31 Days---Day 16

Yesterday was a whirl wind of activity. We had a Student Council meeting afterschool, bought three pairs of basketball high tops and took MagPie for her birthday dinner at Olive Garden. It's a 45 minute drive with the crazy traffic even on a Wednesday evening. Luckily for us, the schools in the county where we attend church was out for fall break, so no activities, we could celebrate. We waited for 45 minutes and as busy as they were we ate for over an hour, mostly waiting on more bowls of endless chicken and gnocchi soup. I about died when we pulled into Krispy Kreme for her birthday doughnuts for her school party today. The hot sign was on. If I didn't have to weigh in at Weight Watchers Saturday morning and hadn't ate three bowls of soup already I would have consumed a dozen right there. I restrained and left them in the car overnight. Bad mistake, let me tell you. The car smelled like doughnuts this morning. Maggie has outgrown her food allergies of white potatoes, mushrooms, peanuts, navy beans and chocolate, but she still doesn't like to eat cupcakes so she always takes Krispy Kreme. The kids at school love it. Many of them never get doughnuts at least not that brand.

Maggie is 11 years old. She is one of the most thoughtful, loving kids you will ever meet. I often tell her it's not fair she's got it all brains, beauty, creativity, athleticism, the works. She can do anything she sets her mind on. She has wanted to be a missionary since she was in the 2 year old Sunday School class with Mrs. Mary. She plans to be a large animal veterinarian so that she can travel oversees and help animals and tell others about Christ. Maggie is the "Mother" to every kid she ever meets who needs one. Maggie is perfect in every way. Happy birthday, Maggie!

 

   

 

                         

Currently--September 25, 2013

For some reason it didn't post yesterday, so here it is... a day late.

Eating:       Birthday cake, celebrating birthday's of Related Arts teacher friends.

Watching:  Cross Country, Soccer and Football…Live

Thinking:   I need a long rainy day nap.

Praying:     For Kendra, a dear friend of ours, who has spent the last 10 days in the hospital and has at 
                  least that long more before the doc will consider sending her home. 

Planning:   Christmas presents, student council excitement and a nap on Sunday.

Dreaming:  Of packing and cleaning to move in. Maybe at Christmas break.

Reading:    Actually listening. We are obsessed with the 39 Clues series. We are finally on book 11, 
                  which leads into another set of books that go along with it called Vespers Vs. Cahills.
                  Thank goodness for Overdrive, READS online library and Air Force library, we never     
                  have to wait too long for the next one.

     

Celebrations of Life and Death

Mattie celebrated her 11th birthday on March 9th. Mattie is my oldest, mini-me. Luckily for the rest of the family, she is my only mini-me. She was our first of four blessings. One that we never thought we would ever receive. Her last year has been full of echocardiogram, transesophageal echocardiogram and CT scans. Her heart murmur is fine and should not cause her problems. We visit the neurologist in April about her headaches.

She is beautiful, mature, loving and giving. She isn't afraid to show her love for Christ and will tell you all about Him.  She is excited about being Safety Patrol Captain and can't wait to visit Washington, D.C. with Safety Patrol this spring.

She landed a lead part in the spring musical at church and just finished playing basketball on the school team. I think she is the most excited about having her own bedroom in the new house. 

Her birthday fell on Saturday this year just like when she was born. Mikie had drill and we all got up extra early and inflated every balloon that the small helium tank would inflate. Twenty-eight to be exact. We tied ribbons and let them all go over top of the her bed, the top bunk. Then Mikie woke her up to tell her happy birthday before he left for drill.

I haven't seen her smile like that in so long. She stresses over everything lately, typical adolescent stress. She was so excited that she had all those balloons and that we really did love and care about her.

Later that morning she went to spend the weekend with Grammy and Papaw Shaver. She really likes to go with them for her birthday. Grammy takes her shopping and she gets whatever she wants until Grammy's budgeted amount runs out. This year Cousins Dixie and Fisher spent the weekend too.

On Sunday morning, Mattie's birthday weekend took a terrible turn. What had been a happy, joyous celebration that was supposed to end with a party at lunch with us, aunts, uncles and cousins, quickly became a party minus one.

As Grammy finished serving breakfast to Mattie, Dixie and Fisher, they heard a noise. Grammy ran to find Papaw had fallen. He was getting ready to go preach and sing. She yelled for Mattie to bring her the phone. After a long time with the EMT's they took Papaw to the hospital. Mattie, Dixie and Fisher didn't realize exactly what had happened, but Mattie and Dixie knew something was really wrong and kept praying over and over for Papaw.

That Sunday turned into a long day. One final goodbye to a Papaw who had entered our lives just over 11 years ago when he and Grammy married. A Papaw that made a difference not only in our lives but in the lives of hundreds of people at the various churches he preached, conferences he lead, places he sang. Over his 67 years he was Christ's light to others. He told stories of his two tours in Vietnam. He had a loud, boisterous voice and sang all the time. He always had a smile on his face.

Papaw, Grammy and Aunt Wylene--Summer 2012

As Uncle John put it later that evening:
 "There's not many people that can qualify as 'salt of the earth.' And today, there is one less."

We didn't realize until the two memorial services how many lives he had made a difference in. Grammy counted over 400 signatures in the book of visitors.

I'm so proud of how Mattie handled the situation and I know Papaw would be too. Although six of his seven grandchildren aren't his blood he never treated them any different than the one that is.

I could make a list of regrets and wishes that we had spent more time with Papaw, that we had not let our own church responsibilities, extracurricular activities and other things get in the way of hearing him preach and visiting more. In a selfish way I wish Mattie didn't have to experience that morning, but she keeps reminding me that Dixie and Fisher needed her that morning, Grammy needed her. I wish that we had taken her to Grammy and Papaw's and visited the day before, instead of Grammy picking her up. I wish we could turn back time.

No regret or wishes can change the past, but they can change the future. Birthdays will be celebrated in a big way, Sundays will be reserved for worship and family, invites to special events will be honored even if it means we have to ask someone else to cover our responsibilities elsewhere.

I can't make Mattie's 11th birthday a completely happy to remember occasion, but we can happily remember it as a time that we learned a lot of things about Papaw and she can carry on his legacy of lighting this world with Christ's love.

Caring for the Children--Help Compassion

This month over at Compassion there is opportunity for you to open your heart and sponsor a child. As Compassion Bloggers we are working toward sponsorships and prayers for 3,108 children during the month of September.

Rosemary shares my birthday!

I know that you can sponsor anytime throughout the year, but this month is special. One because it's my birthday month and two because this is Blog Month at Compassion.

By sponsoring a child through Compassion you are providing food, clean water, medical care, schooling, life-skills training, but most importantly you provide an opportunity for that child to hear about Jesus Christ and develop a lifelong relationship with Him.

Your monthly sponsorship connects you with your child through photos, letters and their personal story. Your family can write letters and send pictures to your sponsoring child and don't forget about birthdays and Christmas.

Head on over to the Compassion page and search for a child for your family to sponsor. There are several ways to search for the perfect child for your family, by gender, by age, by birthday.

If you don't feel that you can sponsor a child right now, please pray. Go on over to the Compassion page and search for a child. You can click through and learn more about that child and then pray for them. Pray for sponsorship, for them to come to know Jesus Christ, and for protection.

Show your children and talk about how so many children all over the world don't have the luxuries that we have here in the United States. Help them to pray for a child with the same birthday as them.

Can you spare some time to care and pray for a child that you may never meet? You can make a difference in their lives.

After going to Compassion come back over here and comment below and let me know about the child you have decided to sponsor or pray for. I don't have to know which you are doing. Just let me know you visited the Compassion page.

Now for a little begging. I am a Compassion Blogger and since this is Blog Month there are some great prizes, from books, to money, to my favorite an all expense paid trip with Compassion. Please use one of the highlighted links in this post to visit the Compassion page and help me to earn entries.

But most importantly help Compassion help God's children!

Welcome!!

I wanted to take a minute to welcome all of my new readers. I am so excited about the Titanic Family Pass I am giving away. Make sure you comment on the post about the Titanic giveaway in order to register to win.

We are recovering from a vicious 24 hour stomach bug around here, no I am not blogging at work. Just two more school days and we will be on Spring Break. We have big plans for next week, cleaning, filing our taxes, decluttering, The Pink Pig Pottery Studio, Dollywood and Dixie Stampede to celebrate Michaels' 7th birthday. He's hoping to chase pigs while he's there too.

Well I hope you aren't sick and that you are enjoying this beautiful weather.