Andrew- " What town?" Robert- " Arab" At this point Andrew is stunned. Carl grew up in Arab. If you looked up Arab on Internet it will say "side spot in the road" Andrew had spent every Christmas of his life in Arab plus lots of other special times.

It turns out that Robert's mama graduated from high school with Carl's sister Marian. Robert had a girlfriend, Jennifer. She is now his wife. When we met Jenn we knew that she probably had a parent graduate from high school with one of Carl's brother's since there were 4 of them. Her daddy graduated with Uncle Ted. When we made that connection, Uncle Ted began with the stories about her dad. " So did your dad ever tell you about the time in Chemistry class when we had that acid and...

Jenn went home and asked her daddy about all these stories she was hearing about him. With a twinkle in his eye he told Jennifer not to hang around our family anymore.

Andrew was a groomsman in their wedding. Kaitlin was the candid photographer. Robert was a groomsman in Andrew and Taylor's wedding and Jennifer sang. Robert's parents came down from Arab to attend the wedding. I love Robert and Jennifer and am so blessed that God put them in Andrew's life.

Update on the Tile

Here are some pictures from this morning of the work done last evening. They moved the washer and dryer into the garage.

I love the tile color. I went to check on what they had done and I told Wade that I just loved it. He was knee deep in the "mud" that the tile sits on with knee pads on. He leaned back on his feet and smiled and said " I'm glad." Majel walked in at that moment. Wade didn't miss a beat and said " Majel, she hates the color and wants it darker." Majel came right back with " No problem, as soon as all the tile is laid , I'll spray paint it any color you like" We all laughed.

We have a winner!

Here are all your names

Here is John drawing out a name

And the winner is Brianna!

Let's Have a Drawing for a book

Dearest Gentle Readers,

Send me a comment with the book you are reading or the last one you read. I 'll enter the names in a basket and draw one out. The winner gets the new Andrew Peterson book. I'll draw a name on Thursday.

Basketball update 2

We had a point and shoot camera so the action shoots are not the best. We wanted to take Kaitlin's big camera but they were forbidden.

Our seats were in the MS State sections so the cheers were aimed at us. That was fun.

There were more Tigers fans at Alltel than any other. Their school blue is a beautiful color.

This man in the center of this pictures looks like he could work for the Russian Mafia. He never watched the game he always scanned the crowd. Several times during the MS State game a cow bell was rung. Cow Bell ringing is illegal. When you hear it is a closed arena, you know why. This man and several like him were intent on finding it. I was scared they would and what they would do with the culprit. They never did and by the end of the game the man was ringing it over his head trying to encourage MS State. Also I took this picture for Kaitlin so she could see the photographers. Kaitlin has gone to so many sporting events that we have realized she would make a good sports photography because she know enough about the game but doesn't really care.

The young man who is 11 for MS State, wearing the maroon, has a brother who plays for NC. I knew from the paper that his mama was at the NLR game while his dad was at the game in NC supporting his brother.

We saw the coach for Memphis in 1996 in Atlanta when he was the coach for U Mass. His pictures is on the score board.


One picture I wish I did have was of the trainer for MS State. He must of lost power and gotten dressed in the dark. He was wearing a bright pink pair of pants, a powder blue shirt with a white collar and a pink and blue tie. There is even a blub in the sports page today about his outfit.

One thing I enjoyed about the games is I was happy with whoever won. I saw lots of MS State tears. That broke my heart.

I had a great time. I loved being there to feel all that excitment. Andrew wants to find 2 venues next year so that we can see games on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That would be fun.

Basketball 1

Here we are at the first, Second Round game at Alltel arena in NLR. We were 14 rows from the court. We saw Texas and Miami. There were a contingent of Texas fans and a very few Miami. But Miami got most of it's cheers from the anti-Texas fans in the place. Every time they played The Eyes of Texas are Upon Me, the Hogs fans started calling the Hogs. At first I was sad they would do that until Carl reminded me that if I heard the alabama fight song I would sing the AUBURN fight song louder. All four schools brought their pep band. They all had different kinds of cheer squads. Some just cheerleaders, some a mix of cheerleaders and pom squads and one team just had 3 cheerleaders and lots of dancers.

Bathroom update

Wade and Majel got here at 6:50 this morning. They put in the floor in the shower and the bathroom plus the tile around the shower on the outside. They plan to be back on Monday afternoon.

Bathroom update

Here is the new light fixture, medicine cabinet and the beadboard. I am very pleased. Still no sink or fixtures for the shower or sink. Tomorrow they plan to lay tile all day.

A verse for the First Day of Spring

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown
in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations

Isaiah 61:11

Bathroom pipes

This is where I will have a sink soon. I put this picture in so you could see how W and M had to move the pipes around to fit the sink I got. I said " Well, I've learned lots from this bathroom. I might not have picked out this sink if I had known what I know now. I'll pick differently for the next bathrooms" Wade just smiled and then said " Mrs Monroe, I'll go with you when you pick out the stuff for the other bathrooms." That will be fine with me.

Wade and Majel don't plan to work here today because of the rain. They hope to put the tile down in the bathroom and on into the kitchen before Sunday. We are hoping the rest of the stuff I ordered arrives on a truck on Thursday

KimT dropped by this morning to have a viewing on the work done on the bath. You drop by too. Just call and make sure I'm here.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

I was introduced to Andrew Peterson's music by my son Andrew. He has seen Andrew Peterson several times in concert. My Andrew also sent me several times to AP's blog so that now it has a link on mine. I tip my hat to my Andrew for giving me this opportunity to review AP's book.


For me reading a book is much more than just the words on the page.


One of the first things I do is write my name in a book. On the first page of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is a page that says This book is in the care of___________. Way cool.


I knew this book was fantasy and I wondered how I would keep up with where everyone was and where they had been or were going. I was thrilled to find a wonderful map so that I could follow them.


The chapters are short. This is great for reading aloud.


This book has the very clever footnotes. I loved turning to a page that had one or two.

And now for the summary: In the land of Skee we meet three children, Janner, his younger brother, Tink and their little sister Leeli. They live with their mama and granddad. We learn early on of the war and the occupation of the their town. Gnag the Nameless seeks the Lost Jewels of a mysterious King. The three children and their dog, Nugget, soon through an innocent game ,become involved in the hunt. The more they learn the more they know they must escape. They find friends that are faithful and some that are not. I laughed and cried. I was so nervous through some parts. I LOVED the ending.

I had trouble putting the book down. I can't wait for the next one.

If you want to buy the book here is the link www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400073847

I am pulling for North Carolina. What team are you pulling for?

I love college basketball. I love to hear the squeaking of the tennis shoes on the court, the fast pacedness of the game but most of all I like seeing the underdogs pull a big upset.

For those who don't know this Thursday at 11:00am will begin The Road to the Final Four. I will be watching 32 games from Thursday to Sunday. I love this time of year.

When my children were little as soon as the teams were picked to play, I would get us all a blank US map. We would look up all the colleges and universities and plot them on a map. It was fun to see what states had the most school in and even the location of some schools.

You are thinking" Why did they have to look them up on a map?" Do you know where IUPUI is or Gonzaga?

After we did this activity I felt better about watching all the games because it was then educational. I remember when Valparaiso was in the tourney and we watched the press conference after their game. The coach looked right at the camera ( at my children and me) and said" Who watching this even knows where Valparasio is " We did. Indiana.

Most years Andrew would make an ENORMOUS bracket for the teams. He would write the teams in their proper spots as they won. He continued this in college. One year in the dorm he made a bracket the length of 10 foot wall. Another time he down loaded the emblem of each school and as the teams won, one got to move their emblem forward. Once when Andrew was about 10 he went to visit a friend during The Games. He came home disappointed because he could not find their brachet anywhere. I did have to sit him down and tell him that we are a unique sort of family.

We have since 1996 picked teams. Most folks will pick their brackets all the way to the end. We don't. We pick round by round. We do it for bragging rights. Now Andrew and John and my brother John pick by whose hot now or who is hurt or winning percentages. My brother Charles and Kaitlin don't. Kaitlin picks by color of the teams and if she likes their mascot. Charles, one year picked all the teams, from the ones that were pared together, that had a name that came first in the alphabet. Kaitlin and Charles do as well as my sons and brother John. The lesson here is Don't Bet On Sports.

Kaitlin is asking for us to do our maps this year. We may do it tomorrow.

Please say Xavier like Zavier not X-Zavier. One does not say X-Zylophone it is just xylophone. Thank you. This is a little pet-peeve of mine.

If you want to impress those around you, you can ask " So what 12 do you think will beat a 5 this year?" (this is usually an upset you can count on) or "How bout those Zags?" That is slang for Gonzaga which is located in Washington State and IUPUI ( which didn't make the tourney this year) is Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis. Who knew?

Some of the regional games are even being played in LR this year. Carl asked if I wanted to go and I said that I'd rather watch lots of games at one time rather that just one at a time.

The final game this year in on my birthday. A wonderful gift indeed.

Update

We have paint! I just love it. Did I mention that I have sheet rock dust all through my house?

Bathroom update

Wade and Majel did a lot of work today. I love the tile. It is on the ceiling too. Cool.

What are the chances?

Last fall a bride called the Art Department looking for a photography. Kaitlin's friend Cynde answered the phone and gave the bride, Kaitlin's name and number. We met the bride, Tracy, and Alice, her mother-in -law to be, at Starbucks so they could see some of Kaitlin's pictures. They liked what they saw and decided to hire Kaitlin.

We just got back from the wedding. It was about 2 1/2 hours up the road. More on it in a minute.

As we walked in, as we usually do, we just begin introducing ourselves to whoever we meet. We met the groom for the first time. We saw Alice and introduced her to Carl. Kaitlin and I went to find the bride. There were maybe 25 people at this wedding including the wedding party. We were at a Catholic chruch on the top of a moutain in the tiny town of Altus, Arkansas when a lady that works with Carl walked up to him and asked him why he was at the wedding. He explained that he was there helping Kaitlin. The lady from Carl's work was the matron of honor. She had gone to college with the bride. The bride and groom had recently moved to Arkansas. It is a small world.

The wedding was beautiful. We think it was because there was lots of love and affection and care and thoughtfulness very much present. We felt like one of the family or I guess three of the family. It was a family event and there were lots of last minute things that had to be done but they were done without anger and harsh words.

When we left the bride and the mother-in-law just hugged Kaitlin and me. How precious.

The bathroom

A few things were delivered but not many. There should be another delivery next week.

3.14159265

Happy PI Day.

I got my first spinal injection a year ago today. How do you remember that? you ask. Well, I do strange things when I have had anesthesia. I remember as I came to some sort of awakeness I saw a calendar and it had the date of March 13. I knew that I had my appointment on the 14th. Now mind you this calendar that I saw was WAAAAAAY across the room from where I was. My poor nurse probably didn't even know there was a calendar in the room. Even as I was saying " Your calendar is wrong ! It's pi day! You know ! 3.14 Do you understand? 3.14!' I could hear my rational self that had been put in the closet by the drugs struggling to get free and shut me up. But No, I kept saying " It's pi day"

Sweet Carl was just standing beside my bed. Do you think he is used to this by now?

I got my second injection four months ago today. I am still doing well. They say that an injection should last 2-3 months. Mine may still be working because I have so altered my activities. I am for the most part pain free from stenosis pain when I stand or walk in moderation. I am very thankful for that.

Bathroom update

The top picture shows the floor. We plan to replace the tile in both the bath and laundry room to the same tile and bring it on in to the kitchen.

This is the new can light I bought on my interesting trip to Home Depot.

I brought the workman food from our Wednesday night meal last night. Ham, hashbrown casserole and purple hull peas. yum yum. They have done alot so far. We are all hoping that the plumbing fixtures arive today.

Roaches

When we lived in New Orleans and I was introduced to roaches big enough to fly my children around a room, I found a pest-control expert. I don't remember much about the man in NO except that he did the job well. When we moved to Pine Bluff I found another company that I was happy with but they soon went out of business. My friend , Nikki, recommended a company she used and was pleased with. I called and Keith came to spray our house. The reason I had a pest-control expert was because of the roaches. I called Keith- The Roach Man. He heard me say this one day and was GREATLY insulted. He stressed to me the he was a pest-control expert. Hence the name.

Keith is no longer my pest-control expert. He crossed the line the day he told me that I had too much junk in my house.

We like Wade and hopefully he'll just overlook the junk as he sprays.

Hit Men

I have had a request to put up pictures of the workman who are doing my bathroom. I am working on that.

The two men who are doing the work are my pest-control experts, house-painters, insulation putter-inners. They are Wade and Majale. They are hard working men. Wade is my pest-control expert so I see him every three months when he sprays my house. The two men have a handy-man business on the side of their pest control business. The work done on my house is done in the evenings and on the weekends.

On Tuesday Wade asked me to go to Home Depot to get a can light for John's shower and a medicine cabinet. So I go with my list of needing a can light that can fit between the joists and be used in the shower. It sounded Greek to me. I find a man with an orange apron and he helps me and seems really chatty. Now with my spine and my pain I don't do standing longer than 15 minutes well. I am trying to be patient as 'chatty cathy' keeps talking. I am moving to the aisle with the medicine cabinets and he is following me. He doesn't seem to know much more than I do but he did lift the box off the shelf. At that moment I stopped to really listen to what he is saying and I realize he is hitting on me. I was stunned. He was old. I mean really old. I had to walk away because I was in pain but also because I was speechless.

I was still stunned when I got home. I told Carl, Marisa and Kaitlin. They all died laughing. When I told Wade, he smiled and then in his good ole boy Arkansas drawl he said" Now Miss Monroe, some women like that stuff" I assurded him I am not one of them.

I don't plan to go back to Home Depot without my man with me.

Addie Lou and Superfly and SEC basketball

Twelve years ago today we lived in Pine Bluff.

Twelve years ago today was a Sunday.

Twelve years ago today Carl and I were in New Orleans at the Men's SEC basketball tourney.

Twelve years ago today Andrew was 13, Kaitlin was 10 and John was 8. I was 38.

Twelve years ago today my mama died. She was my best friend.

Carl and I went to New Orleans with a group of friends from his work. I loved the excitement in the air of the basketball tournament. I called Mama on Saturday after we had seen Kentucky play. They had so many fans there and they were very vocal. The Kentucky Blue is a beautiful color. My mama said that my daddy must of been there too because he always told Mama that Kentucky was heaven. My daddy died when I was 18. I felt a kinship to him that day as I cheered on his team.

Andrew, Kaitlin and John were with our friends the Buffins in Little Rock. They also had three children.

Mama started feeling uncomfortable in the evening of the 9th. My brother, John and his wife, Elaine went to check on her. Mama had a aneurysm just above her aortic valve. She also had COPD. Because of her breathing power or lack thereof they could not repair the aneurysm. This was discovered in August of 94. They gave her 24 months to live. The rest is fuzzy to me about what happened with her that night. She was at one hospital and they were needing to move her to a second hospital when she died. It was about 2:00am. I do know that John and Elaine were with her and that brings me great comfort. I asked a nurse friend about the aneurysm and how would someone die and she said that mama just slipped away.

My brother, John tried to call us on Carl's cel and we didn't hear the phone. He then called the Buffin's home. He told them that mama had just died and he needed to get in touch with us. Jack and Kay got on their knees and began praying for me then. I was covered in pray when John called and told me the news. Kay also got up and washed all the children's clothes as she prayed.

Carl called his friends at the motel and woke them up. The group that was in our van got up and dressed in the middle of the night and drove with us back to Pine Bluff. They never grumbled.

I don't know when we got home but soon the Buffin's followed with the children. They helped us pack up and got us on the road. I do remember that I was worried about my library books and getting them back on time. Kay took them to the library for me. (what a funny little nugget to remember)

I called Carl's sister, Marian, after I talked to John just after mama died. Marian and her family with Carl's mother met us in Marietta at my mama's house on Monday. They were such a big help.

When we got to Mama's house on Sunday evening the first thing I had to do was to make sure she wasn't there... I had to see for my self that she was not in her favorite rocker by the fireplace or in her bed. When I saw that she wasn't there , I knew it was real all over again.

I have learned lots in my twelve years about grief. It gets different not better. This day is not as hard as it has been. I usually buy myself something. Retail therapy always helps. Once a few years ago the boys were with the boy scouts camping on March 10th. Kaitlin and I went shopping at Hallmark. She fell in love with two stuffed animals. A cat and a dog I believe. She named them Addie Lou and Superfly. Addie Lou is my mama's name. By the time we were ready to check out I was referring to them as Addie Lou and Superfly. The salesclerk put something on top of them in the bag. I ,with all seriousness, said "Please don't smash Addie Lou and Superfly!" She put Addie Lou and Superfly in their own bag. When we got in the van and realized what I had said and my tone of voice we dissolved into giggles. That was good for us both.

Andrew became an Eagle Scout on this day in 1999.

A book that has helped is Midlife Orphan by Jane Brooks.

Today I plan to eat lunch at the Purple Cow with Clare and Kaitlin. I am not sure when or where my retail therapy will take me today.

I am thankful to have had such a wonderful mama. She and I had a laughing good time every time we were together. I am thankful we had 38 wonderful years together. I am thankful for all her letters and books that I have. I am thankful for the wonderful memories that I have.

If you have a mama, call her and tell her you love her today. If not, be thankful for your wonderful memories with your mama. If you don't have wonderful memories then make some today with your family.

Bathroom update

Today they put up something called backer board and moved the shower up. For those who have taken a shower here before you know that a very short person chose the height of the shower. I am to go and pick out the medicine cabinet tomorrow. I am also going to call and find out why the fixtures I have ordered are not in. If they have not been ordered like I asked I plan to pick out some from Home Depot.

Dust is everywhere in my house.

Yesterdays picture is upside down, sorry

bathroom after day one

John's bathroom today after the demolition. It was noisy. They ran into a few problems so they have to replace some studs.

Afternoon Snow

Tasting the snow

This is me playing in the snow

Our house in the snow.

It is still snowing but not as heavy. Carl just came home from work. As you can see from the pictures, John made it home too. We are tucked inside watching it snow out of our beautiful windows. Our heater upstairs has decided to not work. Carl is trying to thaw it out. It may be a chilly night.

John's Bathroom

This is the afore mentioned bathroom that can be loaded with coolers, rosemary trees, mops and buckets without the knowledge of most of it's occupants as they shower. We are having it remodeled. I took this picture this morning and I hope in a few weeks to show you the 'after'.

Friday Snow

Here is the snow event for today. You can't tell from the pictures that it is snowing like crazy. Carl made it to work but Kaitlin and Marisa didn't have class. John is on his way home from Conway.

With the snow predicted I decided along with half the folks in town to get some groceries yesterday. You would of thought that there was pure gold on the milk and bread aisle. I got out quicker than most because I did the self-checkout.

Pretty Cool

I won a blog contest on Andew Peterson's blog! My prize is a copy of his new book. I am to review it on my blog later this month. He also sent me another copy so I could have a blog give away. I am working out the details so stay tuned. His book is On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. It is book one of The Wingfeather Saga.

Could you put some lotion on my back, PLEASE?

In 1987 I had just had my third C-section in 5 years. I had a 5 year old, a two year old and a new born baby and I was tired. No , I was TIRED. My hands were dried and cracked from all the hand washing that goes with a new baby. Before Carl would go to work, he would make three PB and J's, hand me the remote to the tv, the phone, diapers for K , diapers for J and a large glass of juice. I would cry as he left. Kaitlin danced over to me one day with a bottle of lotion and wanted me to put it on her. I didn't think I could do one more thing. I was not happy with her request. I very reluctantly said that I would. I had forgotten what fun it was to put lotion on a chunky 2 year old body. She laughed and I laughed and we had a wonderful time. I was so stunned when I was done to realize that the lotion I had put on her got all over my hands. I realized, to some small extent then, that when we serve we sometimes realize the greater gain.

I say all that to tell you another lotion story...

Marisa is John's girlfriend. Her home life went from rough to bad to abusive. We sought counsel about what we could do. She moved in with us in December. Carl told her the rules and she has followed them joyfully. She is a full time student at a community college. She has a regular job of sitting with a precious older saint who has Alzheimer's and she babysits for lots of folks in our church. She and Kaitlin both wear a size 4. I've talked in previous posts about Kaitlin's walk-on closet, well now I have two girls wearing all those clothes.

She recently left a note on my pillow, thanking me for all we have done for her. Here comes the lotion... Marisa is the sister that Kaitlin never had to share the fixing of hair with and the helping each other get dressed( you should hear all the lauhging that comes from their bathroom), my kitchen has never looked better plus the 10,000 steps she saves me every day. What a blessing she is to me.

Some folks raise the question about what will we do if John and Marisa are no longer together, my answer is we will deal with that when and if that arises. Carl said that our goal is to love on this precious child and if they don't end up together we will have given Marisa a glimmer of what a family is with a mom and dad who love each other.

Mission Conference lll

On Saturday night we heard Abbey talk about her four week trip to Ghana. She worked in a Rafika orphanage. Abbey spent her first 10 years of life on the mission field in Africa. Her dad is a pilot and they worked in Africa. She always wanted to go back and see what it was like. She didn't remember the long plane ride and has a new appreciation for her mama who kept her and her brother happy for all those hours. We saw some of her pictures and a few videos. It was great. We also heard Ted challenge us to pray. He gave examples from his life

Sunday morning we had a brunch as we heard the missionaries talk about their plans for the future. They shared prayer requests with us also. The Sunday service began with the flag ceremony. Each country where we have a missionary or have had a missionary we have a flag. They are brought in one by one and placed in the front of the church as the statistics are read about how many Christians they have in those countries. The most moving to me is always the American flag. It is carried by someone in full uniform usually someone from the Air Force. This Sunday a Boy Scout carried the flag. We also have missionaries in the Czech Republic and we have a couple in our church from there. They carried their flag. How moving that was. Dr Medeiors spoke til 12:30 and I never even looked at my watch.

There are pictures on our church web site http://www.covenantpca.com for you to see and enjoy. I sat all day Monday. I feel so much better today but still plan to sit most of the day.

I can't wait til the next conference!

Winter Wonderland

Snow in Arkansas. Callie and Kaitlin ran outside so I could have some people in a picture. They are sad because they still have school. It is beautiful.

Missions conference ll

Four down and two to go.

Wednesday evening was wonderful. After our tummies were full of bar b que and beans and wonderful potato salad plus desserts to die for, we gathered in the living room for the introductions. Tom is the committee chairman and he was the master of ceremonies. There were 31 of us. He asked us to tell our name, why we were there and our nickname. I think the funniest nickname was his wife, KimF. She loved to wear a sweatshirt of her mother's when KimF was in high school. When her mama wore it, it said 'Charlotte'. When Kim , who was smaller than mom, wore it, it said 'harlot' . A close second was Terry who said that his wife calls him ' Terwy' ( like Elmer Fund would say it). Lots of laughs.

Thursday. My day began when KimT picked me up at 10. We had loaned one of our cars to a missionary to drive while they were here. KimT and I met Barbara and Sandy at The Old Mill for lunch. Thursday is the busiest day in the kitchen because we don't have all the kinks worked out on where stuff should be served plus we are making as much as we can for the next day. The meal that night was ham, hash brown casserole, green beans, a roll and banana pudding. It was wonderful if I may say so. We heard from Darlene , who is serving in Japan, and Scott and Kathy, who are raising support to go to Mexico. Our main speaker , Dr Medeiros, is from Brazil. He gestures greatly and pounds the pulpit to get a point across. He spoke from Matthew 4. He exhorted us to be deliberate for Christ. He was very witty and I was sad when his time to speak was over.

Friday. The meal was Swedish meatballs over rice, marinated salad, a roll and three milk cake. mmmmm. We had door prizes this night. It is fun to see how much folks are paying attention to this conference and to those in the past. It was moving when the question was asked " Who has been on a short term mission trip?" About 100 folks stood up. Wow! Dr Medeiros spoke from Matthew 9. He charged us to pray, pay and participate.

This morning the ladies had a breakfast buffet. We were in a new setting and it was wonderful. The room we had was more intimate than in years past. I believe we had 69 ladies with us. The missionaries shared what God is doing in their lives. God was teaching them all about change and that HE is in control. One is striving to learn to let God carry her burdens, one has had to come off the field because of aging parents, one is wondering when they will have enough support to go on the field and one came off the field because she has a brain tumor. She said that she doesn't know if she has months or years to live. She is writing and getting in contact with all her friends and contacts because she doesn't want to leave this earth with unfinished business. I am still blown away by that.

We have a college and career supper tonight then SS and church tomorrow. I think I will go to bed tomorrow about 3 in the afternoon. I may wake up on Tuesday.