Hello, Mr. Roly-Poly!

I count among my many blessings the distractions that my grandchildren provide after a very hard, busy week at work.  Madison and I went on the hunt for roly-poly bugs yesterday.  She is quite fascinated with them after I found one a week ago and showed her how they roll up.  Yesterday, she found one under a tree as we looked through the dirt and grass.  She said "Hello, Mr. Roly-Poly!" and was ready to make a pet of the poor thing.  We put it in a dish with grass and dirt so she could study it.  I'm afraid she worried it to death literally.  It was moving slowly last time I saw it.

Maddie says "cheese" as she poses with her "pet".

Mr. Roly-Poly is up by the flower.

Such fun to spend time with a 2 year old...puts things in perspective!

"Hi, Mr. Roly-Poly...no sleep...you play!"

"Me hold him...no...Ganmommy hold him"....she was a bit timid...

Every Road

Every Road (by Dave Clark)

 Lord, I give You every road

Guide my steps and take control

Til this journey leads me home

Lord, I give You every road.

Lord, I give You all my past

Finally holding nothing back

Cleanse me, make me free at last

Lord, I give You all my past.

Lord, I give You every storm

When my spirit's weak and worn

Give me grace to trust You more

Lord, I give You every storm.

Lord, I give You all I am

All my dreams and all my plans

Now I place them in Your hands

Lord, I give You all I am

Til this journey leads me home

                                     Lord, I give You every road.

Creative Essay (another one for my teaching certificate)

Black Balloons

In my kitchen drawer I found a little cake decoration – five plastic black balloons on a stick. I've kept it for three years. Must be the thought of sharing it with someone else, to put it on their birthday cake. This unattractive decoration was used on my own 50^th birthday cake.

I remember driving to work that morning and repeating to myself: “I am 50! I'm 50 years old! How can I be 50?” I then called my parents and asked them the same question. They replied that they felt the shock even more. After all, I am their first-born. How could they be parents of a 50-year-old woman?

That workday was full of surprises and jokes made by my coworkers. I walked into an office full of more black balloons, so many that I could hardly walk through them. (In fact, I tripped on one and fell. Now that was icing on the birthday cake!) There was a wheelchair, a cane, Geritol, Exlax, and various hot flash remedies. It was all in good fun and I enjoyed myself. In fact, I felt somewhat “freed up” that I'd made this wonderful milestone. I was very thankful that the Lord had given me 50 years of good life, of blessed life.

But those black balloons were just the beginning of my struggle to discover the answer to this question: Now what? I've raised my children and I'm in a job I love but will I continue to just coast through life in an oblivious haze? These last few years have been re-examining years.

The real shock to my system was born in March, 2009. She was beautiful with flaming red hair. My first grandchild. Then a second tremor, a blond and blue-eyed baby boy, was born 18 months later. Now I am known not only as John's wife,  my parents' daughter, or Joe's assistant, but Maddie and Landon's grandmother. How could I be the grandmother of two? I'm only 53. I feel too young.

I am overwhelmed by God's gifts to me in these two happy and loving babies. Every so often I struggle some against my roles. I'm a wife, mother, sister, daughter. I'm now a mother-in-law and a grandmother. I am amazingly blessed. I know God understands my very contrary state of mind these days. He is teaching me so much through it.

I would never want to go back to age twenty, thirty, or even forty. I am at a peaceful place in my life and marriage for the most part. Here in my fifties, I love my routine, my rut. I like to sleep in my own bed. I don't want to rock the boat. Yet, I become restless at times and ready to rebel.* But, in order to continue to grow in awareness of my purpose here on earth, I must be willing to take risks, to travel, to do something as simple as going on a lunch “date” with my husband on a moment's whim. I have to be willing to drop what I'm doing to play with the babies. Those babies will be grown very soon.

One of my favorite Bible passages sums it all up for me: Psalm 16:2, 5-6, 11

2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

5 LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.

6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

11 You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

*Note to reader: Women in their fifties can be unpredictable. A mentor of mine once told me that was the only time in her life that she honestly thought she was going crazy. I know what she means now!

Huey, Dewey, & Louie

Huey, Dewey, and Louie

I think it's about time I write about my "partners in crime".  These two ladies pictured with me are two of the several reasons that I LOVE my job!  We are seriously like family.  We love to hang out, we get on each others' nerves, we protect each other, and we laugh most of each day. (When we're not working diligently, of course!) Our boss nicknamed us Huey, Dewey, and Louie a long time ago.  I don't know why...those are some cartoon ducks I think.

On the left is Cheryl.  The red lipstick, the hair (no further words needed), the smiles and laughter and love she brings to others. That's Cheryl.  She's also a riot!  The woman can take a normal, routine event or story and turn it into a stand-up comedy act.  She is also excellent at her job and tends to be OCD on the details. But that's what makes her good!  She and Leigh run the TV (cds & dvds) ministry mailouts.  She's such a soft touch that, occasionally, when little old men or sweet little ladies say that they really can't afford that DVD but, Oh how they loved the message by our pastor, and OH how they know someone who needs that message, then somehow or another that DVD gets to those sweet little 'ol folks. (Yeah, she pays for it herself).  Besides working hard, Cheryl is also known for being able to fall asleep anywhere, anytime.  I have actually seen her fall asleep standing up!

Leigh (on the right) has beautiful eyes and with those eyes are amazing ears for details. She knows everyone who ever belonged to our church, their family history, their extended family. She remembers events, small and large, and the details of those.  She is the one we depend on for overseeing the decorating of the Worship Center for all seasonal events. Leigh knows when things look exactly right or when the smallest little tweak needs to be made in a Christmas bow, a banner, a Christmas tree, 4th of July bunting, etc.  She is devoted to her family and to her church.  She and her husband can be depended on to do anything that's needed for sick members or bereaved families even with their own busy schedules with their children. They are a very caring family.  She has quite the wit and can tell some hilarious stories. The funniest things always seem to happen to her and her family. They also have had a crazy succession of dogs named after UGA football players.

Cheryl and Leigh keep me entertained as I sit at my desk.  I'm not a jumpy person but those two can scream with the best when our co-workers come up behind them quietly in the dark halls of our basement offices. I've seen piles of music fly up in the air as they were startled by certain folk in our office (who shall remain nameless here).  Our fellowship is sweet within the whole music team.  What one lacks the other has as a strength and vice versa.  We complement each other well in our talents, gifts, and personalities and we appreciate our boss who knows how to allow us to do just that!

This is a job that I feel so blessed to have. My absolute favorite.   I don't dread Monday mornings...I look forward to a new week, EVERY week.  We are privileged to be able to work for the wonderful people in our choir, orchestra, and congregation and with our gifted pastor and minister of music. It is very cool to be able to see how the worship services come about from behind the scenes not to mention the big Christmas presentations, Good Friday and Easter worship services and annual patriotic celebrations.

I love my job!  Bless you, girls!

Fun at staff meeting? YES! Staff meeting!

They Called It a Near Miss... (another writing assignment)

They called it a near miss but I called it a miracle from God.

"Keith's been shot!" Penny spoke breathlessly. "They had to do surgery but he's okay!  He was driving home from a church service and two people stepped out of the bushes and tried to stop him and then shot at him as he tried to drive on by."

Penny and Keith were my co-workers in Guatemala.  We were all missionaries whose work was planting churches, overseeing medical and construction teams from the States and living and working among the indigenous people there in Central America.  The crime she described was common.  Someone would flag you down on a deserted road, acting as if there was an emergency.  Then they'd rob you or worse.  Keith knew it was a trap and kept driving.  The bullet hit his right shoulder.  He could not move his shoulder nor his arm and he had miles to go to the nearest town and was driving a stick-shift.

"How'd he get to safety, Penny?" I asked, amazed. 
"We don't know.  He could not shift, could not move his arm and was in terrible pain but he somehow drove through miles of mountain roads without having to shift.  I think we know an angel or the Lord Himself was driving that car."

After we hung up, I sat quietly. I was happy but yet totally in awe of my God and His protection.
When I look back on all my experiences there in Guatemala, that one comes to mind as the most dramatic rescue.  Such a reassuring feeling that He does not sleep.

A Color Essay (homework for my certification class)

I am blue...varied in creation...both nature and human.

I am the sunny blue of an April sky with the lime-green leaves pasted up against me.  In July, I am the gauzy, almost white searing blue of Georgia heat. I am an obscured blue-gray as the thunderstorms blow through before I politely give way to the pink and amber of sunset.  I am the October blue sky that sharpens and glows against the reds and oranges of the leaves that bring such delight to the "peepers" in the Smoky Mountains.  I am the steely-silver blue sky of January reflected in the ice and snow and sometimes a mellow shade when the weather teases with a preview of spring.

I am the clear beautiful blue of baby Landon's adoring eyes as he looks at my daughter, his mother.  And the green-rimmed sea blue of two year old Madison's mischievous stare as she contemplates her next stunt.  And finally, I am the very pale aged blue of Madison's great-grandfather's eyes as he watches her and laughs.  No time to be blue in her presence.