In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God!

These words have been on a never ending loop in my head since last night.
"We are not alone, we live in God’s world.  We believe in God: who has created and is creating,     who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and  others by the Spirit.  We trust in God.  We are called to be the Church: to celebrate God’s presence, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and
risen, our judge and our hope.  In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.  We are not alone. Thanks be to God."

The part that I've been saying almost like a mantra is "in life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God."

Why?

I wasn't going to tell anyone about this because I'm not the one who needs sympathy.  I don't need meals or cards but all day my fingers have been dying to put this into words.  Maybe for memory?

Last night I received a phone call.  It was one of those phone calls that you know is going to bad news.  You know it before you answer it. . . . let me back up.  It is a long story.

My mom died when I was a Sophomore in high school.  When I was around 20 years old, my daddy married again - a lovely Southern lady by the name of Joann.  They were married for five years . . .until his death.

Fast forward over the next 30 years or so . . .we saw Joann at Christmas time.  Back when the children were small I would invite everyone over for a get-together around Christmas time and she would always come.  She came when Glenn and Laura were newborns and I have a picture somewhere of her holding one of them.  Later on, I took the kids to see her several times when they were young.  She had moved from our town to a town about an hour away to be near her sister and family.  We exchanged birthday cards and Christmas cards and we chatted on facebook and . . . we didn't do a good job of keeping in touch like we should.

I talk to one of my sisters almost every morning as I drive to work.  Just yesterday morning, I said that we needed to do a better job of keeping in touch with Joann.  We talked about her for a few minutes and the conversation moved on.  All day yesterday I felt an urgency to get my work completed.  I thought it was just because we were going out to dinner last night and we have friends coming over this weekend.  Instead it was for this reason:

Joann's sister called to tell me that Joann was diagnosed with cancer two days ago and was given only a few days to live.  I texted a co-worker because I was waffling about whether to drive an hour to see her this morning.  Did I need to miss work?

I called Sis (Joann's sister) early this morning and asked if I could come and she said yes.  She called me back while I was getting dressed and said that Joann was now unresponsive.  I quickly dressed, jumped in the car, and drove for an hour and 15 minutes.  I once again felt a sense of urgency.

I arrived to a quiet hospital room.  Joann's sister (who is on oxygen herself) sat quietly by the bed.  Sis no longer drives and her husband died this year.  A friend has been picking her up early in the morning and driving her to the hospital.

I pulled a chair up beside her.  She was holding Joann's hand.  Sis removed her hand and said, "here - you hold her hand."

First of all, I'm not a crier.  Second of all, I knew I was going to be sad but didn't expect to cry.  Just FYI - I did cry. Several times.

Sis and I sat there and talked with Joann and held her hand.  I told Joann that I loved her.  I told her that it was ok to go be with Jesus.  I reminded her that she taught me to eat peanut butter toast (which I still love!).  If we dirtied a glass, she washed it before it hit the sink.  She put up with me when I was a very bratty young adult.  She let me borrow her "evening bag" many years ago and there was cash in it -- because I might need to take a cab home from a date.  She met me before work one morning when I was working full time and going to school at night to give me money for books one semester because I could either buy books or groceries.  I stayed in her quiet hospital room for about an hour until more relatives arrived and I got in my car and I drove an hour and 15 minutes back to Birmingham.

Those words have been in my head all day today.  In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We ARE NOT ALONE.

I shared with Sis about "thin places" where heaven and earth meet.  I said that Joann had one foot with Jesus and one foot in the hospital room with us (if this is not theologically sound, so be it - it is comforting to me).  JOANN IS NOT ALONE - though she can't speak; though she is unaware of what is going on around her - she is not alone.  God is with her.  He is with us every single moment of our lives and beyond.

Yesterday Joann was still alert.  She has been very active in her community.  She has volunteered faithfully in the library.  She has served in local politics.  She loved Jesus and was active in her church. 

Sis told me that yesterday there was a steady stream of people -- from the mayor to the fire chief and everyone in between . . .and they told Joann that she had lived a good life.  They told her how much she meant to them.  They told her they loved her.  I was told that some of those big strong men even cried.  All of those affirmations were wonderful - how awesome to hear words of affirmation on your last alert day but OH MY GOODNESS - she is getting ready to hear Jesus say to her, "well done good and faithful servant."

I haven't had an update on Joann this afternoon but I'm assuming she is still in that thin space - her eyes are fixed on Jesus.  He is going to make her whole.  I can't imagine what she is going to stir up in heaven.

In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.  We are not alone.  Thanks be to God.

My sister Becky and Joann

Hodge Podge - written in a punctual manner!!

Linking up with Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond!

1. When was the last time you chatted with a neighbor? About what? (sharing that last bit is optional)
Let's see . . .I can stand on my porch and talk to our neighbors on either side . . .my last "words said out loud" to a neighbor were in the alley behind our houses on Saturday.  We talked to one person about a death in her family and we talked to another family about the water problem in their back yard.  There is a wet weather spring in their back yard and it is causing all sorts of problems.

We can sit in our rocking chairs

and talk to the neighbors while they

are sitting on their own porch

This is the other side of our porch -

we have sweet bay magnolias that create a screen of

sorts but if I wanted to talk to our neighbors on that side,

I certainly could do so!

2. River, lake, ocean, or waterfall...which one are you most like and why?
That is a hard question . . .sometimes I'm like a rushing river - running hither and yon - doing 14 things at once.  I love the ocean so I'm trying to think of how I might be like the ocean - rolling in and rolling out.  Oh I know . . .I'm loud like the ocean!!  You know how sometimes when you are on the beach and you try to yell at your family to get their attention - y'all don't do that?  Maybe I'm standing in the water and I see some fish or something and I try to yell and get their attention but they can't hear me over the waves!

My view on the fourth of July

3. July 13 is National Delaware Day. Ever been to Delaware? Delaware is called 'the first state' because it was the first to declare independence from the British. What's your state's nickname and does that moniker make sense to you? If you were in charge, what nickname would you give your home state?
I've never been to Delaware which is really a sad thing to type!  Mark's sister, husband, and boys live in Delaware (boys are spread out in different cities now that they are young adults but Delaware is home base).  I've got some Southwest points - I should fly to Baltimore (wonder if SW flies into Philadelphia??)  and get Susie to pick me up!  Laura and I have been talking about going to New York over spring break -- Susie lives close enough to go into New York for the day.  (and nephew is doing his residency in New York)

4. What dish did you contribute to the last pot luck meal you attended? Do you have a go-to recipe for pot luck suppers?
We actually had pot luck at lunch today at work!!  (I'm writing on Tuesday - Pot Luck was on Tuesday after staff meeting).  I took lasagna (pioneer woman recipe - best ever!) that I had made and frozen.  I often take Asian Slaw (a favorite!) or honeybaked Turkey breast slices.  I've also been known to take cheese grits or hashbrown casserole to a pot luck.

my lasagna on the left in the crockpot

5. What is your number one tip for a brand new parent?
Just love love love that baby.  They truly grow up so very fast.  My next piece of advice is to make sure your family is in church (once the baby has had first shots and is cleared by the pediatrician).  Don't be sporadic attenders - go every Sunday unless someone is truly sick.  Live your faith by example.  Another piece of advice (yes, I know you asked for only one but I'm on a roll) would be to sleep when you can.  Take a nap when baby is taking a nap.

So I just have to throw in a couple of pictures of our sweet grandbaby wearing hats . . .these hats were mine!  The funny shaped lace hat was from a wedding - I was the flower girl - it is over 50 years old (I think I was four).  She loved it!  The other hat was from an Easter outfit when I was probably 10 or so . . .so it is pretty old, too!!

6. Insert your own random thought here.
I need to write a post about my birthday and about the fourth of July and who knows what else.  I've been really busy between hosting a wedding shower (I need to post about that!) to hosting a Fish Fry this coming weekend and everything in between -- weddings, work -- I do work full time!, teaching Sunday School and hosting Tuesday nights.  Maybe I'm a waterfall right after a rain - going full speed ahead!! (when you are hired onto our church staff, we usually tell the new hire - "don't panic - it is going to feel like you are trying to drink from a firehose at first" . . . thinking about the waterfall made me think about the water hose . . .sorry for the tangent.

Which one are you? river, ocean, lake, waterfall?  and why?

Fifth (now Seventh) of July HodgePodge

I won't be linking up with Joyce this week because it is now Friday and I realize that I fell asleep while blogging on Wednesday night . . .and didn't finish my post!

1. When and where were the best fireworks you've ever seen? Speaking of fireworks...do you know your hot buttons? The things people can say and/or do to set you off? When was the last time someone pushed one of your hot buttons?
First things first -- I LOVE fireworks.  I really LOVE fireworks.  I love when they go "boom" and you can feel it in your chest.  Know what I mean?  I didn't get to see a single firework this year for the fourth of July.  We have "Thunder on the Mountain" fireworks here in town and they are pretty spectacular.  There are also fireworks at a local stadium and at a local country club or two.  We do the fourth well.  The fireworks at Disney World were pretty spectacular!  (that has been a good many years ago!)

Yeah . . .I have hot buttons.  I have lots of hot buttons.  Some make sense and some don't!  I will say that as I get older, I don't seem to blow the roof off as often as I used to.

I get annoyed when someone thinks their opinion is the only right opinion.  Seems like we've had a lot of that in the past year - from all sides and regarding lots of things.  I get annoyed when people want the church to operate like a country club.  I get really annoyed when someone makes racist comments (that is not correct grammatically but my brain has stopped functioning by this time of night)

2. Have you hosted any outdoor summer parties this year? Attended any? What makes for a great outdoor party?
We are hosting a fish fry next weekend and IF IT IS NOT RAINING, part of the evening may be outside.  We have three porches with tables, chairs, etc. and we have a lovely secret garden courtyard with chairs and a table.  We ate dinner with friends earlier in the summer and spent the evening on their back deck - three couples makes a party, right?  I love lots of lights - twinkling lights, fun lights strung up above, etc. BUT what really makes a good party is the right mix of people, lots of great conversation, laughing until you almost pee in your pants (hope that never happens!!), festive drinks, good friends.  Doesn't matter whether the party is outside or inside if you have those things!

3. What does freedom mean to you?
The right to make my own choices.  The right to say what I want to say but the sense to know when to keep my stupid mouth shut (some people HAVE NOT learned how to do that).  Maybe even more so in the day of social media . . .I have the freedom to write what I want to on facebook BUT sometimes my fingers really don't need to type the words (some people HAVE NOT learned this either -- just because you think it, does not mean you need to type it).  The right to worship.  Freedom also means knowing and remembering that someone DID something for that freedom -- soldiers who fought for our freedom; Jesus and his death on the cross.  Seems weird to put those two things in the same sentence.

4. July is National Cell Phone Courtesy month...what annoys you most about people's cell phone habits?
I really hate for someone to talk on their phone in the check out line and totally ignore the cashier.  That is just so rude!  I also really hate to see a family in a restaurant and both parents and their kids are all on cell phones and no one is talking to each other.  I hate to see a parent in the park in front of our house and rather than interacting with their child, they are too busy tweeting about it, etc.  Time with your kids is gone in a flash, folks.  You better enjoy that time.

5. What's your current summer anthem?
You will think I have totally lost my mind . . .but Great Is Thy Faithfulness has been playing in my head.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.
I cannot believe that we are already on July 7 - where has the summer gone????  I haven't even made it to the neighborhood pool yet!

Blessings on this Friday morning

I'm linking up with Five Minute Friday where we are given a one word prompt and asked to write for five minutes.  Feel free to join us by linking up with everyone here.  (Disclaimer -- I think about what I want to write for a minute or two and then load my pictures . . .then I write for five minutes . . .also, I think I saw somewhere that we aren't supposed to edit but I have to correct typos :-) )


I was thinking of some of the blessings in my life this morning and these verses came to mind:

"my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my
stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me. “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies."

I can't imagine my life without the blessing of scripture and time in prayer.   I can't imagine my life without Jesus, my rock, my Savior. I can't imagine my life without the friendships that I have made through church and the Christian community.  What blessings those are.  I can't imagine life without the opportunity to serve others - the cover on my Bible is from 2004 Discovery weekend - a time for junior high students to have an encounter with God.  Mark and I served faithfully many years through Discovery weekend.  I can't imagine our lives without the blessing of our Sunday School class and those with whom we spend time each week in worship.  I can't imagine our lives without the blessing of good preachers - oh my goodness, we have been so blessed with good preachers at our church.

prayer journal

Bible . . . and the ever present

diet pepsi!

I can't imagine our lives without the blessing of this sweet grandbaby.  She had a sleepover with Gran and Pops last weekend.  She has changed our hearts forever.  We, who didn't really care about being grandparents, are some of the craziest grandparents EVER.

We are so blessed to live in a neighborhood with sidewalks, good neighbors, nice homes, a sense of security.  We have been blessed by new friendships.  We are blessed by the sunrise each morning (if it will ever stop raining).  We may end up being blessed by building an ARK!!

walking toward our house - in front

of our next door neighbor's house

I've been worrying over something and I am so blessed to work in a church.  I can sneak off down to the sanctuary and literally lay at the foot of the cross (I'm so glad no one came in while I was in the floor - they would have thought the old lady had fallen and couldn't get up!!

My view from the floor in front of the cross

One of my favorite

stained glass windows in our

sanctuary - Jesus and

the little children

Time is up - five minutes flies!  I am now blessed to go and take a hot shower with clean running water!

If I asked you, "Tell me some of the blessings in your life" . . . how would you respond?

p.s. added after the five minutes -- I do feel that if we have been richly blessed, we should allow us to be used by God to bless others - I pray that is true for us.

Messin' and Smearin'

I just googled "Messing and Smearing" and found some interesting things - some parts of the country say, "Messing and Gomming" . . .I've never heard that one!  Sometimes when I call my sweet MIL and ask, "what are you doing?" she responds with, "Messing and Smearing" or something like that.  Seems like her expression and the one I found when googling are similar in meaning - means doing a lot of nothing . . .doing stuff without any results . . .doing a little of this and a little of that.

What does that have to do with this blog post?  I just thought of that expression when I was looking at all of these pictures - a little of this and a little of that.

Several weeks ago when Laura was home for a weekend, we monogrammed shirts (see on sofa below) for a bachelorette weekend at the beach.  The monogrammed shirts (to be used as cover-ups over bathings suits) were adorable!

While I had all of the supplies out, I made a monogram for Lauren's (DIL) cup.  It is not perfect and I can change it out for her at some point in time.

I have also "created" a new recipe.  I've named the recipe - "Salsa Chicken in the Crockpot" - very original, right?

Spray crockpot with Pam.

Add 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

Add a couple of tablespoons of taco seasoning

slice an onion and throw that in the crockpot (you could add peppers, too)

Add a can of drained corn (I normally use shoepeg but I evidently only had yellow that day)

Add a can of drained black beans

Add a 16 ounce jar of salsa (I used Pace mild)

Add a tablespoon or so of Hidden Valley Dry Ranch Dressing

Cook on low all day while at work

When I got home, I shredded the chicken (while still in the crockpot) with two forks and mixed it all together.  It is delicious all by itself or on a baked potato or rolled up in a tortilla.

I get the wife of the year award.  For Father's Day, I bought a bottle of Pappy - Old Rip Van Winkle for Mark.  BEST. GIFT. EVER.  I was so excited about the gift that I gave it to him a week early.  Every time he walked through the kitchen, he gave me a kiss (not like him!)

Oh look . . .here is some of that chicken mixture on my baked potato with a little low fat cheese and some low fat sour cream.  YUMMY!!

I've also been working on a banner for a bridal shower.  I'll show you the banner after this weekend.  I took pictures of the paper because I needed extra sheets and had to go back to the store.  I swear I don't know what I did before Iphones.

Did your family use the expression "messin' and smearin'"?  Does your family have other funny expressions?

What have you been up to lately?  (now I have the tune for "What Have You Done for Me Lately" stuck in my head!)

wedding #3!!

Last Saturday night, we attended wedding #3 - 3rd weekend in a row!  I only have two pictures because I was having too much fun to take pictures!  I don't even have a picture of the bride and she was beautiful!!

The sanctuary looked elegant - white flowers on the altar with a candelabra on either side.  Many of our friends from church were in attendance so it was fun to visit with folks.  Two of our ministers officiated at the service and the musicians were from our church also and it was just perfect.  Michelle, the bride, had on a gorgeous dress.  She does cross fit (or one of those) and the preacher said she had even done it on her wedding day . . .so her dress was not only elegant and beautiful but it looked great on her, too.

The reception was at B & A Warehouse, a local venue.  B & A is located in the same area as our baseball field and there was a game that night.  B & A offers a great service.  Parking is already a nightmare in that area so B & A runs a shuttle bus (with air conditioning -- this is the DEEP south!) back and forth between a parking lot and the venue.  They run every few minutes so there was very little wait time.  It was fun to be on the bus with friends.

There were about 275-300 people at the wedding and reception and the food and drink flowed.  They served beer and wine and tea and water.  I'm not even sure about all the food that was served!  I know they served a bruschetta with pesto and something else that was yummy!  They also served the prettiest multi-colored tortilla chips I've ever seen (with a hefty dip).  Mark found a new favorite - they had chicken fried in waffle batter . . .on a stick!  Mark loves fried chicken.  Mark loves waffles.  Mark loves fried chicken and waffles.  Now Mark loves chicken fried in waffle batter on a stick!

Here I am with the mother-of-the-bride.  It was an evening wedding so all of the men had on dark suits and the ladies wore their "finest".

We've been to 3 weddings in 3 weekends and 2 of the 3 have served cheese cakes as the groom's cakes! 

The bride and groom are honeymooning in Fiji!  I can't wait to hear about their trip through her mom.  What an incredible trip!!

We have an off week this weekend so we kept our sweet baby girl last night and are going to supper club tonight . . .and next weekend, I'm hosting a bridal shower/tea at my house so it will be busy!  I have fun pictures from my birthday celebrations and father's day and last night (Emma) so maybe I'll have time to blog this week!!

Summertime Summertime Sum Sum Summertime HodgePodge

Today is Wednesday so it is time to link up with Joyce and answer the Hodge Podge Questions.

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you'd put on your list of  quintessential summer activities? Will you try to manage all ten this summer?

1. Eat watermelon (have already!)
2. Eat homemade ice cream (may not - have been trying not to eat sugar)
3. Go to a baseball game and stay for the fireworks (I love fireworks - not sure if this will happen or not)
4. Go to the neighborhood pool (this had better happen)
5. Join the summer reading club at the library (do they have this for adults?  I always read the most books when I was a kid.  I'm not competitive or anything :-) )
6. Watch a movie in the park in front of our house (hope so!)
7. Take a vacation to the beach (not going to happen until September but we are going before the first day of all)
8. Go to someone's lake house and soak up tons of sun (yes, I'll wear sunscreen)
9. Shell fresh peas (I don't have freezer space anymore - love "sitting on the porch" memories of shelling peas
10. Enjoy an icy beverage with an umbrella . . .like a pina colada or a strawberry daiquiri. (hopefully)

2. Do you collect seashells when you're at the beach? What do you do with them once you get them home? What's your favorite place to comb for seashells? How many of these 'best beaches for hunting seashells' have you visited? Which one would you most like to visit?

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Maryland), Jeffrey's Bay (South Africa), Sanibel Island (Florida), Shipwreck Beach (Lanai Hawaii), Ocracoke Island (North Carolina), Galveston Island (Texas) and The Bahamas

I do love to pick up seashells.  I found a paper plate full of shells in a drawer the other day!  I may have thrown them away when I was cleaning out that drawer . . . I always think I'll make some wonderful craft with lots of seashells but never get around to it.  I've been to Galveston once many years ago but I can't remember if we even walked on the beach.  I've been to the Bahamas (on our honeymoon!).  I've been to Hawaii but I can't remember if we went to Shipwreck Beach or not!  I would love to go the South Africa . . .actually, you could take me to any beach and I would be happy.

3. At a snail's pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which 'shell' phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life? Explain.
I guess "shell out money" because I went to the dentist on Monday and I have to have a crown replaced - boo!

4. What summer activity do you dislike? Why?
I dislike sweating when I'm dressed in nice clothing.  Living in the deep south in a place with high humidity produces sweat.  I'm perfectly fine sweating if I'm dressed for sweat - shorts and old t-shirt or a bathing suit.  I'm pretty sure this is not the direction I was supposed to go with this answer but it is what popped into my head.

5. What's something you see as quickly becoming obsolete? Does that bother you?
I just read an article in the Wall Street Journal today. I selfishly don't want car ownership to become obsolete because my husband's career depends on the purchase of cars.  I need cars to hang around for a few more years, please and thank you.  (sorry for the blue blob on the picture . . .I needed to cover up something :-) )

6. Insert your own random thought here.
My husband is so handy!  We have a fire pit on our patio but we haven't used it very often.  We especially aren't using it right now.  I found a pallet on the side of the street in our neighborhood (yes, I stopped and asked if we could have it!) and we Mark brought it home.  Mark cut the underside of the pallet into a smaller circle and the top section into a larger circle and made a "table top" for our fire pit.  We are having friends over in a few weeks and this will be a great spot where people can sit and have a place for their plate or drink.  I think I'm going to put a piece of burlap - maybe a square - in the center of the table.  (Thanks Kyle and Lynn - your pallet table inspired this!)