NY Bound & other things

I leave tomorrow for New York City, I am going with Katie, first to install some curtain, then to vacation the rest of the week.This week is the anniversary of her grandsons death and the end of her traumatic year. We both decided we needed a vacation, her last daughter was married last weekend and she cooked all the food for 250 people, so she is wore out. I enjoy going there when I go with someone who knows their way around town.  She does work for people up there all the time so she is great at navigating traffic. I would just die if I had to drive in that town. I am hoping I can maybe find us some tickets to a play, she is taking me to some really cool restaurant she found last time there, there reminds you of old Hollywood. Then we are going to the Hampton's where her brother has a house and chill out there for a few days and when I say chill I mean chill. There is possibility of snow at the end of the week up there.  Thank goodness I like cold weather, it suits me right now in this stage of life.
Went to headache Neurologist today, head still hurts pretty much everyday. The medicine she has me on helps, but I still know I am having migraines due to my eyes go crazy, my neck hurts, and I'm sensitive to sound. I love my son but the tone of his voice is hard on my head some days. I am always telling him talk quieter and if you know him that is hard for him to do, he can't hear good so he always thinks he is talking quietly. I told the Dr. that I was thinking by now they would be stopping, I sleep about 8 hrs a night now, I have cut out pork, chocolate, and alot of other things. She told me today that I have to cut out my cokes, you know that delicious brown sugar syrup that I love to drink.
I have cut them back to only two cans a day. She said this week cut back to one a day and then cut out all together and see what happens.  She said that it might not matter but she has had 3 patients this week that cut them out and their heads quit hurting. So I am going to take some with me to NY but by the time I am back I will be off of them. I told her that when I became allergic to shellfish, my favorite thing to eat, that God was probably going to punish me even more and take away chocolate and cokes, and its looking more like it everyday.  I do truly know that its not punishment, just laughing about how life changes. I am seeing that I can live without things, and am learning to enjoy different things.  But I do crave crab legs, boiled shrimp, bacon and chocolate regularly but I figure if Audrey can give up all the foods she has had to give up surely I can too. Plus I have realized that for most of my life, food has been a high priority, I woke up thinking about it, thought about what I was having for dinner at lunch time, and went to bed planning the next days meals.  Now food has become a chore, I don't crave anything much, and for poor Joey I never plan anymore so he loses out.
Thank goodness he is a breeze when it comes to eating, he loves cereal and he can even cook that....

Grumbling and Blessings

This morning I stopped by a piece of property Josh bought to build a house on for a couple. I had Harper with me and Joey is doing the grading there and when the kids were small we always went out to the job site to see him work, and Joey asked Harper if she wanted to see Pap-paw run the big tractors, so of course we stopped. When we got there Joey was complaining, he grumbled about the dirt being to wet, he grumbled about so many trees needing to be cut. Josh and I laughed we both agreed that even if this was the best job in the world, he would complain about something.  We all needed to go do some things so we left Mr. Optimist to do his work, we had to go down the road to turn around.  Josh left before me, then I followed. He had slowed down to a crawl to see the lot from the road for a second, and I saw this car coming up behind him, and as I was directly behind it, I knew that they were going to hit Josh , I started hollering in my car, like somebody besides Harper could hear, I was hollering  stop, stop, Josh go ,go. She did stop  but only when she hit the back of his truck, she was going 45-50 mph and never saw his brake lights, we think she was looking over at where Joey was clearing the lot. I saw Joey running across the field and by the time I got my car stopped the lady had gotten out of her car and was walking around it. We just praise the Lord that she was alive because she said she was 80 years old, and her car was mashed, windshield busted, both air bags deployed, and smoke coming out of car. Josh's truck is pretty much toast, the car guy said he thought it was totaled, the frame was bent he told him you got the crap knocked out of you. I know it was bad because Joey said the back of his truck went straight up in the air at impact. To see you child in a car crash in front of your eyes is not fun.  I was so rattled and I had Harper so I was trying to stay calm, but guess who was the calmest, her. I left her in car for a minute to check on Josh, gave her some stickers and a sheet of paper to play with and when I came back to car she was in there singing Jesus Loves Me. Joey told Josh it was his fault he was in a wreck, because of his complaining, of course we know that is not true, however, it does put things in perspective when you see you child crash in front of your eyes and your are complaining about wet dirt...

Working out Life

As I laid in bed this morning and prayed, I told the the Lord that a year ago today life for me changed. Moms one year anniversary is tomorrow but its really today, she had her stroke on April 18, she was brain dead by the time I got to the hospital, but her death certificate reads April 19. I am talking to her about how Josh has alot of the same personality traits as her, big dreamers, A.D.D.,
messy but in their minds organized, people who like to laugh, loved to push my buttons.  I remember her telling me right before I hung up from her that afternoon, you can't change us so quit trying and learn to deal with it. A hour later I got the call from Pops to come to hospital quickly. As I talked with God this morning, I know that we all in life have to deal with whatever comes our way, I always remember my Mam-maw telling me that she hoped she deals with things gracefully, and I have always hoped for that but know that sometimes I fail. I know that my life compared to others is great, its joyful, its hopeful, it is plentiful.  I know that there are people who suffer daily, hourly and to such extremes I can't even imagine. However, my life is my life, just as your life is your life, and we each have to work through our days, weeks and months with whatever is thrown at us. I think the key is to work through it.
  From Philippians 2: Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.  Hold firmly to the word of life.
The key here is to work through life, obeying God through it all, hold firm to the Word. Sure we will fail at times, but we need to continue to work it out.
Life will through us under the truck sometimes, as I write this, Audrey called this morning to say that they have a couple that they are very close to, it is one of Wesley's best friends since elementary school, he was in their wedding, they have a little sweet handicapped boy named Owen, he is 2 1/2 years old, he was born blind and has other complications, unfortunately something has gone wrong this morning  and they are taking him off life support and he is going to be made whole in heaven. Audrey said the year is ending just like it started.
When I started praying a the first of last year for my children to see God for themselves, not for what I have taught them, but make him personal to them, never did I think how this year for both of them would have gone. I always tell my children, my goal as a parent is not to wish you to be happy but to be godly.  With godliness comes joy. 

Harper

Since her parents have a hard time taking pictures I talked Harper into taking a few this week, Josh only takes pictures on his phone and Abby being a third child growing up her parents didn't take as many pictures of her so she doesn't take many pictures either.



My weeds are a beautiful purple and white right now so we went in stood in the middle of them.

I always wanted tulips and it took me a couple of years to get some to grow, Harper is growing up so fast.

She does not like the white trees only green mam-maw, but I talked her into standing in front of the pink tulip tree.

I put her up in the pink dogwood to hold on while I took her picture. Her cousins where "way,way high" the other day and she wanted to try it.

My first real dinner party

Last night for the first time since last February we had couples over for a dinner party. Since Wesley and Audrey bought their house last March and it required so much work so that he could live there we worked all of March and alot of April there. Then because my life took just a change over the last year and I was not of my right mind, we haven't had anyone over since about February or so. I decided that it was time to start again with entertaining. Since the head is getting better and I have to live right now with the headaches I figure as long as I can see straight and can hold my head up, I'm going to have to make a effort to get back in the swing of things. It went well, I was exhausted by 11 but all in all everything went good and my food even tasted good.  Joey has laughed lately and told people I cook good cereal. So I am thankful that I haven't lost my touch with cooking, however I did try and make food that even Audrey could eat and healthier for everyone, so I was pleased with the turn out. I have forgotten the enjoyment of cooking for people and having people you don't see often or getting  to spend any quality time with. Life goes so fast and you realize I haven't sat down and talked to you in over a year. I see you and say hey but really get to see how life is going for you.
I have tried to stress to my children friendship is such a needed essential in ones life. You can glean so much from having people with different backgrounds, I have been telling Josh and Abby they need more friends to hang out with besides their family and then Natsu one of the ladies at dinner said last night I think it is special that Josh and Joey like to hang out together. She comes from a military family and she was saying when she got married , she didn't hear from her folks maybe 6 times a year, and I can't even imagine that, I have to tell Joey he can't call Josh at night, he needs to wait till he sees him the next day let him have his family time at night. Then Josh fusses at me for telling him that. Then Pam another lady was a missionary kid and she was telling how she came to the states to go to college and only talked to her family twice a year and she wrote everything down so she could remember to tell them the important things when they called. The other couple their are Yankees, the wife is the sweetest lady you will ever meet, the husband is me in male form. So we give each other a hard time, but I learn alot from him. Hes a little more dramatic than me, but my kids think hes great.
You see friendship can help you see things more clearly sometimes, it helps you appreciate others,
I truly believe it helps you live a much more joyous and happy life to have good friends.